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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

So now the Tories are bringing back the Right to Buy scheme. Anyone else think they're losing the plot?

227 replies

AyeAmarok · 14/04/2015 08:13

We have a housing crisis, especially in affordable social housing, so they are going to offer tenants the right to purchase it for up to 70% discount Shock

It seems like every day brings new nonsense.

I quite liked about 80% of what the Tories have done, until this week. It seems such a desperate attempt to buy "working-class" votes.

Election 2015: David Cameron to pledge right-to-buy extension - www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32295970

OP posts:
misskelly · 14/04/2015 13:50

This is a terrible idea, I'm glad the Scottish government have placed a ban on the right to buy.

Original poster
AyeAmarok · 14/04/2015 13:55

Is that today MissKelly or just a general ban from previously?

OP posts:
Original poster
AyeAmarok · 14/04/2015 13:58

I just can't even get my head around the number, 70% is such an massively enormous discount to give someone on a house!

Someone who has already had subsidised rent for so long and, I dare say, no longer needs a subsidised rent if they have been able to save enough money for a deposit to enable them to buy.

OP posts:
GiddyOnZackHunt · 14/04/2015 14:00

Where loa? Is there a spare plot next to yours that the HA own and can build on? Will they be allowed to build new homes? Last time the money from the sales wasn't allowed to be used. Do developers have the capacity or the will to build homes for HAs? It's not as simple as you paying your discounted price and another home for rent magically replacing it.

loa321 · 14/04/2015 14:01

Don't see all the fuss. Out of the 10 HA houses in my street, we are the only ones working. The take up will be tiny, although it may encourage some to aim higher than a lifetime of renting from the HA which can only be a good thing.

loa321 · 14/04/2015 14:05

Someone who has already had subsidised rent for so long and, I dare say, no longer needs a subsidised rent if they have been able to save enough money for a deposit to enable them to buy.

You don't need a deposit, the discount is used as your deposit thats why its a good policy for the working poor who pay full rent, but can't afford to save.

nauticant · 14/04/2015 14:05

Why? The money raised by selling this house to me will pay to build another for a needy family. I win, they win. Whats the problem?

The problem is that if the Tories implement this plan it relies on them replacing the great housing give away stock with replacement stock having the same capacity in terms of housed people. The question is do you trust the Tories to do this?

I don't. I wouldn't be surprised to see councils being told to spend the money on replacement housing but also being told that they have the final choice on whether they actually do.

I'm not going to criticise you for wanting to take advantage of this loa321. But I think you should accept that it comes from an I'm All Right Jack attitude.

cestlavielife · 14/04/2015 14:07

why should anyone get a 70% discount? I just don't get why they have to have a huge discount to buy their property. makes no sense except to those who will benefit from it.

what happened pvsly was person bought under right to buy, sold on after x years to private buyer at huge profit (great for that individual!) , private buyer sells to probably private btl landlord who rents it at market rate..to someone who gets housing benefit so costing even more to the country.

tethersend · 14/04/2015 14:08

HA rents aren't usually subsidised.

misskelly · 14/04/2015 14:10

I think the ban went through the Scottish parliament in 2014, it has a one year notice period and will be enforced by 2016.

Original poster
AyeAmarok · 14/04/2015 14:11

But Loa, a 70% deposit is MASSIVE! They are only helping first time buyers to get from 5% to 25% with Help to Buy, and even that's just a loan!

OP posts:
loa321 · 14/04/2015 14:14

I'm not going to criticise you for wanting to take advantage of this loa321. But I think you should accept that it comes from an I'm All Right Jack attitude.

I am not alright though. I am poor, mainly due to 18 years of not working due to depression and having to rely on one income, my husbands. Rich people don't live in HA housing, despite what the Daily Mail would have you believe. About time someone threw me, and others like me, a bone and I will have no guilt in providing a secure future for my family.

MaliceInWonderland78 · 14/04/2015 14:15

I'm happy for you loa321

Even though I don't believe renting should be viewed as 'second best' there's a reason why those that can own their own homes. What I think is absolutely disgusting is that people are prepared to be told that they shouldn't own their own homes (or have the flexiblity or freedom that comes with it) by a ruling class (Labour SNP) the vast majority of whom do won their own homes. For me personally this is right up their with Labour politiicans sending their kids to independant schools or using private healthcare.

GiddyOnZackHunt · 14/04/2015 14:20

But you've had 18 years of security! Can you not see that is even more than home owners get? If we don't pay our mortgage through illness or redundancy then we get the house repossessed. If we had a HA tenancy that wouldn't happen. You say it's time someone threw you and others like you a bone. You've had the bone and now you don't want anyone else to get a bone. If you understand how hard it is why are you making it harder for others?

GiddyOnZackHunt · 14/04/2015 14:20

Renting in the private sector is the worst option.

ElectraCute · 14/04/2015 14:24

Who tells people they shouldn't own their own homes? What rubbish.

It's not homeowning per se that anyone is objecting to. It's the obsession with owning ones home, even at the expense of others who can't. It's the ideological bollocks of home-ownership as some kind of moral imperative that fuels ridiculous policies like this and causes misery for those who are not lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.

A secure, warm, safe, affordable home - whether owned or rented - should be a universal right. But we have turned this basic right into a commodity to be traded, a gift with which to bribe people. It's sick.

letseatgrandma · 14/04/2015 14:25

I am poor, mainly due to 18 years of not working due to depression and having to rely on one income, my husbands.

That does sound like a precarious situation. If you bought, then your husband lost his job, would you be able to pay the mortgage or have an entitlement to any help from the government?

I just can't help thinking it would feel more secure remaining in HA accommodation.

Luckily, I think it extremely unlikely that there will be a Tory majority or that this plan will ever see the light of day.

tethersend · 14/04/2015 14:31

Many HA tenants are on assured shorthold tenancies, which are not secure. Whilst we are probably less likely to be asked to leave, there is nothing in our tenancy agreement which prevents the HA from giving us notice, and we are no more protected legally than tenants in the private sector.

rollonthesummer · 14/04/2015 14:38

Surely there is an ability to claim benefits when renting though that you can't access when you own your own property?

Mummybabyboo · 14/04/2015 14:54

The Tories also introduced fixed term tenancies don't forget which most Tory run councils are in the process in implementing or already have! My council have done it already. Maximum tenancy here is now 6 years. After 5 1/2 years you are given 6 months to either move / buy it or prove you need another 6 year tenancy. Exactly how many HA houses will there even be left if tenants have been forced to leave or buy. In our area HA rents are so high (80% market rent) and the lha is so low (30% median of the BMRA) that someone on FULL entitlement of housing benefit can not afford to live in a council or HA home. They are being forced to move into areas around the edges of the BRMA's which are generally very unpleasant and high crime. It truly is social cleansing they want their nice rich town's free of us peasants and our public schooled brats!

Mummybabyboo · 14/04/2015 14:57

You would be rejected for RTB if you claimed any housing benefits.

verbeier · 14/04/2015 14:58

I'm all for helping people who cannot work/ on very low incomes own houses. We have been privately renting for ten years, trying to scrape together a deposit. Meanwhile, private rentals have skyrocketed. Meanwhile, my vile SIL who told a few porkies to get to the top of the council list (she actually quit her decent job to do so, and hasn't worked again) is positively rubbing her hands together with glee. I know that not all council home dwellers are not fraudulent, just sadly all my in laws, who are about to win a jackpot. Meanwhile, we have been saving so long that now we face struggling to get a mortgage at all as hubby is over 40....oh yes, David, this is a good life....

verbeier · 14/04/2015 14:59

Lots of 'meanwhiles'...:)

MaliceInWonderland78 · 14/04/2015 15:00

I'm in favour of fixed term tennancies. As long as there is insufficient social/subsidised housing to go around, it should be allocated to those most in need (for a fixed period) - during which you'd be expected to "get your sh!t together" and be ready to move into alternative (non-subsidised) housing - or demonstrate that you still require the subsudues housing (disability, illness, etc.)

pinkfrocks · 14/04/2015 15:05

Is Mumsnet inherently full of Labour lefties?