TORYS NOW TO SELL OFF HOUSING ASSOCIATION HOMES !!

[Jimmy Jimmy]

Presume you live in Wales ?

Then you wont have the chance to buy your social housing property.
The Labour WAG dont want you to have that choice.

In theory it's a good idea - as long as it's implemented correctly.

[Feedback]

Sludge - in 2 minds over this.

If your family have lived in a Council House / Housing Association house all your life and you've been paying rent etc - wouldnt you as a family want to be given the opportunity to buy - no more dead rent money and a family asset ? - why wouldnt anyone want that ?

The discount is due to the rent you have paid. If there was no discount then the state would profit massively from this at the e pens of those less well off. No one should feel Comfortable with that.

[Feedback]

Does Sludge live in social housing? If he does fair play for his stance.

You don't have to live in social housing to realise that maintaining a signficant stock is neccessary for the country...

I've never understood this argument. How will changing the legal ownership of the property affect the total number of houses in the country?

[Eric Cartman]

From what I heard the discount available depends on how long they have been in the property. The longer you have been there - the more rent you have paid - the bigger the discount.

Short term thinking in my opinion.

[surge]

Are you allowed to buy your home before you're kicked out for having too many bedrooms?

No, you'll be forced to move to a smaller home and then your house will be sold privately as councils are being forced to sell of A THIRD of their social housing

Isn't part of Labour's plan to create an income stream from people owning houses too big for their needs?

[jon1959]

Its the right to buy all over again , huge discounts to win votes

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32295970

[Eric Cartman]

Does Sludge live in social housing? If he does fair play for his stance.

You don't have to live in social housing to realise that maintaining a signficant stock is neccessary for the country...

I've never understood this argument. How will changing the legal ownership of the property affect the total number of houses in the country?

I never said it does?

[Eric Cartman]

Sludge - in 2 minds over this.

If your family have lived in a Council House / Housing Association house all your life and you've been paying rent etc - wouldnt you as a family want to be given the opportunity to buy - no more dead rent money and a family asset ? - why wouldnt anyone want that ?

It does depend then what the Council / Housing Association then does with the money surely ? , if they re invest it in new housing then fair enough - if they dont - then they have a problem.

How would the state profit massively from charging the lowest possible rent and then selling something for what it is worth...?

[gurkhablue]

From what I heard the discount available depends on how long they have been in the property. The longer you have been there - the more rent you have paid - the bigger the discount.

Yeah I get that but I just can't see how that makes financial sense. We have a stock of housing, why sell them for less than they are worth? To give people a shot at owning a house who perhaps otherwise wouldn't have? Great for them but unfortunately (as we have seen from the Thatcher years and beyond) that hurts future generations ability to rent affordably.

The Tories rewarding their landlord supporters by reducing the availability of public rentals keeping the private sector buoyant and rents high.

[GRUMPYS DEN]

From what I heard the discount available depends on how long they have been in the property. The longer you have been there - the more rent you have paid - the bigger the discount.

Yeah I get that but I just can't see how that makes financial sense. We have a stock of housing, why sell them for less than they are worth? To give people a shot at owning a house who perhaps otherwise wouldn't have? Great for them but unfortunately (as we have seen from the Thatcher years and beyond) that hurts future generations ability to rent affordably.

Short term thinking in my opinion.

Or perhaps giving an incentive to those not so well off who want to buy their own homes.Twist the arguement which way you will.

[saganspirit]

Does Sludge live in social housing? If he does fair play for his stance.

You can own your own home and still have a social conscience about this.

[Vimana.]

Sludge - in 2 minds over this.

If your family have lived in a Council House / Housing Association house all your life and you've been paying rent etc - wouldnt you as a family want to be given the opportunity to buy - no more dead rent money and a family asset ? - why wouldnt anyone want that ?

Id avoid almost anything you deem to be a 'good idea' TBH .

[Vimana.]

Fair play, Sludge has coaxed out the Clowns here

[ken smith]

Does Sludge live in social housing? If he does fair play for his stance.

You can own your own home and still have a social conscience about this.

If some Labour supporters who live in nice affluent areas had a problem with that then that's their hard cheese.

[Feedback]

Does Sludge live in social housing? If he does fair play for his stance.

You don't have to live in social housing to realise that maintaining a signficant stock is neccessary for the country...

I've never understood this argument. How will changing the legal ownership of the property affect the total number of houses in the country?

I never said it does?

You said the stock needs to be maintained. As far as I can make out there is no change in the UKs total housing stock thus the stock is maintained

[Barry Dragon]

Sludge - in 2 minds over this.

For me if they did reinvest in new housing the stock then this is a great idea. It gives families a chance to own the house rather than having to pay rent. And it keeps the social housing stock newer and cheaper to look after. Its a great plan if it works out.... It just never does.

[Feedback]

Sludge - in 2 minds over this.

If your family have lived in a Council House / Housing Association house all your life and you've been paying rent etc - wouldnt you as a family want to be given the opportunity to buy - no more dead rent money and a family asset ? - why wouldnt anyone want that ?

It does depend then what the Council / Housing Association then does with the money surely ? , if they re invest it in new housing then fair enough - if they dont - then they have a problem.

You first point has some merit. But why the discount? The second point is spot on but if you sell something at a massive discount and then simply build another one with that money, you will eventually end up broke surely?

If I said a landlord built a house 20 years ago for 60k and had a sitting tenant all that time that effectively paid the mortgage who was now selling that house to the tenant for 200k with no mortgage you would be against it. That is what we are going to see here if market rates are charged. The tenants have paid the housing association mortgage whilst they have rented, the build cost is much less than the market value and the house price will have risen since the property was initially built.

[Eric Cartman]

Does Sludge live in social housing? If he does fair play for his stance.

You don't have to live in social housing to realise that maintaining a signficant stock is neccessary for the country...

I've never understood this argument. How will changing the legal ownership of the property affect the total number of houses in the country?

I never said it does?

You said the stock needs to be maintained. As far as I can make out there is no change in the UKs total housing stock thus the stock is maintained

Well there is a massive waiting list for social housing, this would indicate to me that a) people prefer it to the current private landlord dominated system (perhaps it isn't working as well as you think) b) we need more of it to meet demand.

[Eric Cartman]

Sludge - in 2 minds over this.

If your family have lived in a Council House / Housing Association house all your life and you've been paying rent etc - wouldnt you as a family want to be given the opportunity to buy - no more dead rent money and a family asset ? - why wouldnt anyone want that ?

It does depend then what the Council / Housing Association then does with the money surely ? , if they re invest it in new housing then fair enough - if they dont - then they have a problem.

You first point has some merit. But why the discount? The second point is spot on but if you sell something at a massive discount and then simply build another one with that money, you will eventually end up broke surely?

The discount is due to the rent you have paid. If there was no discount then the state would profit massively from this at the e pens of those less well off. No one should feel Comfortable with that.

I am not in favour of the state selling assets for less than they are 'worth', my stance is pretty simple.

[Feedback]

Does Sludge live in social housing? If he does fair play for his stance.

You don't have to live in social housing to realise that maintaining a signficant stock is neccessary for the country...

I've never understood this argument. How will changing the legal ownership of the property affect the total number of houses in the country?

I never said it does?

You said the stock needs to be maintained. As far as I can make out there is no change in the UKs total housing stock thus the stock is maintained

Well there is a massive waiting list for social housing, this would indicate to me that a) people prefer it to the current private landlord dominated system (perhaps it isn't working as well as you think) b) we need more of it to meet demand.

There is demand but that demand isn't going to be altered by selling off social housing stock.

[Feedback]

Sludge - in 2 minds over this.

If your family have lived in a Council House / Housing Association house all your life and you've been paying rent etc - wouldnt you as a family want to be given the opportunity to buy - no more dead rent money and a family asset ? - why wouldnt anyone want that ?

It does depend then what the Council / Housing Association then does with the money surely ? , if they re invest it in new housing then fair enough - if they dont - then they have a problem.

You first point has some merit. But why the discount? The second point is spot on but if you sell something at a massive discount and then simply build another one with that money, you will eventually end up broke surely?

The discount is due to the rent you have paid. If there was no discount then the state would profit massively from this at the e pens of those less well off. No one should feel Comfortable with that.

How would the state profit massively from charging the lowest possible rent and then selling something for what it is worth...?

So you are happy for landlords to make a massive profit at the expense of those who don't have the means to afford their own home. That's where we differ.

[TruBlue]

I always thought Housing Associations were private organisations that just worked with the government.

What is the difference between a Housing Association house and a council house then?

[jon1959]

I always thought Housing Associations were private organisations that just worked with the government.

Private rented - 4.0m

[Jimmy Jimmy]

I reckon a house that would be worth 160k would be offered to the tenant for 120k on average.

The housing association then have 120k to build a similar house - which is possible.

The conditions need to be set though so that the tenant who bought it cant sell within 5 years - so to stop people (like Jon Prescott's son) from then offering to buy the house for 125k - and then trying to sell it for 160k. In this example there is only one winner - and it's not the tenant, the govt or the housing association

David Orr. Chief Ex of National Housing on this rent to buy scheme bollox

http://www.housing.org.uk/media/blog/extending-right-to-buy- to-housing-associations-and-other-distractions/