Right to buy

[joe-90]

The Tories are promising a RTB for housing association tenants. Is this a case of following Maggie and selling off the family silver? Loads of them convert to mortgages and then can't keep up the repayments and get booted out - straight into another housing association house - but the one they were booted from becomes a private landlord owned property rented out at silly rents. Desperate Tories and desperate measures, just to try and hang onto power.

 

[big-all]

exactly
take a social house that cost no more than maintainance and a few pound a week depreciation over its 50 or so life
that will give an affordable rent off perhaps £80-120 a week compared to double or triple that for the same house under private ownership

 

[EFLImpudence]

Depreciation on a fifty year old house ???

 

[big-all]

sorry building costs spread over 50 years

 

[jockscott]

Is this a case of following Maggie and selling off the family silver?

Hmmm , Didn't our Gordon sell the family gold, at a stupid knock down price? .

 

[AronSearle]

Right to buy is a sensible policy in principle, but it has always been implemented extremely poorly.

Do it properly or don't do it at all, this has cock up written all over it.

 

[longdogs]

I agree, the original idea of RTB, I think was good, it released the maintenance costs from local councils and gave ordinary people with ordinary jobs, a chance to get on the property ladder. Something they would never be able to achieve. But, as always, the well-off people of the country muscled in on it and turned it into a business and a quick way of making money.

 

[Micilin]

The original RTB was a political decision, not an economic one. Subsidising housing made no sense when the councils were then banned from spend the proceeds on more housing.

Supply and demand for me, with a big enough social housing stock for those that really need it, not just those that can't afford it because of that very housing policy.

 

[breadnbutter]

i noticed when maggie did right to buy allot of the council houses ,and areas started improving ,people to pride in there home. but got to agree with joe-90, the landlords snap them up, and double the rent,also convert them into flats,for more dosh.
the council waiting list, forget it, its 5 years if your lucky on the point system,maybe ten years, before you get enough points. its a catastrophe.

 

[big-all]

the original rtb achieved 4 things
bribed the working man
enslaved them to a mortgage making them reluctant or unable to strike
reduced the subsidy from central government because they where not allowed to build new houses with the recipes so had end off year surpluses reducing the next years subsidy by that amount which the government used for tax cuts
and last off all devastated the stocks off social housing

 

[AronSearle]

bribed the working man

I don't understand your logic, how is RTB a bribe any more than council housing?

 

[gregers]

if there on strike they dont get paid,hence they cant pay a mortgage,
no doubt if they were still in a council house then they could claim benifets?

i live in a housing association house,couple of years ago we had some litrature through the door sayig we would get a max 19k discount if we wanted to go down that route,which is still not enough for me to be able to do that on my wages at present and the cost of the house.
so as far as im concerned thos idea is nothing new.

 

[sooey]

bribed the working man

I don't understand your logic, how is RTB a bribe any more than council housing?

Because people have aspirations, and people who never thought that they would own their own home were suddenly given a chance to at a greatly discounted cost.
If it's not a bribe why are the tories pledging to do it all over again now in the run up to an election?

 

[big-all]

bribed the working man

I don't understand your logic, how is RTB a bribe any more than council housing?

we will sell you a car or house at 30-75 % discount an asset with value that you can sell if you wish to move on
rented house end off term its not yours so no value to extract

 

[big-all]

bribed the working man

I don't understand your logic, how is RTB a bribe any more than council housing?

Because people have aspirations, and people who never thought that they would own their own home were suddenly given a chance to at a greatly discounted cost.
If it's not a bribe why are the tories pledging to do it all over again now in the run up to an election?

yes exactly