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AIBU?

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Original poster

so the people with low rent that is subed, will now be able to buy with a sub total madness

238 replies

medona · 14/04/2015 08:15

The people in the country with rent that us subbed will be promised a discount of up to 100000 to buy this property. It's madness all over again.

This scheme is estimated by some to cost 29 billion.

There really is no point working in this country, the middle just get squeezed more by the day. Best off either never working or being rich.

OP posts:
frikadela01 · 14/04/2015 17:59

Whenever anything to do with rtb comes.I I hear the same thing "I've worked hard, I've paid rent for however many years" etc etc. and now Cameron is basically spouting the same shit about people working hard and deserving to own their home...
well guess what, I work hard, I've bettered myself and have come from a sink council estate to have a decent career with reasonable salary... However I haven't had the luck to be given a council house or ha house... despite being on waiting lists for 10 years... why don't I deserve to own my own heavily subsidied home... like pp have said it's the forgotten middle losing out again, I sometimes wish I'd stayed a minimum wage care assistant (which I loved and am in no way bad mouthing) maybe I'd have fewer grey hairs, fewer debts and a better chance at getting a leg up in life.

merrymouse · 14/04/2015 18:07

The proceeds will be used to build.

Which will be less than the market value, and then you still have to find land on which to build the replacement home.

I suspect there will be back tracking and/or reinterpretation of what was offered.

And after all that there still won't be any more affordable homes.

loa321 · 14/04/2015 18:08

DH and I both work, always have. We have a joint income of around £55k per annum.

I also own a house which we rent out

I'm not expecting hand outs from the government but it would be nice if they would remember people like us in their plans to help people.

Only on Mumsnet would you get council house envy from a BTL landlord

Arsenic · 14/04/2015 18:13

Councils own a fair bit of brownfield merry, particularly in London.

Of course more social housing is needed , but today's proposal doesn't actually make that worse.

What it might do is move a chunk of social tenants into o/occupation and then a chunk of private tenants of the housing lists into social rented.

I can't believe I'm (partially) defending Tory policy here Hmm

EachandEveryone · 14/04/2015 18:14

It annoys me no end. Working full time in London for the NHS. Still flat sharing at 40. Have never had the chance to get social housing. Yet I know plenty of nhs workers who have been fortunate in the past t ge social housing in London. Bought it and are now buying more for their children/to kept out. It annoys me no end.

loa321 · 14/04/2015 18:17

What it might do is move a chunk of social tenants into o/occupation and then a chunk of private tenants of the housing lists into social rented.

I predict thats what will happen. Why its such a bad thing I don't know. Its a "know your place" thing I think. The middle classes can't stand the poor getting a leg up, the one they had from the bank of mum and dad.

Arsenic · 14/04/2015 18:17

I sometimes wish I'd stayed a minimum wage care assistant (which I loved and am in no way bad mouthing) maybe I'd have fewer grey hairs, fewer debts and a better chance at getting a leg up in life.

It makes you wonder, though, how many people will be able to take this up. You'd need to be on significantly better than NMW income AND outside London/SE AND in a modest sized home, to get the right combo of house valuation and mortgage offer, surely?

Arsenic · 14/04/2015 18:19

The middle classes can't stand the poor getting a leg up, the one they had from the bank of mum and dad.

Spot on. It's not all of the MC though.

Viviennemary · 14/04/2015 18:29

Don't agree with that at all. The poorest of the people in the HA property won't afford to buy them. There are plenty of people in HA housing that are not poor.

merrymouse · 14/04/2015 18:33

Councils own a fair bit of brownfield merry, particularly in London.

So the mystery is why has so little additional social housing been built already?

EachandEveryone · 14/04/2015 18:39

Well, it'd not true were I work in a London. The middle classes haven't been bankrolled by their mum and dad. They have bought their council houses and used their collateral to buy with their children who in turn either rent out their properties or use their collateral to buy a house to rent out. Some families have six or seven properties between them. All starting from that first council house their parents/grandparents bought.

SingingHinnies · 14/04/2015 18:44

I also got a dodgy Norther Rock mortgage in 2004. i remember the advisor telling me it wouldnt be a problem then having a very dodgy sounding convo with Northern Rock about some fiddled figures, i was only in my 20's, didnt have a clue what i was getting myself into. The advisor seemed to have something set up with NR. He told me i could have a mortgage on my minn wage job for up to 125k. I bought my DMs house for 80k on a 100% mortgage with at the time 40g equity. I would never have got that now, i shouldn't even have had the 80k one. A lot of people on RTB although they got very cheap houses had to borrow on top to do improvements, buying an ex council house with no double glazing and a bathroom suite/kitchen which is 40 odd year old means you need to do it up and u have a house worth a lot more than your mortgage. People borrowed and borrowed and borrowed until they had a mortgage they could not pay hence the high number of reppos snapped up by BTL LL, ex council houses already improved. RTB was a really stupid policy. Yes it was a tory policy but Labour also had 13 years to replace some of the housing stock.

frikadela01 · 14/04/2015 18:48

It makes you wonder, though, how many people will be able to take this up. You'd need to be on significantly better than NMW income AND outside London/SE AND in a modest sized home, to get the right combo of house valuation and mortgage offer, surely?

My neighbour bought her council house working as a care assistant.... although we are up north so that explains it somewhat.

The middle classes can't stand the poor getting a leg up, the one they had from the bank of mum and dad

Hmmm... lots of people that have a problem with rtb are far from middle class, hard working families living in private rented housing are the people who lose out in this scenario Imo (not that I'm suggesting other people arent hardworking of course)

pileofpepper · 14/04/2015 19:02

My neighbour bought her council flat when she moved her new DH in as he is a high earner and put in all the money for it. We are in a London borough and 2 bed flats here are £350k even with the RTB discount.

SirChenjin · 14/04/2015 19:10

The middle classes can't stand the poor getting a leg up, the one they had from the bank of mum and dad

Firstly, there are plenty of MC people in HA properties - they are not means tested, which results in far too many people who don't need them paying proportionately lower rent than they should. Secondly - if parents decide to use their own money to help out their children then that is completely different from using public money to benefit people on low rent (and not necessarily on low income) buy a property at low cost, with the potential to sell it on or rent it out at profit, thereby taking it out of the available social housing stock. If you're going to use an analogy then at least make sure it's comparable.

HappydaysArehere · 14/04/2015 19:20

Tories so desperate they have latched on to Thatcher's offer of the past. She also promised to replace homes sold off which is precisely why we are short of social housing. That promise was never kept but it released the councils from their responsibilities and helped to fill the coffers at that time. Great for some at that time but it has a great deal to do with our present day problems. I recently posted on the politics site my horror and concern about what has been happening to the Sutton Estate in Chelsea. It is a prime example of what the Tories and big business can do. Shame, shame, shame.

EachandEveryone · 14/04/2015 19:29

My friends and I complain about it all the time. Is it a London thing? Because where we are originally from up north the order of things was to buy a new house when you had sold the house you were living in. That doesn't seem to be the case amongst my London friends. It's outrageous.

Varya · 14/04/2015 19:35

No council houses available for us, but why can tenants buy at discounted prices when we have never ever had any discount on any house purchase we have had to carry out. Makes my blood boil, these flipping discounts.

SirChenjin · 14/04/2015 19:37

Don't just blame the Tories - Labour did FA to address the problem across the UK (it's not simply a SE problem) during the many years they were in power.

BakerStreetSaxRift · 14/04/2015 20:18

It's just such a disproportionately huge amount of a leg up to give to people who have already been very fortunate to have a HA secure tenancy.

Where's the help for the poor folk who have tried to make sensible decisions but end up getting bounced from one 6 month private letting contract to another, with £££ in admin fees each time, who can't get a stable HA house, and can't save money for a deposit due to paying twice as much in rent?

Strange sector to pick for such a large amount of help, when Help to Buy for FTBs is so paltry.

FloatIsRechargedNow · 14/04/2015 20:23

There is no sure-fired way to any end result. I posted upthread that I might benefit from this policy and that even though it went against many of my beliefs, experiences and previous 'hands-on action', it might be an opportunity that I might consider. It's a real life thought process - one that could be transferred to other dilemmas/w.h.y. - and as I said before totally selfish. I can justify it to myself in many ways, but at the end of the day it's possible to justify anything. To make my hypocrisy worse, in spite of this proposed Tory policy, I won't even be voting for them! Just sitting on the fence seeing how it goes.

Mintyy · 14/04/2015 20:24

Well I am old old skool socialist and if Billy Bragg thinks its a poorly thought out policy which has extremely short term benefits for a very select few, then I do agree.

frikadela01 · 14/04/2015 20:31

You know what float, if I was in a position to take advantage of right to buy then I would... complete hypocrite I know but it's too good an offer to turn down... doesn't make it right or fair and still gets my goat.

Mintyy · 14/04/2015 20:32

Well, that is what Conservatism relies on Float. That ultimately people will vote for what benefits them, even if intellectually they understand that it is better overall if individuals in society are not marginalised.

workadurka · 14/04/2015 20:37

It's a fucking stupid idea and I'm furious.

There's a housing crisis already.

Most HA residents won't be able to take advantage anyway. Pathetic point scoring electioneering.

Likely to cost billions more than it will make.

I'm thankful most people on here agree.

Also: no-one pays 50% tax on all their income. You know that bit you pay 50% on? That kicks in at about £120k more than most people earn to start with.