Sunday 20 September 2015

Why Right to Buy is so popular.

There has been a report in the BBC that 1 in 3 Councils have not replaced a single council house sold under the Right-to-Buy scheme.

With the amount of student accommodation and other private homes being built in this City and its surroundings, including green belt sites, I would imagine that there is no land for the Council to build on!

But it is no surprise that the existing council houses are being snapped up by their tenants.



According to the Right-to-Buy calculator created by the Government, my house is currently valued at £92k, which seems a little low for a fully maintained and updated house, which a Council property would be, it would probably be nearer £125k but for the sake of this exercise we will let that slide.

If I had lived here as a tenant for the length of time that I have lived here as an owner, I would qualify for a 55% discount on the price of the house, whether I had paid rent or not.

This would leave a balance of £41k to pay, and using the mortgage calculator on the same Right-to-Buy website, at even 5% interest this is only £240 per month, easily affordable to someone on full benefits.  A bit of google research shows that it is your ability to repay the mortgage, whether employed or not, that will get you the money.

The house would then be sold with between £50k and £80k clear profit which could then buy a smaller property out-right, or a similar property with a smaller mortgage.  And believe me, I have seen this done.

I have no problem with someone who has lived in a Council House but paid their own rent being able to purchase their house as they will have probably paid more than its total value in rent, but why should someone who has never lifted a finger in work, or collected a wage, be in a better position than someone who works full time but simply cannot afford a mortgage?

Right-to-Buy should stop for those not paying rent, it will reduce the need to provide more Council Houses.

And we wonder why the benefits system is so abused.





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