Tuesday, Mar 05, 2013
A nation of renters
Dailiy Mirror: Great Tory housing shame: Third of ex-council homes now owned by rich landlords
The multi-millionaire son of a Tory minister who presided over the controversial “right-to -buy” scheme is a buy-to-let landlord owning scores of former council flats.
A Daily Mirror investigation found a third of ex-council homes sold in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher were now owned by private landlords.
In one London borough almost half of ex-council properties are now sub-let to tenants.
Tycoon Charles Gow and his wife own at least 40 ex-council flats on one South London estate.
His father Ian Gow was one of Mrs Thatcher’s top aides and was Housing Minister during the peak years of right-to-buy.
Posted by stuartking @ 10:14 AM (1435 views) Add Comment
8 Comments
- If you do not have an admin password leave the password field blank.
- If you would like to request a password allowing you to add comments and blog news articles without needing each one approved manually, send an e-mail to the webmaster.
- Your email address is required so we can verify that the comment is genuine. It will not be posted anywhere on the site, will be stored confidentially by us and never given out to any third party.
- Please note that any viewpoints published here as comments are user's views and not the views of HousePriceCrash.co.uk.
- Please adhere to the Guidelines
1. mark wadsworth said...
Occasionally, the Mirror does proper journalism. I've always wanted to know what proportion of RTB homes are now BTL.
Of course, the Mirro merrily glosses over the facts that Labour run councils did more RTB than Tory ones, and that there was nearly as much RTB under Blair as under Thatcher.
2. nickb said...
Mark,
>Of course, the Mirro merrily glosses over the facts that Labour run councils did more RTB than Tory ones, and that there was nearly as much RTB under Blair as under Thatcher.
I'm not one to defend Nu Labour particularly, but is that surprising when labour constituencies have more council housing? What happens if you normalise ie express as a % of the local council housing stock that is held by BTL? I'd wager it's the same or lower in labour constituencies.
3. fubar said...
The Tories started the fire, Labour fed the flames and the entire country is paying for it every which way you turn.
4. righttoleech said...
There is not much anger over this. Granted it's no surprise but seeing it in black and white I feel like that women who was on the news yesterday.,
5. stuartking said...
The multi-billion pound drag on our productive economy brought about by high rents and house prices benefits the landowning wealthy who then proceed to impose austere policies on the victims of that drag, blaming the poor, the disabled, the unemployed and immigrants for the plight the country's in - all egged on by the Daily Mail, Daily Express and - though not so much these days - the Daily Telegraph.
It's sickening.
6. mark wadsworth said...
NickB, well spotted. I'd hoped I'd get away with that one.
7. mombers said...
I've just been sick in my mouth, even though I have suspected that this was the case for some time now
8. quiet guy said...
Pragcap recent published an article about the way wealth tends to distribute:
http://pragcap.com/the-pareto-principle-and-wealth-inequality
Maybe we shouldn't be surprised that the distribution of property ownership has become more unequal since the great council house sale?