The Absurdity of Right to Buy

ruggedtoast

Mr_Mumble wrote: »

The council is a huge part of the market, at ~20%, whether it owns the housing or rents them is irrelevant, it has huge pricing power that, in many cases, they don't wish to use. The council gains capital when it sells housing stock and loses it if there was a decision to build housing, councils should not be in the business of gambling money on residential property.

Youre not a landlord who rents to DSS tenants are you by any chance; or possibly a right to buyer?

Most people I have met think that its not particularly advantageous to the taxpayer to sell social housing to people at a marked discount from the market rate, which they then immediately flip and leave the council having to pay private rental fees as they then dont have stock to home people.

You are half right - if right to buy had lifted people out of poverty it would have worked. But Labour has made sure that there is a constant tide of needy benefit claimants from home and away clamouring for assisted shelter.

And thanks to right to buy there is now nowhere to put them.

TotallyBroke

Right to buy has actually kept me in poverty. It was not my council property but I bought it from the previous council tenant that used her right to buy.
I pay my mortgage every month, I pay ground rent every year (which is minimal), pay service charges to have grass cut, windows cleaned, stairways swept, the list goes on all at almost £150 per month and then I have to pay extra if they repair anything. Other estates have had to pay in excess of £5,000 to have the windows replaced so I'm expecting that soon. You can't get away from it either because although I own my property I do not own the ground, the roof or the windows.
I know if it was my own freehold property I would still have to cut grass and sweep front step etc but I bet it would be done perfectly and cost nowhere near £1800 pa. The annoying thing is the grass I'm paying to be cut is actually grass verges alongside the main roads which should be covered by my council tax. But hey ho.

I'd love to sell it back to them lol

Bootski

TotallyBroke wrote: »

Right to buy has actually kept me in poverty. It was not my council property but I bought it from the previous council tenant that used her right to buy.
I pay my mortgage every month, I pay ground rent every year (which is minimal), pay service charges to have grass cut, windows cleaned, stairways swept, the list goes on all at almost £150 per month and then I have to pay extra if they repair anything. Other estates have had to pay in excess of £5,000 to have the windows replaced so I'm expecting that soon. You can't get away from it either because although I own my property I do not own the ground, the roof or the windows.
I know if it was my own freehold property I would still have to cut grass and sweep front step etc but I bet it would be done perfectly and cost nowhere near £1800 pa. The annoying thing is the grass I'm paying to be cut is actually grass verges alongside the main roads which should be covered by my council tax. But hey ho.

I'd love to sell it back to them lol

"Right to buy has actually kept me in poverty. It was not my council property but I bought it from the previous council tenant that used her right to buy"

It's not that bad, come on!! I own a property now, Mum bought it Right to Buy at a discount and left it to me.

I'm hoping to profit from it. Don't blame the owners, blame the legislation by the gov at the time.

RTB would not have been an issue a few years ago when everone had all the credit given to them on a silver plate. It's just since the market turned, it's either our fault or..... immigrants:rolleyes:

purch

There is an ex-council house (one of a row of 4) in a village near to me on Exmoor.

It has been owned by a retired couple from Yam Yam land for the last decade, who were, the 3rd owners of the property since it was sold by the local authority.

They used it as a 'weekend' retreat.

It was on the market for well over 6 months, and has recently been bought.

.................by a local Housing Association :eek:

Now that IS absurd !!!!

Bootski

purch wrote: »

There is an ex-council house (one of a row of 4) in a village near to me on Exmoor.

It has been owned by a retired couple from Yam Yam land for the last decade, who were, the 3rd owners of the property since it was sold by the local authority.

They used it as a 'weekend' retreat.

It was on the market for well over 6 months, and has recently been bought.

.................by a local Housing Association :eek:

Now that IS absurd !!!!

Now that IS absurd cause I offered the LHA to buy back mine and put it back into the "system" and they said they couldn't afford to. Were buying up 2 bed flats nearer west of London but not family homes round here. In fact they've been selling their, little remaining stock round here.

So I did offer but the fact is Local Authority and Housing Associations = skint, in fact, and it's true, they're nearon bust - throughout the country.:eek: