Right to buy scheme to be revived

The BBC report that the Government are planning to revive the Right to Buy scheme. This is excellent news - something I have repeatedly called for on this site. There were only 3,690 sales under the Right to Buy in England last year. Sales including housing association properties were just 8,410.

For the Right to Buy to have meaning there need to be proper discounts reflecting the alternative of heavily subsidised rent. Scrapping John Prescott's cap on the level of discounts provided under the Right to Buy introduced during the Thatcher Government is crucial. The discounts range from up to 32% to 60% for houses and 44% to 70% for flats depending on length of tenure. But with the limit Prescott put on the amounts (ranging from £16,000 to £38,000) in practice the discounts are far smaller. The Prescott cap must go.

Around 70% of social housing tenants would like to own. At the moment the system makes that option unrealistic for those living in the two million council homes and two million housing association homes. I hope housing association tenants will also be given the right to buy.

The Sunday Times interview with David Cameron includes comments (£) about selling thousands of acres of Government land for 100,000 new homes. This is not a new announcement but it is thoroughly welcome - both for easing the housing shortage and reducing the National Debt (or slowing its rise) by £7 billion.

Tackling worklessness in Wandsworth

Cllr Ravi Govindia, the new leader of Wandsworth Council, wants to proote home ownership and parent choice

Wandsworth has enjoyed a reputation over the past 30 years as reforming council that delivers the best value local services in the country.  We will continue to do this while developing a new agenda which addresses the challenges and issues of today.

A big part of that agenda for me is extending choice and opportunity across our communities. Having arrived in the UK from Uganda at the age of 17, following the expulsion of Uganda Asians, you may not be surprised to know that I place a high value on individual freedom, choice and opportunity.

I would like hard working families in our borough to have the choice to own a stake in their own home. I would like parents to have the choice on which school their child should attend. I want to improve the link between our neighbourhoods and job opportunities. These are issues which I feel passionate about.

For example, I do not think it is right that people with jobs are effectively pushed to the back of the queue when it comes to council house provision. Currently in Wandsworth our available data is showing that less than a third of social housing is being awarded to people in jobs. Having housing estates where the majority of people are out of work is not good for the local economy and it is not good for people living there. I strongly believe that social housing should be an aspiration - just like it was back in the 50s and 60s. Of course we need a safety net for people who, often through no fault of their own, find themselves out of a job. However, we also need a local lettings policy that encourages work rather than worklessness alone.

Pickles acts to protect rights of homeowners

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles is today bringing an end to heavy handed rules that can mean people who leave their house empty for more than six months risk having it seized by their local authority.

In 2006, the previous Government introduced ‘Empty Dwelling Management Orders’. They allow councils to take over properties that have been empty for as little as six months.

• The home does not have to be blighted or boarded up to be taken over, just empty for six months – including homes of the deceased.
• Councils have the right to seize furniture, fixtures and fittings, when the home is taken over, including where the home has been left empty for a period after the owner has died.
• Homes already on the property market can be seized if councils believe the asking price is “unrealistic”.

In order to protect civil liberties, Mr Pickles is today introducing powerful safeguards to restrict the use of Empty Dwelling Management Orders.

Home ownership for Heroes

Glyn Gaskarth says members of the armed forces should be helped onto the housing ladder

As Conservatives we appreciate the courage and dedication of our armed services. However, councils of all stripes often fail to provide armed forces personnel with the recognition and reward they deserve. This is unacceptable and we should work to resolve this issue.

One way to reward service personnel and reduce their demand on social housing is by assisting them to build up capital in a property while they are in service. Councils could designate a proportion of social housing either new build or recently vacant properties for sale to armed forces personnel at a significant discount to the market rate.

The MOD could be persuaded to advertise this policy within their official website. This would be subject to relevant disclaimers to the effect they were not endorsing individual’s decision to purchase properties as a form of investment advice but making them aware of the opportunities the scheme presents.

Service personnel on low incomes currently cannot save enough to amass a sufficient deposit to procure a competitive mortgage. The decline in housing prices could also make it unwise for them to purchase at the market rate. However, by joining this scheme they would have, in effect, an automatic deposit equivalent to the level of the discount on the market rate. This would constitute equity in the house and provide some security if house prices fell further.

Greenwich - A Labour Council leading the way in abolishing security of tenure

Cllr Spencer Drury, Leader of the Conservative Group on Greenwich Council, on the Labour double standards in his borough

It is a strange world in Greenwich where the Labour Council chose in July to abolish security of tenure in its newly created ‘Housing Delivery Vehicle’ and then last night attacked the Conservative government for abolishing the very same security of tenure.

At Greenwich’s Cabinet meeting on 20th July, which lasted less than six minutes, the Labour Cabinet agreed a plan that will mean rent increases and removing security of tenure.

The Labour Cabinet’s plan means 28 Council owned properties will be transferred to a new Council company (run outside of democratic control) and new residents of these properties will face changed
conditions of residence, including:

Right to Buy sales last year just 3,100

Technically the right to buy for Council tenants still exists but in practice John Prescott largely killed it off by dramatically scaling down the discounts. So the choice is to continue with a highly subsidised rent or buy at nearly the full market price. The aspiration for home ownership is still strong - around 70% of tenants would like to own. But the system is now stacked against making the option realistic.

Just 3,100 sales under the Right to Buy took place last year - compared to nearly 70,000 as recently as 2003. There were some other schemes, including ones from Housing Association which brought the total of sales to sitting tenants in Social Housing up to 8,510. This is against a couple of million council homes and another couple of million for housing associations.

What about restoring proper discounts for Right to Buy? Or at least, in a spirit of localism, allowing councils to offer what level of discount they choose?

Over to you, Mr Shapps.

Boris boosts low cost home ownership

Nearly 1,000 families, currently in rented and particularly overcrowded accommodation, will be able to take their first step towards owning their own home in London under plans unveiled today by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and the London Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

The First Steps for families initiative supports the Mayor’s aim to increase the proportion of family sized homes built for low cost home ownership. It will see up to 1000 new homes made available over the next three years to families aspiring to own their new property, with around 250 ready by next summer. There is strong support from both London boroughs and housing associations who have included their own sites in the programme in addition to sites put forward by the HCA.

Despite difficult economic times the Mayor is on track to deliver 50,000 affordable homes by 2012, and his aim is that 20,000 of these will be made available for low cost home ownership. So far, over 26,000 new affordable homes have been delivered and, in the last year alone, over 15,000 affordable homes were started, a 35 per cent increase on the year before the Mayor was elected. In line with the Mayor’s Housing Strategy, London’s affordable housing supply is now delivering homes that are better designed, with more and larger rooms for families, and giving Londoners more choice in where they live and more help for those that want to buy their home.

John Healey attacks home ownership - for others

On Wednesday the Housing Minister John Healey gave a speech to the Fabian Society where he attacked the growth in home ownership that took place under the Conservatives. He said:

This decade is the first time ever that homeownership has declined – from 70.9% of all households in 2003, to 68.3 today. Some point to the recession having shaken people’s desire to invest in bricks and mortar. But in reality, homeownership had been dropping since 2005.

And I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing.

At the moment, up to 70% of the population has their money tied up in property. The proportion was boosted by Margaret Thatcher’s Right to Buy. But you don’t need to be a grocer’s daughter to know that it’s not a good idea to have all your eggs in one basket.

For many people the aspiration for home ownership is about resolved the opportunity to pass wealth on to the next generation. Old Labour despised this, of course. So, it seems, does Healey.

He says:

As housing wealth is passed from parents to children, inequality is compounded over the generations.

That’s something that a party that believes in fairness should tackle and I’m pleased that finally the Tories are getting the scrutiny they deserve on their inheritance tax plans. A plan that makes Britain more unequal as time goes on, increasing the unearned windfalls that the children of wealthy parents get.

"Children of the wealthy?" In my borough someone who bought their council flat under the right to buy can find themselves above the Inheritance Tax threshold. Healey wants to punish those who wish to pass the asset on.

There is an inequality that some of us are home owners and some of us aren't. A survey of council tenants in my borough showed 70% would like to be home owners. Do we level up or level down? Do we follow Hesley approach of thwarting their ambition or do we seek policies to fufil to help make home ownership possible for the many and not just the few? I want more people to have the pride and independence that home ownership brings. Increased home ownership benefits everyone because mixed and stable communities results  in lower crime and better social cohesion than the alternative of monolithic social rented housing.

Healey's belief that home ownership is a bad thing because it promotes inequality does not extend to his own conduct. The day after his speech it emerged that he had made an £88,000 profot after selling his taxpayer funded second home. While giving lectures to the rest of us about the unfairness of home ownership he plans to pocket the proceeds from the house he bought at our expense.

Strengthening the Conservatives' home ownership agenda

As I mentioned when it was published the Conservatives new policy paper on housing, Strong Foundations: Building Homes and Communities, has some excellent proposals.

But what is missing?

• Scrapping John Prescott's cap on the level of discounts provided under the Right to Buy introduced during the Thatcher Government. The discounts range from up to 32% to 60% for houses and 44% to 70% for flats depending on length of tenure. But with the limit Prescott put on the amounts (ranging from £16,000 to £38,000) in practice the discounts are far smaller. The Prescott cap must go.
• Extend the right to buy for a million housing association tenants. This was Conservative policy at the last election but appears to have been dropped. They should also be entitled to same discount as Council tenants. At the moment there is lottery where those placed in Council properties have a right to buy while those placed in housing association properties don't.
• As well as the 10% equity share offered to good tenants, offer an extra equity stake for tenants who agree in their tenancy agreements to take responsibility to pay and organise minor repairs for themselves. (Plumbing, etc.) The present Soviet system involves them going along to housing officers for the most minor repairs - with great delay and inefficiency. Councillors often hear about it as it ends up as case work for us to chase up.

Right to Buy suspended in Aberdeenshire

By heavily reducing right to buy discounts for council discounts for Council tenants few have done more in recent years than John Prescott to make home ownership the preserve of the rich. Now Aberdeenshire Council, a minority Lib Dem administration, have rather extraordinarily been allowed to remove the right to buy for their residents entirely. All justified as part of the Soviet central planning mindset that housing need can only be met by state provision.