Right To Buy to end

............in Scotland

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-28007965

The right of council tenants to buy their homes in Scotland is due to be abolished by the Scottish Parliament.

 

The Conservatives will make a last-ditch attempt to block the move at Holyrood.

 

But the government proposal is set to be backed by a large majority of MSPs.

Right to buy has driven-up home ownership in Scotland. But it has also contributed to an acute shortage of social housing.

 

That is why the Scottish government has said it wanted to end the right in 2016.

 

Housing Minister Margaret Burgess has already told Holyrood: "With 185,000 people on waiting lists for council and housing association houses, we can no longer afford to see the social sector lose out on badly needed homes."

 

She added: "By ending right-to-buy in two years we will protect up to 15,500 social houses from sale over a 10-year period and safeguard social housing stock for future generations."

Something to be repeated down here, or is there no chance with the conservatives blocking the idea??

Wasn't the general gist of it to sell off old housing stock and use the money to build fresh housing???

What happened with that??

It should have never been introduced anywhere

According to that "reliable source" Wikipedia,

"Half the proceeds of the sales were paid to the local authorities, but they were restricted to spending the money to reduce their debt until it was cleared, rather than being able to spend it on building more homes. The effect was to reduce the council housing stock, especially in areas where property prices were high such as London and the south-east of England."

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_Buy

So it was a good old Tory sell off then??

So it was a good old Tory sell off then??

Then again Labour did nothing to change it in the 13 or so years they were in power...they seemed to feel that banning fox hunting was more important..

I don't see why people who have lived in a certain property for years can't buy it.. If you look at some area's of Sheffield that have bad reputations for being 'council estates' and some of them area's have a few streets that have many privately owned properties, you find the street is much nicer and more well looked after than the ones that are still council... People will tend to look after their property better and want to keep it nice if they own it..

I'm going off of my knowledge about a certain area in shire green... A friend of mine has recently bought her house after renting it for 10 years and she is the last on her block to buy, and the street is lovely, but the one that backs onto hers is just awful! all boarded up empty houses (apparently there's a long waiting list!!!!) and the one's that have got residents in them just look scruffy..

And before anyone jumps down my throat, I am not tarring all council tenants with the same brush.

I don't see why people who have lived in a certain property for years can't buy it.. If you look at some area's of Sheffield that have bad reputations for being 'council estates' and some of them area's have a few streets that have many privately owned properties, you find the street is much nicer and more well looked after than the ones that are still council... People will tend to look after their property better and want to keep it nice if they own it..

 

I'm going off of my knowledge about a certain area in shire green... A friend of mine has recently bought her house after renting it for 10 years and she is the last on her block to buy, and the street is lovely, but the one that backs onto hers is just awful! all boarded up empty houses (apparently there's a long waiting list!!!!) and the one's that have got residents in them just look scruffy..

 

And before anyone jumps down my throat, I am not tarring all council tenants with the same brush.

Because social housing is meant to be there to provide affordable housing to those on low incomes. By selling it off you are removing a vital service from those that need it most.

If you're in social housing you already have security of tenure so why the need to buy? It's not a privilege that's available in the private sector so what makes social tenants so special that they get to buy their rented house at a discounted price? If they think they really, really want to own their own home then why not but in the private market?

jb

ETA: As for the upkeep of social housing there should be strictly enforced covenants, on both sides of the arrangement, on who is responsible for maintenance and general housekeeping.

Because social housing is meant to be there to provide affordable housing to those on low incomes. By selling it off you are removing a vital service from those that need it most.

 

If you're in social housing you already have security of tenure so why the need to buy? It's not a privilege that's available in the private sector so what makes social tenants so special that they get to buy their rented house at a discounted price? If they think they really, really want to own their own home then why not but in the private market?

 

jb

 

ETA: As for the upkeep of social housing there should be strictly enforced covenants, on both sides of the arrangement, on who is responsible for maintenance and general housekeeping.

I understand that, but let's take my friends situation as an example. She's a single mother who works part time, both her children are in infant school, she has no other support from the children's father or family, she has saved and saved over the past ten years so she could buy her house, she was offered to buy her home for the price of £33,000. I don't blame her for buying it and I certainly don't begrudge her of it... She will probably never be able to afford to buy a non council house, which if she wants to stay on that side of Sheffield then your looking at £75,000 - £100,000 which is the lowest end, she's in her late thirties so getting a mortgage and having the 20% deposit needed would be tricky... and she's also thinking of the children, she want's to leave them something when she kicks the old bucket.

I understand that, but let's take my friends situation as an example. She's a single mother who works part time, both her children are in infant school, she has no other support from the children's father or family, she has saved and saved over the past ten years so she could buy her house, she was offered to buy her home for the price of £33,000. I don't blame her for buying it and I certainly don't begrudge her of it... She will probably never be able to afford to buy a non council house, which if she wants to stay on that side of Sheffield then your looking at £75,000 - £100,000 which is the lowest end, she's in her late thirties so getting a mortgage and having the 20% deposit needed would be tricky... and she's also thinking of the children, she want's to leave them something when she kicks the old bucket.

And no doubt she was very grateful to have the Council put a roof over her and her family's heads. And now she's taken that opportunity away from someone else on the huge waiting list. Presumably she's happy where she lives, so why not continue as a tenant until she can afford a place on the open market, rather than a publicly owned property at a knock-down price?

And no doubt she was very grateful to have the Council put a roof over her and her family's heads. And now she's taken that opportunity away from someone else on the huge waiting list. Presumably she's happy where she lives, so why not continue as a tenant until she can afford a place on the open market, rather than a publicly owned property at a knock-down price?

Well her house is the last one on that particular street to be bought, so all the other residents pushed her to go for it as they are a very happy and close set of neighbours.. she is very happy there, the school is a 5 minute walk and it has been her home for 10 years and to be honest even if she didn't buy it she would of still lived in it as she's happy there.

As I said before, I don't blame her and good on her, it was offered to her so she took the offer.. it's not like she's gone out of her way to inconvenience anyone else.

Also, changing the subject slightly! her little road is lovely and they are all very close and have BBQ's etc. in the summers and everyone gets an invite, even the little old lady who lives in the top house... I have lived in my house for 8 years in a part of Hillsborough that has never been council owned and I haven't spoken with my next door neighbour since they moved in 3 years ago!! just rude...... and it's not like I haven't said hello!

I don't see why people who have lived in a certain property for years can't buy it.. If you look at some area's of Sheffield that have bad reputations for being 'council estates' and some of them area's have a few streets that have many privately owned properties, you find the street is much nicer and more well looked after than the ones that are still council... People will tend to look after their property better and want to keep it nice if they own it..

I totally agree with you.

but there should have been a balance between selling and building, but since the early 90's it's been all sell and little build.

I think the scheme is abit tilted in favour of the buyer as well as you only need to have been there 5 years (and then you get a discount)

It means with the cost of building the place, then giving the discount on selling it the council actually don't make much money over the life of the house - and you need to make abit of profit to fund more builds.

Extending it to 10-15 years before being eligible would probably give abit of breathing space and with some investment from the government be able to get the councils building more social housing to replenish the lost stocks.

I totally agree with you.

 

but there should have been a balance between selling and building, but since the early 90's it's been all sell and little build.

 

I think the scheme is abit tilted in favour of the buyer as well as you only need to have been there 5 years (and then you get a discount)

 

It means with the cost of building the place, then giving the discount on selling it the council actually don't make much money over the life of the house - and you need to make abit of profit to fund more builds.

 

Extending it to 10-15 years before being eligible would probably give abit of breathing space and with some investment from the government be able to get the councils building more social housing to replenish the lost stocks.

I agree with you, I think if someone has been in a property for 10+ years and they are happy it doesn't look like they'd be moving on anytime soon anyway so why not at that point give them the option to buy it..

But honestly, if you go to some of the council estates like shiregreen, parson cross, the amount of empty boarded up windows is endless... If we are so low on housing then why haven't these been sorted out to get people moving in....