Text 2. There is no place like home

About*80 per cent of British people live in houses. Detached houses are usually in expensive suburbs, quite far from the town centre, near to the countryside. Semi-detached houses are often in suburbs which are nearer the town centre. Terraced houses and blocks of flats are mostly found in town centres, They can either be very small two-storey houses with one or two bedrooms or large houses with three to five floors and four or five bedrooms.

About 67 per cent of the people in Britain own their houses or flats, Most of the rest live in rented accommodation (2 per cent live in sheltered accommodation). People in Britain buy houses or flats because there isn’t enough rented accommodation and what there is can be expensive.

a Look at the photos. In which house or flat would you like to live?

b Describe your home.

We've just moved into a two~bedroomed council house I'm so pleased, I have been waiting for a council house for the last 3 years

I live with my boyfriend in a terraced house. It's quite small. I like living close to the town

centre. We bought the house because it was cheaper to buy than to rent *

Text 3. Council housing

Council flats and houses are built and owned by the local council. After the Second World War, a lot of high-rise council; flats, known as tower blocks, were constructed. Some were as high as 20 storeys and so badly built that they had to be pulled down only thirty years later.

Modern council housing estates are built differently now. There might be a mixture of two-storey terraced houses, together with a four-storey block of flats. There are play areas for children and there is often a community centre where people who live on the estate can meet.

Since the 1080s, council tenants have been able to buy their own homes very cheaply if they have lived in them for over two years. By 1993, 1,5 million council houses had been sold, but only 5000 council houses or flats were built to replace them. This means that it is now very difficult to find cheap housing for rent – a real problem for the poor and unemployed people.

My family used to live here in a two-bedroom council flat. It was terrible. The lifts were always breaking down, you didn't feel safe at night and there was absolutely nothing to do there.

In the garden

British houses have a garden and many British people spend a lot of time in it. Most gardens, even small ones, have flowers and a lawn. If you don't have a garden it's possible to grow flowers and vegetables on the allotment, which is a piece of land rented from the local council.

This is the back garden of a

country cottage. Many British

houses have front gardens too.

A few facts

Most British people obtain their home in one of three ways. The majority, about two-thirds, buy their own houses or flats. About 10 per cent of the population live in flats or houses which they rent privately from another person or organisation. The majority of the remaining 25 per cent live in accommodations that are owned by, and rented from, their local council. Council houses (or flats), as these are called, are available to everyone, but in many areas there are long waiting lists, and the homes go to the most needy people. In the past few years it has become possible for council house tenants to buy their property from the local authority at a fairly cheap price — this is determined by taking into account how much rent the person has paid to the council over the years.

Focus on Writing

Copy and complete the sentences.

British people live in a …

Most people in Britain … their house or flat.

Detached houses are usually in the …

Most British houses have a …

Make a list of the differences in housing types between your country and Britain

Homes in Britain are relatively expensive, although prices vary from area to area. They are most expensive in the London area and cheapest in northern England, parts of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.