To think that Boris bringing back the 'Right to buy' scheme from the 80s is a terrible idea

[somewhereoverthechipshop]

Just this really. I think it's a slap in the face for all those private renters who cannot afford to buy a home, and just a horrible idea.
Boris Johnson mulls a new Right to Buy scheme as housebuilding hits the curb (cityam.com)

Not sure if link above works, but you can google it.
Evidently he is 'mulling over' the idea of bringing back Margaret Thatcher's scheme from the late 80s that decimated this country's council housing stock.
Just wondered what other people thought about it?

It should not be allowed. It annoys me no end. I pay nearly triple what my friend does for a smaller house than hers and she’s banging on about how she’s honing to buy it and yet is too skint to pay for electric. The purpose of these houses is for those on lower income who cannot afford private rent. There are plenty of people who privately rent who would love the same opportunity who pay through the nose in comparison. There’s a housing shortage…I wonder why.

It’s a horrible idea.

The HA houses on my estate are beautiful and well maintained, the tenants benefit from much lower than market rent and secure tenancies. If they can then buy them at 30% less than the almost identical privately owned houses next door, I think that’s a huge slap in the face. It would be a more than 100k saving.

@Basketet same it's infuriating

Because he thinks it will make him popular. He doesn't care about whether it benefits people or addresses the housing crisis.

I know two people (perfectly well off afult homeowners) who made a LOT of money buying their parent’s council home on the basis that they once lived there. Very unfair.

If they do anything like this it should be for the current occupant only, not their children.

As a private renter who is now waiting for court proceedings from my new landlord this really is a bad idea.

Through no fault of my own I am being made homeless.

The council have awarded us a Housing Duty but the council houses are few and far between.

We will end up in temporary miles away whilst my son is in the middle of his GCSEs.

All because I can't get another private rental as I am on housing benefit and disability benefit. I'm deemed not worthy despite paying every bill ever for the 10 years I've been here.

Oh and the new landlord who is a millionaire investor with a huge amount of properties and new build projects.

He wanted to increase my rent by £210 pcm. My contract says he couldn't so eviction it is then.

I didnt used to be poor, I'm not a bad person. But myself and my children are at the mercy of such ruthless people.

He even removed the dining room doors as the council deemed them a hazard. Instead of using safety glass or a protective film he removed the doors completely.

So we've spent winter with a curtain up to keep warm.
The place is mouldy and needs a rewire. It's dated. The carpets are threadbare. No underlay.

But the guy wants an extra £210pcm for this standard. He's a local man, been in the shops bragging about how much he can get away with charging people.

I've got the MP involved. He is being investigated.

There is a need for social housing. LHA rates do not cover local rental prices either. It's soul destroying.

People need homes.

It's a shit idea and always has been. If you're in council housing, you're supposed to be needing the help, not getting a cheap way onto the property ladder.

Unfortunately not everyone will own a home, as much as that sucks, that's life. We can't all be directors, surgeons, solicitors, financial advisors etc. We aren't all going to earn the same or even a decent amount sometimes.

To allow those that got a cheaper house because they are struggling to buy it, and leave those who earn outwith that scheme but not enough to buy to have nothing, that's disgraceful. You're giving a leg up to those who probably can't afford any issues that go wrong with the house and so end up with a damaged house or having to sell it, and ignoring the middle ground people are too 'rich' to qualify for any help, but too poor to afford a house.

Doesn't surprise me though that he'd want to extend it or whatever to get votes. Not that he needs to, the public are going to vote him back in regardless of what he does.

Working people don't get housing benefit though. And housing benefit is capped at well below market value. Housing benefit for a 2 bed property in my area is around £520pm, the cheapest private rental for a 2 bed is around £695pm.

How is all this in any way fair to young people who stand no chance of ever getting a HA property. Between bloody greedy people buying up multiple properties and this kind of thing they don't stand a chance.

Vote buying and bribery. Worked fine for Thatcher would probably work for Big Dog. Meanwhile, in tent city . . .

Many many working people get the rent element of Universal credit.

Only if your rent is very high or you work very few hours. I'm a single working parent working 28 hours a week at minimum wage and I was above the threshold for claiming housing benefit. Luckily I own now.

The additional tax would be passed straight to the tenant to pay through their rent. What a stupid post.

The UK has had rtb for a long time. Even before Thatcher, although she expanded it a lot. In isolation and handled correctly it's not a terrible policy - stops people being reliant on housing benefit into retirement, encourages saving etc. If it had been left as it was pre-80s, with the money going back into social housing investment/purchase, stricter rules about selling etc, it could have been a handy little addition to the nationally available portfolio of tenures.

Ofc because of the insane optics around property ownership in this country it has become one more way of preventing people from accessing secure affordable housing. But then most people don't complain so much about the rest of the optics particularly when their own equity triples every few years, so ...

Parents cannot pass on a tenancy to their children ,it was made very clear to us when we took on our housing association house that their could only be one succession of tenancy ,so as a joint tenant with my dh if I die before him he can succeed the tenancy as a single tenant and vice versa,possibly the people you know gave their parents money to buy their own home ,which they would inherit on their parents death ,but they wouldn't have been able to buy it because they once lived in the house .

In the ideal world yes, LL would rent to tenants at a very low cost and either break even, or male a loss each month to keep rent down.

Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world and property letting is a business. Like any other business such a Tesco, Asda or your local corner shop, the business owner needs to make a profit for it to be sustainable. To make a profit, the LL needs to take the cost of the mortgage, add landlord insurance and the like, add some extra to cover the cost of repairs, add estate agent/management fees and then still make a reasonable profit after tax has been deducted from the remaining figure. Keeping in mind that depending on the LLs other income, they could be paying 40% tax.

It is really unfortunate that property is so expensive and that some people will never be able to own. However, suggesting LLs pay more tax on a second property (cost will immediately increase for tenant) or that LLs should operate at a loss is quite frankly ridiculous. Do you suggest the LAs buy up every single rented accommodation in the country and allow cheap rent? Who pays for that?

It's already happening.

I do many more check outs than ongoing inventories these days. I drive passed a property I did a check out on and instead of a To Let sign I see a For Sale sign. All the Letting Agents I work with are losing properties from their books.

Who is buying in them? Investors for specific businesses, relocation agents can take a lot of properties off the market. Student let's, they can strip an area of local let's. Individual buyers moving into cheaper areas, many moving 100 miles plus, again removing properties from the local market.

If that stops then we won't see a gentle slide, houses becoming available at affordable prices. We'll see yet another housing crash, credit crunch etc.

I think 100+ properties is a heck of a lot but can vastly differ in size and price point. Apartment buildings can have 40 plus flats so is that dwellings od individual buildings? Tory MPs wouldn’t like that anyway. Should companies be exempt? Savid Javid used to run his brother’s multimillion property company. And didn’t SJ sell a building with planning to convert to apartments a few years ago or is this someone else?

You're giving a leg up to those who probably can't afford any issues that go wrong with the house and so end up with a damaged house or having to sell it, and ignoring the middle ground people are too 'rich' to qualify for any help, but too poor to afford a house.

What a nasty post. So the government shouldn't give a leg up to 'poor people' because they don't deserve to own their own home?

the whole system needs to be changed, buying property as a way to invest money should be highly taxed of it’s not your primary income

landlords should not be able to move on good tenants unless they are selling so the option is there for longer term renting

if right to buy allowed HA or Councils to use the profits to only put into building more low income affordable homes I would support it

unfortunately there are so many loop holes that this won’t happen and many landlord get away with paying low tax

holiday homes should certainly be taxed very highly to have a property that you use just for a short time each year is an absolute luxury

I didn't realise it had ever stopped.
Yes though it was a terrible idea as the money doesn't seem to be used to replace the properties.

Naughty40me I am sorry you are in this situation .As far as I can see LL seem to be able to get away with an awful lot.Our cousin rents properties out ,however he looks after his tenants and rewires/replaces carpets and so on .Of course you are not a bad person! I cannot see how selling off HA stock will help anyone .The whole idea is badly thought out and without foundation

*primary home