Right To Buy

[jon1959]

At last a bit of tweaking in the right direction (following in the footsteps of John Prescott who also tweaked):

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...n-weath-report

Margaret Thatcher’s right-to-buy scheme has cost UK taxpayers almost £200bn, according to a report into the policy’s contribution to Britain’s housing crisis.

In its report into the sale of millions of council homes to their tenants at steep discounts since 1980, the Common Wealth thinktank said the policy had fuelled vast shortages in social housing and turbocharged inequality.

Describing it as one of the “largest giveaways in UK history”, it said the sale of 1.9m council homes in England had contributed to a situation where one in six private tenants in England now rents a former local authority home.

Local authority tenants have been able to buy their homes since 1936, but changes made under the first Thatcher government in 1980 triggered a boom in sales at steep discounts to market value.

Calculating the “opportunity cost” of the sales, Common Wealth said the former council homes were now worth an estimated £430bn after taking account of inflation and the surge in property prices since 1980.

Of this sum, the thinktank said £194bn represented the value that was effectively given away when the homes were sold at a discount. Between the years 1980-81 and 2023-24, the discount averaged 43% on the prevailing market price.

The report comes as Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, pushes to tackle Britain’s housing crisis by making sweeping changes to right to buy, including making it harder for tenants in England to buy their council home.

Under the planned changes, eligibility for the scheme will be tightened. This will include extending the minimum time a council tenant must live in their home from three to 10 years before they can buy it at a discount.

-

Labour has pledged a “social rent revolution”, allocating £39bn of social and affordable homes over the next 10 years, alongside slashing planning rules to support private sector housebuilding. However, critics have warned that the government could struggle to hit its target to build 1.5m new homes in total.

Kwajo Tweneboa, a social housing campaigner, said right to buy had “gutted council housing and transferred public wealth into private hands”.

“We’re in a housing emergency. Millions stuck on waiting lists. Tens of thousands living in temporary accommodation that’s unfit and unsafe. All while homes that were once publicly owned are now profit-generating assets for private landlords,” he said.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

At last a bit of tweaking in the right direction (following in the footsteps of John Prescott who also tweaked):

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...n-weath-report

Margaret Thatcher’s right-to-buy scheme has cost UK taxpayers almost £200bn, according to a report into the policy’s contribution to Britain’s housing crisis.

In its report into the sale of millions of council homes to their tenants at steep discounts since 1980, the Common Wealth thinktank said the policy had fuelled vast shortages in social housing and turbocharged inequality.

Describing it as one of the “largest giveaways in UK history”, it said the sale of 1.9m council homes in England had contributed to a situation where one in six private tenants in England now rents a former local authority home.

Local authority tenants have been able to buy their homes since 1936, but changes made under the first Thatcher government in 1980 triggered a boom in sales at steep discounts to market value.

Calculating the “opportunity cost” of the sales, Common Wealth said the former council homes were now worth an estimated £430bn after taking account of inflation and the surge in property prices since 1980.

Of this sum, the thinktank said £194bn represented the value that was effectively given away when the homes were sold at a discount. Between the years 1980-81 and 2023-24, the discount averaged 43% on the prevailing market price.

The report comes as Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, pushes to tackle BritainÂ’s housing crisis by making sweeping changes to right to buy, including making it harder for tenants in England to buy their council home.

Under the planned changes, eligibility for the scheme will be tightened. This will include extending the minimum time a council tenant must live in their home from three to 10 years before they can buy it at a discount.

-

Labour has pledged a “social rent revolution”, allocating £39bn of social and affordable homes over the next 10 years, alongside slashing planning rules to support private sector housebuilding. However, critics have warned that the government could struggle to hit its target to build 1.5m new homes in total.

Kwajo Tweneboa, a social housing campaigner, said right to buy had “gutted council housing and transferred public wealth into private hands”.

“We’re in a housing emergency. Millions stuck on waiting lists. Tens of thousands living in temporary accommodation that’s unfit and unsafe. All while homes that were once publicly owned are now profit-generating assets for private landlords,” he said.

Angela Rayner made a nice profit out of selling her council home

So she can do one

The telling thing is that far from keeping the homes they were given on a huge subsidy many former tenants flogged theirs in no time

Shocking policy

[jon1959]

Angela Rayner made a nice profit out of selling her council home

So she can do one

The telling thing is that far from keeping the homes they were given on a huge subsidy many former tenants flogged theirs in no time

Shocking policy

I agree with all that, but what is proposed makes things very slightly better.

A 10 year qualifying period as a tenant instead of 3 years will make a difference and may allow some Councils to use a Housing Revenue Account surplus to build a few more Council homes.

In the same way that Prescott made things slightly better in the first Blair government when he reduced the discount.

Abolishing Right To Buy - and backdating that by 45 years - would be better still.

I don't blame individuals who bought under the RTB (although I do blame those who put most ex-Council stock into the hands of private landlords!) but the policy has been a disaster.

Not a disaster for Thatcher who got just what she wanted from the RTB - and her successors who continued to benefit from social engineering and ballot box bribes!

[Heathblue]

Angela Rayner made a nice profit out of selling her council home

So she can do one

The telling thing is that far from keeping the homes they were given on a huge subsidy many former tenants flogged theirs in no time

Shocking policy

Unlike one of your lot, after using their RTB option, my parents didn't flog for a profit, my mum still lives in the house, I'm sat in it now as is Mozz 😁

[cyril evans awaydays]

Unlike one of your lot, after using their RTB option, my parents didn't flog for a profit, my mum still lives in the house, I'm sat in it now as is Mozz ��

Pleased for you Nels.

My parents bought their council house. My Mum, after my Dad's death took one of those equity release loans such that the 30 year gap between their passing is such that the sharks at 8% compound interest they basically own her house. So instead of the house going to a needy family in a fairly deprived valley it ends up as some equity gain for a smart arse in the Home Counties.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Unlike one of your lot, after using their RTB option, my parents didn't flog for a profit, my mum still lives in the house, I'm sat in it now as is Mozz 😁

How about giving back the house to the council when your parents pass away ?

That would be a gesture

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Pleased for you Nels.

My parents bought their council house. My Mum, after my Dad's death took one of those equity release loans such that the 30 year gap between their passing is such that the sharks at 8% compound interest they basically own her house. So instead of the house going to a needy family in a fairly deprived valley it ends up as some equity gain for a smart arse in the Home Counties.

Or if the case for being prosaic is ventured no sales of council housing allows an elderly person to stay in their council home until their death and then its returned to the council .....to be allocated to the next person in housing need

Because if a person is allocated a council house its usually because they are unable to afford to buy a property

It then becomes perverse when that said property is bought ...and one person , by default has a dwelling which can be used for financial gain ...simply because they were allocated a rented council property ...and dai jones , with low income and two kids has to pay huge rents to a private landlord ......because all these council houses ? .....well they have been sold

And so the circle keeps spinning