General Discussion
As words are still failing me at the moment (most unusual I know but this latest tory policy has absolutely left me gob smacked) I'll just suggest people have a read of this.
Fool me once, shame on you
Fool me twice, shame on me.
asset stripping of the last remaining genuinely social housing
I cant express on here how I feel about this bloody policy. The past gov should hang their heads in shame for the way they have treated the ordinary people of this country.
Except they don't see it as a mistake, it was a vote winner for them and to hell with the consequences for those most in need of housing down the line. I just hope no one is fooled by it this time.
"A poor cover version of one of Margaret Thatcher's 1980's hits" is how Nick Clegg described Right to Buy. And a pointer surely to the back catalogue of divisive Tory policies awaiting re-release upon re-election.
I had a rant on Facebook so I might as well continue here. For the policy to work the Cons need to recompense the housing association, selling under 'Right-to-buy', (a) for the cost of new sites to build and replace with more affordable rented homes (and we all know how fast building sites have risen in value year by year) , (b) for the extra cost of construction today over that of the property being sold (because construction costs have risen faster than inflation), (c) for the discount that applies under right-to-buy that reduces actual market value by a factor determined by how much rental the tenant has paid during their tenure.
The policy will probably say, 'You can use the purchase price to build new homes' but it won't even build half a home after the above factors are taken into account. When the new owner then sells a few years down the line to a buy-to-rent landlord the poorest in society will find they can't afford such rents and will sleep under a bridge or on a railway platform.
It is a disgraceful sham of a policy proposal that doesn't hold water.
How many people who bought under Thatcher are now back living in Council or HA social housing having made thousands of pounds from selling their Right-To-Buy homes??
If this goes ahead many small HAs (truly non-profit making, and run by volunteers) will go to the wall.
I've yet to hear anyone, locally or on the national radio talk shows, with a good word for this policy
Is it going to prove an own goal for the Conservatives?
I'm all for people having the opportunity to own their homes, but experience and the consideration of basic facts as laid out by Robert above seems to indicate that this will do great dmage to the country.
The day before this policy was announced I'd heard on one of the politics shows that this idea had been mooted some time back within the Tories but had that HM Treasury (ie one George Osborne) could see the financial (ie economic) pitfalls and had argued them out of pursuing it.
Then the following day it gets announced.
Why?
Well only the Tory campaign team could really tell us that (assuming that they would tell us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth ha! bloody ha!) so we will have to surmise.
But......howsabout this. The tories thought it a good wheeze politically (remembering Thatcher and RtB) and given that they haven't pulled ahead in the polls thought it a way of doing so.
Wrong!
It seems the policy is that the County and District councils will recompense the housing associations, and they will finance this by selling off the more expensive of the social houses and other buildings and land that they own. Anyone see the flaw?
Having spent the last months slating Labour for putting forward uncosted plans, the Conservatives are doing exactly that.
And not just in this area Howard
Conservatives are offering 8bn for NHS but no details of where from?
It really puzzles me that the governing party are doing this when their USP was economic rectitude - they are throwing away a major part of their electoral appeal.
Saw the comment below on another website where this issue is being discussed. Thought I'd post it on here.
" if right to buy were to extend to housing associations it should also extend to rented properties. If I have rented a place for 5 years and helped some rich property developer or private land lord pay the mortgage for that time, I should have the right to buy that property, with my rent that I've paid taken in to consideration and coming off the price of the property. It's a terrible idea but I should be allowed to do this."
Giving the right to buy to private tenants would decimate that part of the housing market, and bring down the price of housing. That could be a good thing, except that many people will go into negative equity, and ultimately this would cause another banking crisis.
I think the author of that comment is making the point that logically it should be extended to the private sector as well. Not that it necessarily should be or that it would make any sense that it should be any more than it makes any sense for it to be extended to HA tenants.
Not that the Tories would ever make the suggestion that the private sector should be included - far too many tory supporters are private sector landlords.
Having travelled around europe it seems to me that we the people of UK are in the minority in having this obsession in home ownership compared to renting. Maybe it's those at the top who started this two tier society of the few and then the rest to show who's better off than others, which still seems to be alive today as those who rent are still looked down on as less successful by those who buy.( before tha hate mail starts we have owned properties since the 1970's when wages were on par with property prices and was brought up being told always buy not rent ) If there was to be a fair robust rent for properties either through social or private sector this ridicules right to buy would never see it's head in the agenda again. Although now at an age where we shall not be planning to move again so property prices will not affect us we do fear for our children/grandchildren on prices wether it be to buy or rent
Merlin I made this point the other day more people rent in Europe than own their own properties, I dont know what the obsession is in this Country to make people feel inadequate if they dont own their own property. part of thatchers idea was to make people own their own properties so they couldn't afford to strike
Latest news - opinion poll in today's papers
Only 28% of voters think this plan is a good idea
So, not the game changer the Tories were hoping for?
From Private Eye 1st May – 14 May 2015 edition. Page 8 – Housing News
“Events in wealthy, Tory- run Westminster (council) suggest the Conservatives’ plan to fund the extension of right to buy to housing association tenants by forcing councils nationally to sell off their priciest homes will come a cropper.
In theory the plan would generate enough to pay for the discounts and the debt on the homes and build replacements too. The tories claim that selling off the 210,000 most expensive council properties will raise £4.5.bn a year. But as Westminster has shown, the plan is far from straightforward.
The council is infamous for its unlawful attempt to sell its council housing in the Homes for Votes scandal of the 1980s. Today it faces huge bills to provide temporary accommodation to homeless families – costs set to rise after the Supreme Court ruled that it had acted unlawfully in forcing a sinlge mother to move to Milton Keynes.
Thus, far from rushing to sell, Westminster has just spent £20m on buying back 45 homes previously sold under right to buy so it can re-house families who are overcrowded or affected by regeneration schemes. At an average price of £419,000 each, plus £36,000 in refurbishment costs, the homes certainly qualify as “expensive”. If Tory Westminster, which has high house prices and a reputation for flogging off council property, now thinks it has to buy them back, what hope for the policy? “