AIBU to think right to buy scheme should be scrapped?

[MumOfTheNorth]

There was a debate on LBC today about the shortage of social housing and the presenter said no party would support scrapping the right to buy scheme as it is too popular.

To me it seems mad to be selling off social housing at a discount, further depleting our national stock of social housing, despite thousands of people being on waiting lists.

I get it is a massive boost for the person you sell it to but in the long run wouldn't keeping it help more families in need?

I hope this isn't massively controversial - genuinely interested in if there is huge support for this scheme and if so why?

I agree op.

A
Relative is selling her dads ex council house for 180 k after he bought it for 8k . It's obscene .

I agree op. No wonder there is such a lack of social housing.

I agree.

It's a bit late now - the damage is done. It should never have been brought in.

I also agree on a societal level. I have seen that it has massively benefitted family members who would have had no hope of owning a home otherwise (1 low income household), but also see friends desperate for reasonable price housing that is suitable and it is impossible, despite decent income.

It’s not that controversial - the scheme has already been scrapped in Scotland and Wales

It's fine if councils build houses to replace the ones they've sold.

I think yab a bit u anyway. No one wants to be renting into retirement, even at social housing level rents. So it makes sense on an individual level for people to buy. They can have a happier and healthier old age.

And the affordable housing crisis is largely fuelled by credit oriented demand. If you want to tackle it you need to look at the bigger picture. There are entire housing developments across the country that are only available to buyers who will never live in them - they can't, because owner occupiers are excluded from purchase.

We're talking about globally positioned billionaires who are rinsing the market and rigging it for everyone. In the face of that, Barry and Kath getting a hold of a two bedroom place in a neighborhood most mumsnetters would turn their noses up at, and which they would otherwise have had lifelong occupancy of anyway regardless, is pretty small beans.

The issue was never really the scheme or people selling and making a profit much like other homeowners who made equity, it's that the money raised from the sales was never reinvested into replacing them either with new builds or renovating empty properties. Most councils are so cash strapped they rarely have funds for land & build cost for an estate, often just few pockets on unused spaces or the haggle for social as part of builder planning permisson. The government wanted to get rid of the responsibility for them, much like these housing associations who've sold off a load too. The government could have bought land as it has for HS2 and had social housing projects over the years but they'd rather appease all those profiting from there being a housing crisis than provide affordable homes for people.

It made sense when RTB was brought in as council estates often carried a stigma for those that lived there and were seen as rough places. The scheme gives those who'd likely already rented for years and attached to their family home the opportunity to make further investment and helped change these estates as now most are mixed ownership which helped reduce some antisocial problems but are not separated into the small clump of social on a new build estate.

Council houses are not like private rentals with having long term security and often a contract that offers a lot more flexibility to alter things to the property/garden. So renters do invest their own money in making it nice and knowing that they one day maybe able to get mortgage to buy it can make them more invested in the neighbourhood. Usually there are stipulations about renting/selling for a period after benefitting from RTB and the discount % is based on how long you've rented with council.
Private rental standards probably gone down in recent years, but used to higher than council often for not much more £pm and straight from moving into council house your expected to buy all the flooring and unless new build likely put money/effort in to redecorate as can be poor condition or fix up garden which may just be strimmed weeds or an unsafe patio.

It was abolished in Scotland several years ago and there is not nearly as much pressure on housing stock as there is in other parts of the UK. They also seem to build q decent amount of new houses, they built a lot of small bungalows in my village for older or disabled people.

Already scrapped in Wales so I don’t see an issue with scrapping it in England.

I know the situation is bad everywhere but I can only speak for my local area and there is virtually no social housing here whatsoever unless you’re over 50 as they wanted to entice people out of larger houses but even that hasn’t freed up much stock for families! All newer housing that’s being built is either for private rent or help to buy.

They should stop it for new tenants but not for anyone who has already built up years towards their discount. I would get 43% discount if I was in a house & 66% if I bought a flat which equates to if I bought the flat I'm in it would cost me around £31k. I would be extremely pissed off if they removed my right to buy. It is written into the tenancy agreement, so I would imagine there would be a big legal challenge if they tried to remove it.

I think the country needs to retain council houses for the benefit of people who will need them in future. Selling off all the desirable properties helps nobody except that one individual.

@Nat6999 Nothing quite like pulling the rug up. I should get it but no one else should.

The only problem with right to buy was no reinvestment into more council housing. RTB decreases generational dependence on the state and is actually a benefit to the public purse in the long run…as long as housing stock is replaced.
What’s the difference between a discount on your council house and a deposit gift from your parents? Only the pure luck of the family you were born into.

YANBU. I'm a social housing tenant myself with a right to buy, I've been in my flat for 14 years.

I don't see it as something I'm "entitled" to, it's something I was given at a difficult point in my life as a homeless single mum and I'm very grateful for the security. I would never give up my tenancy but I also wouldn't buy the property, when I die I'd like it to benefit someone else who was in my position. I can't afford to buy a house normally, unfortunately that's the way it goes sometimes. I hope my DS lives with me for as long as possible so he can save to buy his own house and break the cycle.

Why should you get it but not other people?

Well yeah but there's a whole lot of stuff in between. Many people live in private rentals and won't get deposits from their parents either, they're the ones I feel most sorry for, at least in social housing we have lifelong housing.

I agree. I mean great for the person buying to get a huge discount but depletes an already minimal Council stock. Sure that person might not be able to buy without a major discount but there’s so many other people in that boat that haven’t had the benefit of lower rent prices either.

Most new tenants are given right to aquire now instead of right to buy.

Yes abolish it.
While they're at it they also need to look at the stupid downsizing policy where older people can't move because their new tenancy for a smaller place would cost more in rent than their current place.
The whole system is fucked - including people who feel entitled to social housing with no intention of ever working (I've worked in inner city housing and this is very common).

I don't think the RTB scheme was the problem it's was that when it was I produced (Thatcher) it was also made that any property sold and money from those sales were not allowed to be reinvested. Hence we now have very little council housing, it's all HA that does "social" housing which, of course, is all run by private companies

I can't believe it's still active

As has been previously said, the only issue with right to buy is that the money wasn’t spent on new stock.

It should never have started in the first place. It was only ever a bribe to vote Tory. Blair should have scrapped it in 1997.

You can blame Margaret Thatcher, she saw it as a vote winner and it was. She also prevented L/As from using the proceeds of the sales to build more social housing .In the end L/As were borrowing to build new houses which were being sold at a discount and the L/As were still paying the loans, many stopped building as it was not affordable/ made no business sense to sell an asset with an outstanding loan on it, or alternatively they transferred all the stock to housing associations. You can tell I don't agree with it. And ,of course, many of those homes were sold on and are now in the hands of private landlords who rent them out at often higher rents than those still belonging to the L/As.