Every one of the 2.73 million housing associations households should seek the average £63,500 discount (or bung) to take up their RIGHT to buy.
The Conservative Government who claim you have this RIGHT would need to find £173.36 billion to pay off housing associations if you did!
Unlike council landlords, the housing associations get back from Government whatever RTB discount they give to their tenants. So if a HA sells a £100k property for £50k to the tenant the other £50k is paid to the HA by Government.
2.73 million lots of £63,500 would mean Government has to find £173 billion
At the moment we are told Chancellor George Osborne is struggling to find just £4.4 billion with the Tax Credit defeat. So if you do have the RIGHT to buy your housing association property then Osborne only has to find 40 times that Tax Credit defeat amount to pay you your discounts that he says is your RIGHT!
£173 billion given away out of ideology
What a wonderful idea the extension of the RIGHT to buy for housing association tenants is reader. At a stroke the Conservative Government would see the property owning democracy (aka the universal panacea that even cures cancer) would rise from 63% to 75% of the UK population!
But why not exercise that RIGHT as it is your RIGHT dear HA tenant and don’t worry about not affording it yourself as up to 3 family members can all put in together to make the RIGHT to buy stack up for your RIGHT to be sold your home.
I’m just wondering whether the UK population will play the same parlour game that we all did shortly before the last General Election? You know the one where every media article asked us to guess where the £12 billion of ‘welfare’ savings would come from.
We still have the data from that don’t we, so let’s see and below is a breakdown of the proposed £217 billion ‘welfare spend’ for 2015/16.
We could stop the state pension altogether as that would save £92.1 billion per year and of course the Housing Benefit bill would reduce by £9.3 billion as that is the amount of HB received by housing associations making £102.4 billion.
Yet that still leaves Osborne to find another £71 billion to pay for the RIGHT that all HA tenants have to but their home. So that would see Pension Credit being withdrawn ( £6.5bn) and Job Seekers Allowance (£2.4bn) and all Disability Benefits (£36.7bn ) and all Child and Working Tax Credits (£29.9bn) which when added to the removal of all HB for HA tenants and the State Pension would see a welfare cut of £176.9 billion….Well the £63,500 average bung is only an estimate after all so better be safe than sorry eh?
All of those cuts would pay for the HA tenants RIGHT to buy as we have been assured by Osborne, by Greg Clark the Communities Minister and even by Cameron himself that HA tenants do have the RIGHT to buy from their failing HA landlords no less.
Surely they are not fibbing to us are they? They can’t be as the housing associations themselves say the HA tenant has a RIGHT to buy too. That would mean that the housing associations are fibbing too wouldn’t it? As the likelihood of HA’s fibbing is preposterous it must be your RIGHT dear HA tenant!
You think this is all sarcasm don’t you reader?
It’s not and I am being deadly serious and I do advocate that all 2.73 million housing association tenants do seek to exercise their RIGHT to buy today. Every single HA tenant should do this and put in a request to their housing association landlord.
You think this is a gimmick? No, it’s not. It is simple direct action to expose what a sham the extension of the RIGHT to buy is both by Government and by Housing Associations.
It is also not a gimmick as the Government has promised that there will be a 1 for 1 replacement for every housing association property sold under the RIGHT to buy which would see Osborne scampering round for the £173 billion he would need to pay back the housing associations.
It is also a financial no brainer for the HA tenant. What a wonderful never to be missed bung this is! The Government wants to give you free of charge on average £63,500 each and you would be a fool if you did not take up this bung at any time and with house prices still going up then you really do want to move quickly so your £63,500 bung buys a higher percentage of the RTB sale price and a lower mortgage cost.
I am surprised that the UK populace who believe the UKIP statement that the EU costs us £25m per day (£9.15 billion per year) are not ranting and raving that the Conservatives want to give 19 times that amount away with nothing in return to 2.73 million housing association tenants.
I am staggered that Joe Public is not up in arms at this £173 billion giveaway to housing association tenants when that is more than the cost of the Education (£57.63bn) and National Health Service (£115.42bn) budgets combined at £173.05 billion.
I note today that the Government is actively pushing this RIGHT to buy
Thousands every week – so that is 100,000 per year – and the Government wants more and is promoting the RIGHT to buy with TV and other adverts as it says here today.
So the Government is totally convinced it can pay for this RTB bonanza and can easily find the £173 billion to pay off the housing associations so why not let’s call their bluff and actively promote that all 2.73 million housing association households make a RIGHT to buy enquiry, after all who wouldn’t want a £63,500 bung for nothing.
The Government is saying that each property sold under RTB will be replaced 1:1 in fact the housing minister Brandon Lewis has said 2 replacements for each 1 sold is possible. He also set a target of 1 million new homes this parliament and then backed down from this yet why be so sheepish my boy? The universal panacea of RTB would see an increase of 2.73 million new homes on your 2 for 1 replacement notion. You would be feted!
If each enquiry to a housing association cost the HA a meagre £50 to administer it would cost theme the same as the 1% rent cut which is seeing them make 15% of staff redundant and the Government could ensure what it terms the ‘failing’ housing associations would indeed fail as the likely admin cost would be ten times that per case and equate to a 10% per year rent cut! Still I am puzzled why the Government would want to get into bed with the housing associations it calls failing!
However given that the Government is clearly confident of finding the £173 billion out of the ether then I am sure it could turn around these failing housing associations. It’s only a matter of the uber efficient private market coming in to solve surely!
£173 billion – yes it surely is time to call the Government’s bluff and start advocating that all 2.73 million HA households sought to exercise their RIGHT to buy.
SPeye Joe (Welfarewrites) 
Joe it might cost HAs more money and here is why via anecdotes of my nan and mum’s enquiry for RTB1 back in the 70s/80s. After my nan and mum wanted to buy there council house, the council started to get the finger out over doing repairs and improvements to up the cost of the house.
One time there home had a leaking roof, the council advised my mother to get on the roof to cover the leak. NB my mother at the time was eight months pregnant with myself. Another time the council visited there home over repair asking to speak with my grandfather, NB my grandfather had been dead for 13 years before that council visit.
Now with RTB2 help HAs to get there finger out of there arses over doing repairs and improvements? I think it will!
So it costs the HA £50 for every RTB enquiry?? Not a lot of people are in the position of having family members who would be interested in helping to buy…. You have to stay in the house for a further 5 years before you could sell it on????
How could anyone on Housing Benefit afford to buy, even though they have the right? Solicitors fees etc etc?
And, Housing Benefit don’t pay for a mortgage do they?? Home/Buildings insurance/ Repairs?
So, you might have ‘the right to buy’. But surely, it would only be those who are working that could take advantage of this??
Meanwhile the rest of us, would still be affected by the Bedroom Tax??
Already, a shortage of smaller properties and this could take even more out of the social housing system.
All, well and good, saying new homes would be built. But, that takes a long time.
And, it’s still the Council, who decide who occupies any property, via the bidding system.
My own HA have told me they have absolutely NO control over, who lives in their properties.
So, it might be brilliant for some people who are in a position to BUY.
But, will make no difference to the rest of us???
I would imagine the cost of admin for each RTB application would be much higher maybe 10 tens times that and the £50 was used as an example of just one ridiculous aspect of the policy.
Not only those in work who can take up RTB. For a crude example imagine you qualify for £70k discount on a £100k property in Liverpool. You are not working and your rent is £5k per year.
You get a mortgage on £30k and borrow a further £20k all against the £100k property value. Use the £20k to pay the mortgage for 5 years (less than £10k and have some left over) and you then sell and trouser £40k.
Lenders aplenty to advance £60k secured on the £100k asset and of course no bedroom tax to pay
HA’s are free to accept nominations or not so they have ultimate choice over who gets a social property – and they will and indeed are already being highly selective.
Will RTB take more properties out of the system? Yes without doubt
A RTB enquiry to a HA is all well and good as in its role as a form direct action and an expression of disgust regarding the Nat Fed deal. Joe what benefit would get tenants by having a rejected enquiry? That is what am struggling to understand, could you expand on that please.
Why would RTB claim be rejected?
The EU costs us just under 8 million a day approximately 55 million per week, not sure where you got the 25 million from. As for the right to buy, you need to be working and have a good credit rating which most households in HA renting, because of government cut backs, won’t have. Only a few will be able to afford the right to buy which Osborne and Cameron know full well since they don’t believe the jobless statistics any more than the rest of the country does, but it always sounds good when the lie is repeated. Many of the HA tenants are unemployed (or not, if they have been sanctioned they are removed from the unemployment lists), the same with the disabled, other tenants are on zero hour contracts or in very low paid work with too few hours, then there are the self employed, the highest on record since 1928, so they won’t ever be able to buy either. The sad truth is that this government knows how few people are in a position to buy, we are now a nation with the highest personal debt across the majority of EU countries, and that is the true facts of Osborne’s chaotic, ill thought out third rate economic strategy. The country is now far worse off than it was in 2009/2010 and there is little chance of things improving while the Tories continue to sell off Britain’s ability to contribute to it’s own economy, industry, farming, manufacturing and marketing all disappearing. That is why the Tories are so confident that their promoting the RTB scheme will not backfire on them, they know we are a nation in poverty. Twenty million people or more are poorer compared to what they were in 2009/10 – the very people who are living in HA homes. I doubt that twenty thousand can afford to take up the RTB, less than £2billion. Some homes in the north and in Wales – 3 bed mid terrace-£35,000 – £60,000(lots of them), in the south £350,000 +(not nearly so many) in outer London. The former – high unemployment areas, the latter lower unemployment areas. What chance the former to pursue RTB? Little to none. The latter? Slightly better. Would I go for a mortgage 40 years later in these insecure times? Not on your bloody life.
The EU figure came into my head from last weeks BBCQT and used for ridicule purposes.
Need to be working to get a mortgage? Use your £60k example and imagine unemployed tenant has a £40k RTB discount and google some numbers to see if the tenant would be given a mortgage to cover RTB sale cost and cost of the mortgage payments for 5 years when the tenant can then sell.
Also only 7.15% of tenants claiming HB are on JSA
you dont need to be working or have a good credit rating if you are buying upfront. there is cheap houses in cheap areas where this is possible. but i read that they are restricting the RTB initially in HAs to tenants of 20 years standing in social housing
the 20+ years was mooted but thats all – found nowhere in Bill
plus as joe said in the article up to 3 family members can co buy with you
Yes, as I said, not many people have family members who can co buy. And it may work up North where properties are relatively cheap. I’m in the South east. My HA house is probably about £350,000 on the open market. I’ve lived here for 24 years. I’ve looked at all the Government schemes. It’s reckoned you need about £4,000 to cover solicitors/surveys etc.etc. And, some schemes you need a large deposit. And all schemes are directed at those in work. Given a choice, I wouldn’t want to stay here another 5 years. I’m Disabled and although I have adaptations, it won’t suit my future needs, because I’m probably going to end up needing a wheelchair accessible home. Then, there is the issue of having to pay for all repairs yourself. What if you needed a new roof etc?? You could be in work when you take out a mortgage, what happens if you lose your job, or become Disabled? You are at risk of losing your home.
http://www.ownyourhome.gov.uk
You hit the nail on the head with the difference in house prices between SE and the North. In the North it is very viable for those not in work to take up RTB yet not so in the SE. In your case you would be hit by maximum discount of £78k which equates to 22% of the value of your home. If you lived in the North and your house was valued at £120k you would get £65k RTB discount or 54% discount on your property’s worth which would be plenty of equity and plenty too for all costs for 5 years and then able to sell and make a tidy profit.
Note many 3 beds in NE and NW are priced at much less than £120k and some less than £70k
yes. i went from being in the south west and in a house worth about 300k to up north and a house worth about 50k. its had a new roof and new rendering. hopefully will get new windows soon as well and a new kitchen, possibly bathroom before RTB. otherwise theyd have to offer a discount for the state of those. so with 60 or 70% discount is doable where i am but would have been impossible where i was.
south east sorry not south west i was in