In 1979, Margaret Thatcher was
voted in on a Tory landslide with the ‘right to buy your own council house’
being a mainstay of Conservative policy. She encouraged people to buy their own
their own council flats and houses, although it might interest you to know, that
the council tenant right to buy idea was first proposed in the late 1950s and
formed part of the manifesto of the Labour party. Yet Maggie’s version was
based on massive discounts for tenants and 100% mortgages (i.e. no deposit). However,
the real bugbear was that half the monies raised form the house sales went to
central Government and the other half to the local authorities … but that money
had to be used to reduce the local authorities debt rather than building new
houses - so houses were being sold and not replaced.
8,262 council homes in the Southampton area have
been
bought in the last 40 years (an average 207 per
year)
Interestingly, the Tories relaxed
the rules in 2012 for right to buy and raised the highest discount on a
property to £75,000 (it has subsequently increased further, to £100,000, in
some parts of the UK) meaning 622 council houses have been sold
locally since the rule change, raising £52,123,200 since 2012 alone.
The issue, stated by many existing
council house tenants, is that those tenants turned homeowners subsequently
sell on their ex-council homes at a huge profit, meaning the demographics of
those areas has become ever more transient, more specifically, properties that
were once council homes are now owned by buy-to-let landlords who rent them out
on a short-term basis.
Yet up to this point in time,
nothing has been said
about the ‘other’ type of social housing - housing association properties.
Whilst council houses are properties owned by the local authority providing low
cost social housing, housing associations also provide lower-cost social housing for people in need of a
home, yet they are private, non-profit making organisations.
The Tory’s state one of the
biggest divides in our British society is between those who can and cannot
afford their own home, so they plan to establish a new national model for
shared ownership which allows people in new housing association properties to
buy a proportion of their home while paying a lower/subsidised rent on the remain
part - helping thousands of lower income earners get a step onto the housing
ladder.
So, what of the tenants of the existing
6,666 housing association households in Southampton? The Conservatives have
said they will work with
housing associations on a voluntary basis to determine what right to buy offer could
be made to those Southampton tenants, although there are already existing rules
which give most housing association tenants the right to buy their
home, yet with only modest discounts of £9,000 to £16,000 depending on where
you live. So, what does all this mean for the current
homeowners and landlords of Southampton properties?
The Tory’s sold off 5,489 council houses in Southampton
whilst in power between 1979 and 1997
This really created waves in
the housing market in the 1980’s and was a contributary factor to the housing
crash of 1987 when Dual-MIRAS tax relief was removed by Nigel Lawson. By the selling
off of council housing in those years they were accused of selling off the
family silver cheaply, thus created the foundation of the buy-to-let boom of the early to mid 2000’s, because of major
shortage of affordable housing being sold in the previous two decades.
Yet this time round, note the
Tory’s state it is just for new housing association properties, not existing.
Also, that tenants will have the right to go into shared ownership - NOT
OUTRIGHT OWNERSHIP. This means this policy will have hardly any effect … unlike
the Thatcher policies of 1979.
Click the link below to read my viewings on the Labour Party and how it would affect the Southampton Property Market
https://southamptonproperty.blogspot.com/2019/11/labour-partys-u-turn-on-15bn-grab-on.html
https://southamptonproperty.blogspot.com/2019/11/labour-partys-u-turn-on-15bn-grab-on.html
If you would like to pick my brains on the Southampton Property Market – pop in for a coffee or drop me a line on social media or email.
If you are looking for an agent that is well established, professional and communicative, then contact us to find out how we can get the best out of your investment property.
Email me on brian.linehan@belvoir.co.uk or call on 023 8001 8222.
Don't forget to visit the links below to view back dated deals and Southampton Property News.
Twitter, https://twitter.com/sotonbelvoir
LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianlinehan
LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianlinehan
No comments:
Post a Comment