I have heard that the government plans to end the 'Right to Buy' scheme. Introduced by Margaret Thatcher, this gave council tenants throughout the country the opportunity to buy their council properties.
Anyone know about this?

Im in the middle of buying my council house and have heard nothing. Didnt agree with it years ago as i thought and probably still do that council prop is for people who cant get on the prop ladder. In my case i wasnt and dont plan on moving so the discount was to good to turn down, the mortgage is less than the rent.:|

Can I ask without too much detail how much of a difference it is between your rent and mortgage repayments..?
Just wondering as I pay nearly £60/week rent and a mortgage would be for around £40k, is this a similar kind of thing with yours?

My rent was or is 78 pound aweek , im buying my house for 35000 and recieved 28000 discount. with all my ins for the house , life ins water rates ete im still paying 20 pound aweek less ?.

Gotta pay for your own repairs tho.
I know in comparison you're still saving but if you're on little income just have a think about it.

Boiler breaks down it's an easy £1000 + fitting (£1300 total probably).
Or just phone council and they repair for nowt.

Guttering colapses... it's a council repair to do it.
All this stuff needs taking into account before you make the plunge and buy the house.

The Right to Buy idea is idiotic, I'm sorry to those of you who have used it (I know people who live in ex-council houses they've bought) but it just depletes the number of council properties, upping waiting lists, and then the people who really need a local authority property can't get one!

Another reason why Maggie's top on my hit list.

I read some time ago that the right to buy scheme was being phased out but it was only going to be in certain parts of the country where people were abusing the system to make huge profits.
Certain parts of London were on the hit list.

Good i hope they do!!
Council homes are for people who cant afford to buy!
Having been homeless myself years ago i know how important and hard, it is to get a council home:
And although i would like to buy my own home, i wouldnt buy council, its like robbing the poor.......:suspect: we all have our views............. thats mine.

Cheers Brooksy.

While I do appreciate the opportunity 'Right to Buy' gives, it doesn't seem to make sense when the council aren't using their profits to plunge back into creating new homes to replace those bought...

That's another Thatcher legacy Henrietta. We can't have any more council houses built :mad:
The council housing stock is steadily being replaced by public/private housing associations and private landlords. In reality this system doesn't work :(

"Can't"..?! :suspect: WTF?!

Sooo, we sell off our housing stock, don't replace them with new, and then the private owners looking to rent are also going to refuse to let to people in receipt of benefit... :gag:

brooksy, very interested to read about your "right to buy".
My Mum has just recently looked into the same scheme. She is currently paying about £65 per week for a 2 bed council house. She has been adviced that she could buy the house for £65,000; its current market value being £79 - 80,000. She hasn't gone any further with it yet, but i suggested that after being a council tennant all of her life, the repayments would be considerably cheaper. She was brought up in post war Britain, and like many others on the forum, beleives in the "council for the poor" policy. However, as i can see it, when a mortgage/loan is cheaper than rent, where's the justice in that?:confused:

Originally posted by lab_lady
brooksy, very interested to read about your "right to buy".
My Mum has just recently looked into the same scheme. She is currently paying about £65 per week for a 2 bed council house. She has been adviced that she could buy the house for £65,000; its current market value being £79 - 80,000. She hasn't gone any further with it yet, but i suggested that after being a council tennant all of her life, the repayments would be considerably cheaper. She was brought up in post war Britain, and like many others on the forum, beleives in the "council for the poor" policy. However, as i can see it, when a mortgage/loan is cheaper than rent, where's the justice in that?:confused:

If she believes in Council for the Poor why ever would she want to go and buy her council house?! I did read what you said about mortgage vs rent, but tough luck! There are plenty of houses out there to buy - leave the council properties for those who need them.

Originally posted by Henrietta
"Can't"..?! :suspect: WTF?!

Sooo, we sell off our housing stock, don't replace them with new, and then the private owners looking to rent are also going to refuse to let to people in receipt of benefit... :gag:
Great innit :mad:
The object of the whole excercise was to eliminate the costs associated with running these houses. And what was a council in the Eighties supposed to do with tennents who don't pay their rent? Or cause unnecessary damage? Or sell the contents provided by the council? The simplest solution was to get rid and foist the problem on somebody else, without tackling the root cause.

That's the situation we live in today, across all parts of life - the legislation is to cover the few who choose to live outside the boundaries of common decency and order, so the rest of us suffer. :rant:

We wouldn't have the house price situation we do now if it weren't for the fact that there is no option other than to buy :(

Originally posted by lab_lady
However, as i can see it, when a mortgage/loan is cheaper than rent, where's the justice in that?:confused:
DaBouncer has already covered that point. It costs alot more to run a house and maintain it than just paying the mortgage. I find it interesting to see how many properties continue to decline in an area, after the council have replaced all the windows and front doors in an area, and built new walls, etc. It's obvious that some people would have been better off continuing to pay rent.

Yeah, but I know that when ever Mum's boiler does break down (usually the coldest day of winter), it takes two men two days to fix it (if she's on the lucky list) and her neighbour had his guttering pulled down in a bad storm 2 yrs ago and is still waiting for another excuse (he's almost 80!)... At this point it may be worth thinking that with home ownership this would have been dealt with quickly with the insurance!

Originally posted by Strix
DaBouncer has already covered that point. It costs alot more to run a house and maintain it than just paying the mortgage. I find it interesting to see how many properties continue to decline in an area, after the council have replaced all the windows and front doors in an area, and built new walls, etc. It's obvious that some people would have been better off continuing to pay rent.

Me da's always complaining about how his tenants get a far better deal than the rest of us - council plumbers etc get there quicker than private ones, and are available even at Christmas (our boiler broke at Christmas last year - truly the most ridiculous wild goose chase for a plumber ever). Basically council tenants get into the mindset that as soon as you want something, it just happens. The council kind of acts as a parent would to the child. I sound bloody patronising I know, but I reckon it's far too simplistic to say that rent is the only consideration so I;d agree Strix!

Originally posted by lab_lady
Yeah, but I know that when ever Mum's boiler does break down (usually the coldest day of winter), it takes two men two days to fix it (if she's on the lucky list) and her neighbour had his guttering pulled down in a bad storm 2 yrs ago and is still waiting for another excuse (he's almost 80!)... At this point it may be worth thinking that with home ownership this would have been dealt with quickly with the insurance!
Don't be so sure :roll: there are horror stories about insurance too - and an excess to pay that would put that little job right off the 'claimable' list ;)

Me and my partner are considering buying my house through the right to buy scheme.

I must say it is a huge undertaking because my house was valued at £138,000 and with my discount of £38,000 we would be looking at mortgage payments of around £670 per month.

There is also all the other living expenses to take into consideration and saving to do the place up in order to sell it in 3 years.

The only reason me and my partner are considering buying the property is because its far too a good an oportunity to miss.

For us its not about depleting council housing stock and causing waiting lists to take longer that doesnt come into it, its basically about having peace of mind that our family has some security.

Maybe that is selfish of us but we would never have this chance to get onto the property ladder any other way as deposits for first time buyers are around £10,000 these days, so I've been informed.

We would also stand to make a decent profit if and when we sell which would allow us to buy a house outright and not have a high mortgage bill hanging over our heads.

Oportunties like this dont come around that often and I for one want to take advantage of it so apologies all round if my attitude offends but I am only doing this for my family and to provide security for us all.

i dont know much about council housing but isnt affordable housing being built everywhere for this reason? developers now how to make a certain % 'affordable'

also i thought that the new social landlords do build homes, even if its not very many?

Right to buy isnt ending! from the 6th June this year any new tenants will have to wait 5 years before they can submit an application.....

this only applies to new tenants!

Councils will also have more powers to remove the 'right' to buy from tenants causing anti-social behaviour etc...

Right to buy has been in place since the 1950s but was pushed by the Thatcher Governments.....

Originally posted by noseyrosie
The Right to Buy idea is idiotic, I'm sorry to those of you who have used it (I know people who live in ex-council houses they've bought) but it just depletes the number of council properties, upping waiting lists, and then the people who really need a local authority property can't get one!

Another reason why Maggie's top on my hit list.
And it also empowers individuals and gives joint wealth to families.

Thatcher wasn't remotely as bad as her detractors claim. Most people have enriched lives today through policies that her governments introduced.

Going back to the original question, The Housing Act 2004 came into effect on 18th January 2005.

Prior to this, tenants needed 2 years qualifying tenancy before getting any Rights to Buy.

After 18/1/05 new tenants need 5 years qualifying tenancy.

I have seen notices from many other councils with regard to them changing in line with this but am not actually sure what is happening in Sheffield.

If it a true change then i back it 100%. I'd up it to 10 or 15 years

As an owner there's nothing i dislike more than to see someone buy the council property for way below it's market value and sell it in a few years for a hefty profit.

As first noted by noseyrosie the properties are for those who need council property, selling them will just raise the waiting list as the council list depletes.

I'm more encouraged by the schemes that allow tenants to buy 50% of the property and if a profit is made then it's split. (cant recall the scheme)

Originally posted by cgksheff
Going back to the original question, The Housing Act 2004 came into effect on 18th January 2005.

Prior to this, tenants needed 2 years qualifying tenancy before getting any Rights to Buy.

After 18/1/05 new tenants need 5 years qualifying tenancy.



some other changes that came into effect in january also have caused a lot of grief to council right to buy-ers; you now HAVE to give your council the first refusal when you put the house on the market, and the council will only pay the current market value - look at what happened to the young woman in burngreave who bought her council property, spent thousands on doing it up for the council to offer her 30k when other properties were selling for 40/50k (granted that was a compulsory purchase order, but highlights what the council put market value at compared to the actual value of the house).
You also need to have owned the property for 5 years to avoid paying back your discount if you decide to sell it, compared to the 3 years you previously needed to own it to avoid paying back the discount.
on the bit of arbourthorne road where i live, many have bought their homes, and the majority have lived here as owner occupiers for years (the ones i spoke to anyway) - most have brought their kids up in the house, so wouldnt sell for sentimental reasons.

we only pay about 45 a week on our rent......we couldnt get a mortgage that cheap !!

Originally posted by samsmum
some other changes that came into effect in january also have caused a lot of grief to council right to buy-ers; you now HAVE to give your council the first refusal when you put the house on the market ...

You have to offer the property to a "local social landlord" if you want to resell the property within 10 years

From here (http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_housing/documents/page/odpm_house_033510.hcsp)

The Government's Housing Act received Royal Assent in November 2004 and includes further changes to modernise the Right to Buy.

It will still be open to virtually any secure tenant who can afford to buy with the exception of dwellings occupied in connection with their employment (e.g. some police houses) and housing specially provided for the elderly and (in certain cases) the disabled. But exploitation of the rules for profit will become less financially attractive, discouraging early resales that put upward pressure on prices and recouping for public funds a more reasonable proportion of any appreciation in property values. The Act:

- extends from two years to five years the period that the tenant must spend qualifying for the Right to Buy;
- extends from three years to five years the period during which owners must repay their discount if they choose to resell their homes, and making the amount repayable dependant upon the resale value of the property;
- exempts dwellings scheduled for demolition from the Right to Buy;
- requires owners who wish to resell properties within 10 years of their being sold under the Right to Buy to offer their homes back to a local social landlord;
- makes tenants who enter into "deferred resale" deals to sell on to someone else, often a company, liable to repay discount;
- shortens the time that tenants are allowed to take to complete the purchase of their homes;
- will end the little used Rent to Mortgage scheme.