Over the last ten years, an eyewatering £380 billion has been paid out in Housing Benefits to private landlords.
Mainly the billions have gone into the pockets of property investors benefiting from Margaret Thatcher's ill-thought through 'Right To Buy' scheme.
Council tenants bought their homes at a deep discount and then sold them on cheaply to property investors who then re-rented back to councils at exorbitant rents...quite daft!
Is there a cost-efficient way for councils to re-acquire such property and thus rebuild council housing stocks?
Chelsea-based, Patrick Bullick of Stanley Property London has come up with an idea so simple that even the most obdurate politician must see the sense of it.
You can read Patrick's brilliant solution HERE
Dame, he looks like Tony Blair?
ReplyDeleteI do miss Tony Blair
DeleteThis a fiscally bullet proof idea. No way would Blair have come up with it.
ReplyDeleteTwisted and bitter SPAD. Friend of Corbyn perhaps?
DeleteThere are a lot of sweeping statements in this proposal. I would be interested to see the research that established that most of the RTB properties have been sold on to property companies, who in turn have then went on to rent their properties back to RBKC. Also where is the data that these properties are in the ownership of people struggling to pay the mortgage or close to retirement etc. I agree that RTB was a stupid idea. And I like the idea that the council should have first refusal on any that come on the market but I don't think that the council have either the money or the desire to do this. They own the land near Sainsbury on Ladbroke Grove but are selling this for private development with just a few council properties. The same is happening around the borough. We should be encouraging the council to stop selling off what land they have left for private developers. It is bizarre that they say that they cannot afford to develop the whole land for council homes yet they spend huge amounts of money putting tenants in privately owned properties
ReplyDeleteAnother bland proposal from an armchair strategist. The first sentence gives Patrick Bullick away. "My observation is....". Civil Servants will not fall for this trash. "Show me the evidence and a costed proposal" is what Whitehall will demand.
DeleteBullick needs to sharpen up. He needs some evidence based research and not a post coke brainwave. If the idea stands up then he needs a conversation with Gove. He needs to be able to convince Gove. He needs to get on the Gove wavelength. There are special ways to do that. Gove is bright, ambitious and always on the lookout for shouty ideas that he can shout about
DeleteBullick is a damned sight sharper than you. As for Gove...he's rather second rate. So ineffectual he cannot even shove Johnson to one site. You, as a SPAD wouldn't know a good idea if it dropped on your boring head.
DeleteThe Dame is an ancient and socially ambitious creature. She would be well advised to leave the "numbers" to others.
ReplyDeleteWhat rot you write
DeleteFly on the Wall, the Dame is perfectly capable of understanding a very straightforward idea. You seem always upset that others can out-think you. Why not take the trouble to analyse what is after all a potentially good idea.
ReplyDeleteWhy would a landlord sell a flat for 90% or even 80% of its market value?
ReplyDeleteBecause market values are one thing but achieving them quite another. If you sell to a LA you avoid agents 2.5% commission plus legal fees etc. You get a quick clean sale
ReplyDelete