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Original poster

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

510 replies

somewhereoverthechipshop · 02/05/2022 14:00

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?

OP posts:
JingsWullie · 02/05/2022 16:58

Ok. I mean I think you have a number of misunderstandings about how housing allocation works. You just need to be in housing need. Which you are if you're being evicted. You'd be in more need if you were vulnerable in some way eg if you had a dependent child but you say you're disabled so you're vulnerable on that front. Income is irrelevant although it can help to be in employment for housing associations because they'll often ask for employer and previous landlord references and they like it if you've not been in arrears and have a good steady history.

It's worth giving it a go isn't it? You can still look for private rentals as well.

JingsWullie · 02/05/2022 17:00

Although if you can afford to buy obviously it's not worth bothering. But then there's no issue is there really.

JingsWullie · 02/05/2022 17:02

Sorry those comments were to @pixie5121.

balalake · 02/05/2022 17:02

My guess is that it is an idea being floated in advance of Thursday's local elections. Aside from very few council houses in any case, most of those in them or indeed 'generation rent' as a whole could not raise the deposit sufficient for a mortgage at a reasonable interest rate.

Dog whistle or dead cat politics. Might not happen.

woodenwindchimes · 02/05/2022 17:02

goldfinchfan · 02/05/2022 14:18

It is a terrible idea. There will be less housing available that is affordable for people. The council house sell meant most of the decent properties vanished forever in the rental zone.
In some parts of the country there is almost no rental properties but there is still the need for them.
Low paid workers. Even average paid workers need a place to live that they can afford.
This sell off yet again suits the rich.

How does it suit the rich?

I do believe you have to actually live in the home you buy? You can't buy it at the discount and then rent it - you wouldn't be allowed.

FairyCakeWings · 02/05/2022 17:04

JingsWullie · 02/05/2022 16:36

People do what makes sense for them within the limits of policy according to the circumstance they're in.

How many homeowners turn down the extra money when they come to sell and they can get £100k more for their house than they paid for it? They're not exactly helping to resolve the housing crisis themselves, are they?

In most cases wouldn’t be able to afford to turn it down even if they wanted to. All the other properties have risen by the same amount and selling and buying houses costs money too.

Very few people benefit from house price rises in any real sense. The benefits all belong to the banks.

HandlebarLadyTash · 02/05/2022 17:06

Why,
There a not enough property's in the first place.
We need social housing available to everyone who needs a affordable secure home.

JingsWullie · 02/05/2022 17:07

@FairyCakeWings so they could rent then couldn't they? That's what people on this thread think council tenants should do, even if it makes more sense for them to buy.

(And yes, I'm pointing out the absurdity rather than seriously suggesting it.)

woodenwindchimes · 02/05/2022 17:08

Getoff · 02/05/2022 14:31

HA houses and council houses are supposed to be for those who have no hope of buying. If they all get sold off on the cheap the poorest will have to fork out for extortionate private rental costs!

This comment illustrates why social housing should not exist, at least in its present form. People think the reason for it is to provide cheaper housing. The only purpose should be to provide good corporate landlords, and security of tenure that is better than the private sector is offering. Everyone should pay the market cost for housing. Those who can't afford housing can be assisted by housing benefit, regardless of what kind of landlord they have.

The way housing should work is that corporate landlords, whether local authorities, housing assoications or private companies, should offer their housing stock to the highest-bidder. There would be no waiting lists and the only filtering criteria would be whether the person was trusted to pay the rent. For the non-profit landlords, any excess revenues would be reinvested in building or acquiring more properties.

Housing benefit is a targeted benefit that helps those in need. Providing social housing, with below-market rents is a hugely wasteful way of subsidising people, because the subsidy doesn't change when their circumstances do.

Everyone should pay the market cost for housing?

Can I ask you why you believe this?

Also, what is the market cost for housing? Say, per month? (in your observation)

I'm interested why you hold these opinions and what exactly they mean in real terms.

woodenwindchimes · 02/05/2022 17:09

itsjustnotok · 02/05/2022 14:31

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.

But what's your problem with it though? If you think her situation is so much better why didn't you take that route yourself?

x2boys · 02/05/2022 17:10

This reply has been deleted

Withdrawn at poster's request.

We don't all live in London though ,i live in the northwest if I was to buy my two bedroom housing association house on a not so great housing estate I can't imagine making much of a profit if I chose to sell

PansyPetunia · 02/05/2022 17:10

I'm buying my social housing... it never went away and has always been an option

lollipoprainbow · 02/05/2022 17:10

@latetothefisting my landlord is selling too, been very happy here for 9 years, god knows what we'll do, rentals have rocketed where I live and there is nothing in my price range.

JingsWullie · 02/05/2022 17:10

I would also love to know what the market cost for housing is 🤣 lol

lollipoprainbow · 02/05/2022 17:11

Sorry my post was meant for @pixie5121 !!!

IncompleteSenten · 02/05/2022 17:12

I would be ok with it if every home sold had to be replaced. So the money from all sales ringfenced to build new properties / buy run down ones and make them habitable.

JingsWullie · 02/05/2022 17:12

@lollipoprainbow same advice to you. Check out getting yourself on the housing list. You are being evicted and as of now have nowhere else to go. Read the criteria. You fit it.

PurassicJark · 02/05/2022 17:13

Waxonwaxoff0 · 02/05/2022 15:03

Current homeowners should be grateful they own a home rather than wanting to make profit on it. As a homeowner I'd be completely fine with my house dropping in value, I'm just bloody grateful that I own it and I'll always have a roof over my head. Owning a home is privilege.

Show quote history

I agree but you try telling people on here that their 600k house should now be worth 60k. See how well they take it. 😂

NeverDropYourMooncup · 02/05/2022 17:15

I reckon it won't happen.

Mainly because for once in my life, I would actually benefit from the change, as there's no way a working middleaged disabled woman on the wages I earn would ever be able to purchase anywhere, even on a shared ownership basis, or even pass checks to rent somewhere else.

No way will they ever do something that would be of advantage to me. It's just bullshit to try and get votes.

MangyInseam · 02/05/2022 17:16

JingsWullie · 02/05/2022 16:43

@MangyInseam I really don't know. It feels like we've gone through a bit of a sea change since 2008. Money doesn't mean the same, wages don't mean the same, economies don't work the same, since then. The global asset market is booming like never before - people like Christie's can't get stuff out fast enough, nor can property developers. Because of our laissez-faire attitude to the provision of housing in the UK and our baseline inequalities, we're seeing more people at the sharp end than more regulated flatter economies but it's a worldwide movement that has been going on for over a decade. Is it even possible to pull back from that now, especially in the UK when we are economically isolated?

So this is what strikes me too - this economic change isn't just one country. In fact even if we want to look all the way back to Thatcher, there seem to be much larger forces at work in terms of the direction of the world economy. Because it certainly wan't just the UK that moved towards things like deregulation. Banking is international, capital moves internationally, we all belong to these different trade blocks where it doesn't seem to be nation-states that are wielding the power.

And it doesn't seem to matter much what political parties dominate, it doesn't really change things.

JingsWullie · 02/05/2022 17:16

Yup @PurassicJark .

"We need to sort the housing crisis. No, not like that. Try something else. Oh look, a council tenant."

pixie5121 · 02/05/2022 17:18

This reply has been withdrawn

Withdrawn at poster's request.

DockOTheBay · 02/05/2022 17:23

Fidodidit · 02/05/2022 14:25

Maybe a scheme where private renters could have the right to buy their property after a period of time - with restrictions on reasons they could be served notice and how much rents could be raised by to stop those being a tool that prevent it.

Why should renters have more rights over a property than the person who actually owns it?
I don't have a rental property and likely never will, but I have friends who have recently been through the courts to evict tenants who didn't pay rent and refused to leave when given notice. They went to the courts to appeal that they should be allowed to live in that house, rather than the people who actually own it. Madness

JingsWullie · 02/05/2022 17:24

@MangyInseam agree that neoliberalism has stitched things up from the 1980s onwards but I dunno, there's something else since 2008. Just the very fact that people with money aren't keeping it as money would indicate such. They aren't even keeping it as investment money in the same way they did previously - they're literally buying things, yachts, gold, art, antiques, property, like fucking maniacs and have been for fourteen years. That's almost a generation.

JingsWullie · 02/05/2022 17:30

Why should renters have more rights over a property than the person who actually owns it?

Well I dunno Einstein, you tell me. Why should any person have substantial rights wrt their actual home, the one spot on this vast earth they live on? Just let other people claim it, own it, charge it, let it, hand it on, pocket the cash, pass go and collect £200 . It's all good.