Right to Buy Discount

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   Muldaniaposted 12 years ago

   The UK government has suggested introducing a discount of £50,000 for people living in a home rented from social housing organisations, should they decide that they want to buy their home.  This would mean the average price of a flat falling from £90,000 to £40,000.  This should be of benefit to working people, giving them the chance of owning their own homes.

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      wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Did they suggest where the money would come from?  Perhaps from the people already struggling to buy their own home at 90,000 and having a tough go of it?
      
      Or will they join the rest of the Europeans living off the largess of other countries bailing them out after supplying their citizens more than they can afford?

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         Muldaniaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Even if this were intoduced, the majority of people would not qualify for a mortgage, as only 16% of those in council housing are in full-time employment, so it would only be available to a few working people.  And they will have needed to have lived in their current home for at least five years, meaning they will have already paid thousands in rent.

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            wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            If that is the typical answer from the government, it is no wonder that Europe has given away their economies to the poor.
            
            Because there are only thousands instead of millions that would receive the gift of 1/2 a home doesn't mean it's free.  Already having paid thousands in rent (while requiring maintenance from the landlord) doesn't mean the gift is free.   It still costs, and apparently I was correct, those monies will be taken from those already struggling to purchase their home at full price, without handouts.
            
            A great deal of America's economic woes come from just this attitude - the government can and should provide everything the poor want but can't earn - all while putting more and more burden on the backs of the workers and earners in the country.

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               PrettyPantherposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Well, perhaps enough people prefer their tax dollars be spent to directly help lower class working people than for funding wars or propping up corporations.  If they don't, then they can vote out those who proposed this horrible (apparently, to you) program.

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                  Muldaniaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Yes, the people who benefit from this idea will be the working poor, as the unemployed would not be able to get a mortgage.  These are people who work full-time, but whose salary isn't enough to be able to afford a home of their own.  In addition, the government has said that for every home sold, a new one would have to be built for rent, thus re-starting the building industry.  Very often whole generations have lived in social housing, without a chance of getting onto the property ladder.  Anything which offers them the chance, I think is a good thing.

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                  wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Oh, it sounds wonderful.  People DO need help sometimes, and it always nice to help them out.
                  
                  On the other hand, more than a few governments have gone so far down that road that they are virtually bankrupt.  As the give-away programs continue to increase (and they always do) the funding comes more and more from the taxpayers of those countries.
                  
                  Regardless of what we would like to see (everyone in a 3000 sq ft home, driving a beautiful SUV and with a 60" flat screen in the spacious living room) the country can't support it.  There isn't enough money to do it. 
                  
                  Socialism like this sounds great, but it never works.  The longer it continues to grow the fewer people there are to do the actual work - the rest sit at home in comfort, gathering the fruits of others work.  It will always fall apart in the long run.
                  
                  Muldania comments that whole generations have lived in housing subsidized by someone else with no chance at the property ladder.  I agree, but ONLY because they won't try, won't work at it, expect and demand great housing from the beginning.  My parents, I and now my son have started life in miserable shacks.  We fix them up, sell them for a profit and buy something better to repeat the process.  People today won't do that - they want a mansion from the start that they don't have to fix up.  It takes work - all of us have worked our 40 hours, then 4 or 5 more at night for years, just to get a nice home.  Others can do this, but they won't - the government then takes the cost of their home from someone else and supplies the home without the effort.

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                     PrettyPantherposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Ah, the "I worked hard to get what I have so obviously those who don't have what I have either don't try or don't work hard" argument.
                     
                     So tiresome.  Heard it a few hundred times.  Not going there.  I merely stated a fact, that if you prefer to vote for those who promote different ways to spend your tax dollars, then do it.  I suspect this program devours a tiny sliver of the government pie compared to corporate subsidies and invading and occupying other countries, but hey, let's waste our energy complaining about helping our working friends and neighbors.

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         Ralph Deedsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Or by taxing the London banksters?

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            Muldaniaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Taxing the rich, when there are far more poor who can be taxed would be unimaginable.  It simply isn't British.

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      Evan G Rogersposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Wow! More incentives to live on your neighbors pay check!
      
      It's almost like Europe is TRYING to go broke!

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         PrettyPantherposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Hmmm, don't teachers live off their neighbor's paycheck, or am I missing something?

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            Evan G Rogersposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            LOL
            
            Technically everyone lives off their neighbors paycheck, but not in the same sense.
            
            Most people offer a good or service in exchange for money. But not the welfare recipients!
            
            Nice try!

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      Susana Sposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      The right to buy council homes (properties owned by local authority councils) was introduced during Thatcher's government so it's really nothing new. The amount of the discount depends on a lot of factors - £50K is the maximum, not the norm.
      
      It actually saves the government money to sell their properties off as then they don't have the responsibility of paying for the upkeep of the properties as they do when they are rented.

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         John Holdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         But the property isn't owned by the government!
         These days it's hardly owned by the local authorities either being mostly owned by profit making housing associations.

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            Susana Sposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            You're right, I forgot that many councils sold off their housing stock because where I live they decided not to do that.

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   John Holdenposted 12 years ago

   The people who pay the most are those in need of social housing but can't get it because the stock has been sold off at a discount.
   
   It's a tawdry vote buying exercise that should not be allowed.
   
   If occupants of social housing find themselves in the position where they can afford to buy,let them buy in the private sector where they will already get lots of financial help in the form of tax allowances.
   
   This would also give the economy a real leg up rather than just a rearrangement of public sector money to the private sector.

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      Muldaniaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      The difference with the government's proposals, is that they will make it law, that for every home sold, one will have to be built for rent to replace it.  Thus, the number of social housing homes will not fall, like they did under the previous scheme brought in by Margaret Thatcher.  This will also create jobs in the building industry.
      
      As for those who live in social housing who can afford to buy their homes.  The point is that they would not be able to afford to do so, until the £50,000 discount is brought in, so opting to buy in the private sector is not possible.   Personally I believe everyone should be entitled to own their own home, not just the rich.

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         John Holdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Then why not apply the discount to every home buyer, not just those lucky enough to qualify for social housing?

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            Muldaniaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Would that be fair?  If a millionaire footballer, just for instance were to be looking to buy a two million pound house, should he be entitled to the discount?  And in the private sector, it is worth remembering that you are buying your home from another home owner, who would have paid the full asking price for their home.  To short-change them would not be fair either.
            
            
            Council houses on-the-other-hand have been more than paid for over the years.  My great grandmother had lived in the same council house since the 1920s, paying rent all that time, even after she retired at the age of 89.  The money she paid would have bought that house many times over.  Should she then have been expected to pay the full asking price, should she have wanted to buy it?

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               John Holdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               If it had been a privately owned house then yes she would have been expected to pay the full price.
               
               If a footballer were to get a £50,000 discount off a £2 million house, then he would hardly notice would he?

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                  Muldaniaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  That is exactly my point, so I would have to disagree with your suggestion that the 50,000 discount should be given to everyone.  And in answer to your question, yes, I believe the discount should only be given to those who are lucky enough to be poor.  I know this is a hard concept for many people to grasp, because we are used to the breaks being given to the rich.  Whilst this may be the accepted way things are done, I think it lacks a sense of fairness and social justice.  It is time for those at the bottom of the pile to be given a helping hand.  After all the present government has spent its time in power taking from the poor.  This 50,000 discount is the first thing that might actually help the poor.

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   Evan G Rogersposted 12 years ago

   To claim that "living in your own home" is some how beneficial to people is to not understand that home ownership is not necessarily a good thing. It is an investment, and any investment can lose value very quickly.

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