SNP another bribe for votes

[rosycheex]

Just read this on BBC news-
Private tenants will have "first refusal" if landlords put their home up for sale if the SNP wins the Holyrood election, John Swinney has pledged.
Under the plans, when the owner of the property decides to list it on the market, renters would be given a period of exclusivity to purchase it "at a fair market rate".

So you would sell at a favourable rate to former tenants instead of just putting it on the open market?
……. then when the former tenants have bought the property they could sell it on if it’s actually worth more eg in desirable area, than the ‘fair market price’ they paid.
Anyway, seems dodgy idea to me.

This is another one of those things that they say because it sounds good and costs them nothing, and yet when you look at the practicalities is totally unworkable. How would it work with offers over? What if there is a family member you want to sell it to instead? What if you wanna quick sale?

Yet another thing to gum up the housing market.

If they would build homes, encourage industry and jobs there would be no need for these perks

Well that's never going to fly is it?

What is wrong with doing this? It saves the landlord a void period, estate agents fees, and they are selling at market value so should be better off, not worse.
My next door neighbours bought their rental after 20 years, saved their LL marketing it or doing it up. Both parties happy and made total sense.
Why on earth would anyone disagree with this, apart from possibly estate agents who won't get to fleece buyers and sellers?

What is wrong is enforcing it so LL can’t choose what suits them

Only the SNP could dream up a policy where council house sales to tenants are not allowed (it’s their one policy I actually agree with) but private let sales to tenants would be enforced!

Cloud cuckoo land as ever!

Market value is one thing, but the owner should be allowed to sell to the bidder that suits them best, whether that be higher offer, speed of settlement or whatever. Its their property!
Another SNP idea that just doesnt work! The quicker they are out the better, they have ruined Scotland.

Only a minority of homes actually sell at the market rate - some go above it and some below it.

Surely the landlord should be allowed to choose at what rate he or she sells the house at and who to?

I know loads of people who bought from their landlords. It’s worked great for both parties. It’s FORCING it onto landlords that’s the issue.

But there is no mention of 'forcing' a sale. They will be required to make it available to their tenants first, then if the tenant can't afford it, it will go on the open market. No different from having the 2 month notice period for tenants to quit which they have to provide before a sale in any case.

The housing crisis is just too severe to ignore any more. The reason social housing tenants can no longer buy is because this policy decimated the social housing stock and it wasn't replaced, leading to increased homelessness.

It is a solution to many people being unable to leave private renting, and it will improve the numbers of people owning their own home instead of renting, potentially saving money on the housing element of universal credit. That saves us all public money, so it's a good policy.

@Coffeeandallthebooks But it doesn’t increase the amount of housing, so how will it address homelessness?

It might even slightly reduce the amount of housing or increase rents slightly, as landlords will know they will have less choice when selling and are more likely to get a bad price.

@GeneralPeter it will solve the problem of insecure housing for those whose LL is selling up.
If you look across MN a huge number of families have been left homeless and the responsibility of a local authority to house, even if they are in work, because a private LL has sold up. An option to remain if they could afford a mortgage alleviates pressure on emergency housing.
This gives them more money to spend on social housing - my local council are buying back council properties sold underr right to buy for social housing just now.
It also gives national government money back on universal credit if they are not paying the housing element in rent and people have mortgages instead.

It doesn’t sound like much of an electoral bribe to me. Certainly nothing like as much of a bribe as Right to Buy was. Are there really that many tenants at risk of eviction who are also in a position to buy the property?

Who decides on the "fair market rate"?

We sold a house that had been rented out for a few years, the tenant wanted to buy but their idea of a "fair" price was below the EA estimate and far short of what it finally sold for (post COVID boom).

Wouldn't a landlord planning to sell just evict the tenants and then put it on the open market to avoid this?

Something has to be done about the housing crisis and landlord monopoly but this is not it.

Yeah, this is a ridiculous idea.

I'm a landlord, and having decided to sell this year I did ask my tenant if they would be interested in buying. I did this knowing that it was possible that I would get more for the property on the open market - but it was my choice - not forced on me. As it happens, my tenant is planning on moving to a different area later this year, so I'll wait and put the house on the market after she's moved out.

All this proposal will achieve is encourage even more landlords in the PRS to sell up sooner rather than later. The SNP have a real knack for turning any problem into a crisis, and when in a crisis, to keep making it worse.

Like other SNP policies, it's style over substance and won't work in reality.

Its madness you cannot force a house owner to sell to someone by all means they can offer the tenant but as most houses go offers over they go to highest bidder.

I really dont understand John Swinney logic. He knows we have a national housing shortage and not enough houses for Scottish people but yet is encouraging migrants to come to Scotland which creates an even bigger housing crisis.

No idea why I have posted a picture of runners in this lol

sounds sensible to me!