Councils to sell homes to tenants (From York Press)

Am I reading this right?

There are people who work full time but who can't buy a home due to the high property prices.

And there are people who live in a council home, who may also have had the rent paid for them, who can now buy a home at a massive discount?

Doesn't seem very fair.

This stinks.

The sale of council houses at knock-down prices is one of the main drivers of the housing crisis that is engulfing the country.

This scheme smells of a typical government con-trick to encourage more privatisation of our housing stock.

There's no other words to describe the counselors that are recommending selling off council houses on the cheap ,as "stupid clowns" with not one jot of common sense. wheres the future young families going to live that can not get mortgages ? idiots!!!

Can I bet that the council will not replace these homes .... Yes I can adding to the chronic shortages we have in York

Good to see York Council supporting Grant Shapps initiative, and doing something positive about increasing housing in the city.

The sale proceeds, although at a significant discount to market value, will be more useful than the rental income, in providing funding for council/social housing.

It is time the council did more, instead of using the planning system to blackmail private housebuilders to hand over 25% or 35% of their stock for less than cost. This archaic unnatural, punitive and discriminatory practice needs to stop. Private housebuilders have been treated at part-charity or part-nationalised for the last fifteen years with the use of S106 agreements to extort social housing, and if the economy is to grow, the government and councils need to do their own work in prioviding council/social housing, leaving the private sector to get on unhindered.

sambo1943 wrote:
There's no other words to describe the counselors that are recommending selling off council houses on the cheap ,as "stupid clowns" with not one jot of common sense. wheres the future young families going to live that can not get mortgages ? idiots!!!

You miss the point.

The tenants are buying the council houses they are renting. No housing is lost. It's just the tenure that is changing from leasehold to freehold. If they didn't buy, they would stay in the house and pay rent, and this would not help the housing shortage. The sale proceeds are to be used to build more housing, so its a win win situation. Left wing mischief-makers need to be realistic and stop whining. They are the ones making idiotic comments.

I see that the member for housing, Coun Simpson-Laing has shown her usual disinterest by not commenting. Presumably she will not agree with this, because it means more work for the council. She has had it too easy for years; using the affordable housing policy to make the private sector do the council's work for them, while she and Coun Merrett swan around on their bikes instead of getting on with some work. It's time that these councillors earned their money, or got on their bikes and let someone else do their jobs. Their record on housing is appalling !

SOCIAL HOUSING FACT

According to the ONS, 421,000 homes for social rent were lost under the last Labour government !

I for one back this my mam and stepdad (god rest his sole) lived in the same house for over 22 years when they were approached by the council and offerd them the chance to buy their house, so they did and it was NOT at a knock down price, after all the servays that they had to pay for includeing the councils servays and all legal costs they were knocking on the door of about £75k and that was a socalled tennents discount as well so them of you that complain get over it

Mr Crabtree wrote:

sambo1943 wrote: There's no other words to describe the counselors that are recommending selling off council houses on the cheap ,as "stupid clowns" with not one jot of common sense. wheres the future young families going to live that can not get mortgages ? idiots!!!

You miss the point. The tenants are buying the council houses they are renting. No housing is lost. It's just the tenure that is changing from leasehold to freehold. If they didn't buy, they would stay in the house and pay rent, and this would not help the housing shortage. The sale proceeds are to be used to build more housing, so its a win win situation. Left wing mischief-makers need to be realistic and stop whining. They are the ones making idiotic comments.

For your so called knowledge, council tenants do not have a leasehold

was york now rotherham says the house was not cheap... £75K sounds pretty cheap for a house in York to me, wherever it is, although the local school needs some improvement when it comes to teaching spelling and English!

My mum and dad bought their council house in 1973. Mum still lives there. As they were on modest salaries they couldn't have afforded to buy in the private market. So if they hadn't bought it they would still be living there. Now mum has paid the mortgage off and doesn't need to worry about paying rent for ever more and therefore is more independent financially. Also, when the house does finally come on the open market again it will be, as ex-council houses, are a cheaper alternative in the village to non-ex council homes. It may well mean that someone else who couldn't afford a privately built home AND doesn't qualify for a council house, can get a foot on the ladder and so on and so forth....

meme wrote:
was york now rotherham says the house was not cheap... £75K sounds pretty cheap for a house in York to me, wherever it is, although the local school needs some improvement when it comes to teaching spelling and English!

People like you make my blood boil! What an absolute arse. So there is a few people who appear to struggle with there grammer. So what? Thats got sweat FA to do with anything. You only make these comments as you have no real argument to push back at them. Pshhh.

voiceofnormalpeople wrote:

meme wrote:
was york now rotherham says the house was not cheap... £75K sounds pretty cheap for a house in York to me, wherever it is, although the local school needs some improvement when it comes to teaching spelling and English!

People like you make my blood boil! What an absolute arse. So there is a few people who appear to struggle with there grammer. So what? Thats got sweat FA to do with anything. You only make these comments as you have no real argument to push back at them. Pshhh.

well said that nice person some off us have a little thing called dyslexia so the odd mistake i make well tough sewage on the others that don't like it but thanks voiceofnormalpeople for syicking up for us and my mams house is up acomb area near chappie

i-am-andrew wrote:
Am I reading this right?

There are people who work full time but who can't buy a home due to the high property prices.

And there are people who live in a council home, who may also have had the rent paid for them, who can now buy a home at a massive discount?

Doesn't seem very fair.

Contrary to the propaganda constantly put across in the media, most people who live in council housing actually work for a living. I have lived in my council house for 20 years now. In that time I have always worked and paid my own rent. The same is true for the vast majority of my neighbours.

The right to buy is a great concept. My grandfather, parents, aunt/uncle and sister all bought their council houses. It's been around a long time, and has been a great success, getting many good hardworking people onto the housing ladder. I hope the new deal proposed by the government results in many more sales, leading to more council houses being built.

WELL DONE GRANT SHAPPS !

A Housing Minister who achieves results and sticks around long enough to see the fruits of his policies - unlike Labour, who had nine housing ministers in 13-years, all whom under-achieved !!!

Mentos wrote:

Mr Crabtree wrote:

sambo1943 wrote: There's no other words to describe the counselors that are recommending selling off council houses on the cheap ,as "stupid clowns" with not one jot of common sense. wheres the future young families going to live that can not get mortgages ? idiots!!!

You miss the point. The tenants are buying the council houses they are renting. No housing is lost. It's just the tenure that is changing from leasehold to freehold. If they didn't buy, they would stay in the house and pay rent, and this would not help the housing shortage. The sale proceeds are to be used to build more housing, so its a win win situation. Left wing mischief-makers need to be realistic and stop whining. They are the ones making idiotic comments.

For your so called knowledge, council tenants do not have a leasehold

Ok, a tenancy then :-(

oslo wrote:
My mum and dad bought their council house in 1973. Mum still lives there. As they were on modest salaries they couldn't have afforded to buy in the private market. So if they hadn't bought it they would still be living there. Now mum has paid the mortgage off and doesn't need to worry about paying rent for ever more and therefore is more independent financially. Also, when the house does finally come on the open market again it will be, as ex-council houses, are a cheaper alternative in the village to non-ex council homes. It may well mean that someone else who couldn't afford a privately built home AND doesn't qualify for a council house, can get a foot on the ladder and so on and so forth....

What is wrong is that iy will be inherited by a relative and not go back to the council so someone else can rent it.
Council house were subsidised by the tax-payer, in being built, in the low rents and finally by the discount.
The right to buy was Tory vote winner, many so called Labour voters hypocritically went for and New Labour perpetuated it.

Mentos wrote:

oslo wrote:
My mum and dad bought their council house in 1973. Mum still lives there. As they were on modest salaries they couldn't have afforded to buy in the private market. So if they hadn't bought it they would still be living there. Now mum has paid the mortgage off and doesn't need to worry about paying rent for ever more and therefore is more independent financially. Also, when the house does finally come on the open market again it will be, as ex-council houses, are a cheaper alternative in the village to non-ex council homes. It may well mean that someone else who couldn't afford a privately built home AND doesn't qualify for a council house, can get a foot on the ladder and so on and so forth....

What is wrong is that iy will be inherited by a relative and not go back to the council so someone else can rent it.
Council house were subsidised by the tax-payer, in being built, in the low rents and finally by the discount.
The right to buy was Tory vote winner, many so called Labour voters hypocritically went for and New Labour perpetuated it.

OK, so if my mum has to go into a care home, the house will need to sold to pay her costs. That means she won't be a burden on the state.... Likewise, if there is anything left to inherit then that money will go towards my pension, and therefore ensure I too am less of a burden to the state in my old age. Taking care of oneself and ones family financially in the long term is a good thing for the economy. The more self-sufficient more people are, then it will help the tax pot go much further for those that do need it and don't have any family money to help them out.

Also, if, for example, I didn't own my own home but was in a council house now, if my parents left me money I could then buy my own house and free up my council house to someone who couldn't afford their own home.

I actually support this initiative, a friend of mine went and joined the merchant navy and saved his money and bought his mum's council house so he'd be on the property ladder and he'd know she was taken care of.

oslo wrote:

Mentos wrote:

oslo wrote: My mum and dad bought their council house in 1973. Mum still lives there. As they were on modest salaries they couldn't have afforded to buy in the private market. So if they hadn't bought it they would still be living there. Now mum has paid the mortgage off and doesn't need to worry about paying rent for ever more and therefore is more independent financially. Also, when the house does finally come on the open market again it will be, as ex-council houses, are a cheaper alternative in the village to non-ex council homes. It may well mean that someone else who couldn't afford a privately built home AND doesn't qualify for a council house, can get a foot on the ladder and so on and so forth....

What is wrong is that iy will be inherited by a relative and not go back to the council so someone else can rent it. Council house were subsidised by the tax-payer, in being built, in the low rents and finally by the discount. The right to buy was Tory vote winner, many so called Labour voters hypocritically went for and New Labour perpetuated it.

OK, so if my mum has to go into a care home, the house will need to sold to pay her costs. That means she won't be a burden on the state.... Likewise, if there is anything left to inherit then that money will go towards my pension, and therefore ensure I too am less of a burden to the state in my old age. Taking care of oneself and ones family financially in the long term is a good thing for the economy. The more self-sufficient more people are, then it will help the tax pot go much further for those that do need it and don't have any family money to help them out. Also, if, for example, I didn't own my own home but was in a council house now, if my parents left me money I could then buy my own house and free up my council house to someone who couldn't afford their own home.

By all means look after yourself and your family but NOT SUBSIDISED BY THE TAX PAYER. Do you mot get the principle here

Or put it another way. Pay the full market rate for the house. If you can't then be grateful there is subsidised housing

Stupid idea to sell off council housing stock. Thatcher introduced the concept as part of a previous Conservative "let's sell off a part of britain to make money for ourselves" scheme that has led us to having more people on low incomes who can't afford houses and can't get a house because there's not enough council houses and not enough suitable land to build council houses on without people complaining that they'll be living next to a council estate... Well it looks like those in power never learn. Another Tory party, another sell off britain idea... to go with privatising utilities, railways, buses, coal, etc (and possibly roads when the tories next come into power again)

Silver wrote:
I actually support this initiative, a friend of mine went and joined the merchant navy and saved his money and bought his mum's council house so he'd be on the property ladder and he'd know she was taken care of.

Well done that Matelot.

Correct me if I am wrong.......and I am sure you will !....but are not the discounts based on how long a tenant has lived in the property and paid rent?............so its a sort of 'you have already invested in this for a while'.

Social housing has come a long way over the Years,and I suppose selling them off is just another change.
The first social houses to be ever built, where round about the 10 century, funny enough in York. by legislation of a King Athelstan.
These houses where called Arms Houses.
Just a little History lesson for those that may be interested.

was york now rotherham wrote:

voiceofnormalpeople wrote:

meme wrote: was york now rotherham says the house was not cheap... £75K sounds pretty cheap for a house in York to me, wherever it is, although the local school needs some improvement when it comes to teaching spelling and English!

People like you make my blood boil! What an absolute arse. So there is a few people who appear to struggle with there grammer. So what? Thats got sweat FA to do with anything. You only make these comments as you have no real argument to push back at them. Pshhh.

well said that nice person some off us have a little thing called dyslexia so the odd mistake i make well tough sewage on the others that don't like it but thanks voiceofnormalpeople for syicking up for us and my mams house is up acomb area near chappie

Dyslexia isn't a little thing but I'll tell you this - in 55 years it hasn't stopped me learning to use a spell checker, a dictionary and gaining a reasonable (but still imperfect) knowledge of grammatical structures, including the use of punctuation marks.

I recall when I left HM Forces after 28 years as a tenant. A number of MOD homes were being disposed of and were put up for sale by Anlington Homes. HM Forces were offered them at discounted prices. I applied for one and was offered it with the princely discount of 2.5% off the price they were being sold to the public. Perhaps I should have lived in a council house for 28 years.