Thursday, Jun 10, 2010
Happy renting?
Citywire: Not everyone aspires to home ownership, Mr Shapps
A speech like Grant Shapps’ only perpetuates a pointless social stigma around renting that’s entirely unhelpful for everyone… lenders, landlords and, most of all, people looking for a home.
Posted by smithers @ 10:48 AM (903 views) Add Comment
8 Comments
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1. mark wadsworth said...
Excellent article, it even covers the bit about what a waste of money it was flogging off the council houses at undervalue.
2. holyroller said...
My wife always seems to want to own the place we live in, but at the moment it makes no sense to me. The place I currently rent would cost me 3 times the amount to pay for on a mortgage, its just a shame I can't put the money into a bank account to earn interest with it lol
When I first owned a house it was cheaper to own than it was to rent, unless that happens again, I will stay renting.
3. tenant super said...
I have a feeling there will be another push on 'Right to Buy'. Levels are very low now because of high prices combined with the cap on the discount. Selling council homes at undervalue is popular with tenants for obvious reasons. If they remove the discount cap and return to the original levels of 50% discount after 30 years tenancy and 35% after 5 years, they could probably increase the sales levels by around a multiple of twenty.
http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/ihstory.aspx?storycode=6503042
It could even negate some of the effects of inevitable welfare cuts on the Tory vote share in areas where enough council tenants hang onto their jobs. It would also lessen the extent of cuts in local services due to the revenue flow for councils.
Everyone knows the problems this causes and that in the long term it is a waste of money, especially if replacement houses aren't built but these problems are stored up for the future (in the short term, the tenant still lives in the same house). Most old stock that becomes available is due to elderly tenants dying or downsizing and these people are often ideologically opposed to right to buy (having passed the opportunity in the eighties) or are very poor and due to age are not going to be eligible for a mortgage anyway so the impact on stock availability in the short term will be very small. Mr Shapps can hope that in the future, building and the economy might pick up again and HAs build replacements or else this will be when he's retired or his party are not in power, so it becomes a 'Not My Problem'.
4. tenant super said...
*typo alert... it is a 50% discount after 20 not 30 years!
5. tenyearstogetmymoneyback said...
Mark Wadsworth said "it even covers the bit about what a waste of money it was flogging off the council houses at undervalue"
I was only saying to someone yesterday about the number of TV programs I have seen where they show Mr or Mrs Twit who bought
their council house for £20K and now have a £100K mortgage which they can't afford to pay..
6. braindeed said...
Not everybody’…..almost everybody. The reason this site came to be, was the indignity felt as the asset class became increasingly speculative.
7. Jayk said...
Missing the point entirely: no, not everybody aspires to home ownership. But the right and opportunity to own a home should be available to everybody who wants to.
8. Letmein said...
@Jayk - everyone does have the right and opportunity to own a home. Where has this right/opportunity been legally removed?
The fact is people make choices in their lives and sometimes these do not work out to be the best... i..e I could have sat on my ar*e and done nothing with my life but chose to work and aspire to a better life, and continue to aspire and push myself.
The point is home ownership is a risk, the price may move up or down depending on various factors, they may be high now, but thats the way the cookie crumbles, if you work etc you may only be able to afford to rent, but so be it, one of your basic requirements has been met .....
Stop moaning and get a decent job...