Angela Rayner: The hypocrite who needs to come clean

Thatcher had the nowse to use ownership of homes as way of getting people out of bed to work to pay their mortgages. This brilliant & clever bit of simple psychology was a driver to higher home ownership & a move away from social housing. Funny how this loudmouth seems to be in the thrall of one the most Thatcherite policys.

Homeless and housed. 3 years later can afford to buy -social housing not housing on the open market with a hefty subsidy by tax payers/council tax payers.
Cash buyers and no investigation into where the cash came from. Homeowner now realizes they are a cash cow for the council. They fund the new kitchens, doors, windows, roof repairs for the estate.
Sell the property for a hefty sum especially in London.

Every new social housing build can go that way. One built one out.

Introduction of the right to buy was undoubtedly a brilliant piece of social engineering in its day and whilst good for those who are able to benefit from it the other side of the coin is that it has also dramatically reduced the availability of council housing. It continues to be a severe obstacle to building new council housing and is probably also responsible, at least to some extent, for the sense of deprivation and entitlement displayed by Generation Rent. Prior to its introduction a significant proportion of the population were content to spend their lives in secure rented accommodation provided by the Council but RTB changed all that. We now have a generation that is characterised by resentment because they missed out on what was only ever going to be a one-off opportunity for those lucky enough to be able to take advantage of it.

I was not aware that Angela Rayner had committed to abolishing the right to buy but if she has, that would be a positive step towards encouraging local authorities to start building and accommodating those who should never have become the "responsibility" of the PRS.

My fear is that a Labour government might move in the opposite direction by extending RTB to the PRS.

Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 01/03/2024 - 11:29
Extend RTB to the PRS... let the games begin!

I was a fan of Margaret Thatcher and always will be. However, although I think it was a great idea to keep the conservatives elected in the 1980s, I have never considered the Right to Buy scheme fair
The extent of the discounts was far too high, councils didn't have control of the receipts and even if they had, couldn't afford (mainly because of the discounted sales off) to replace their stock of social housing.
It also meant that councils didn't build new stock anyway. Why would they if, in a few years time, they had to sell to the tenat at a discount.
There was one benefit (other than that to the Conservative party) and that was that owner occupiers tended to look after their homes, but the decimation of social housing has been too great.
If new social housing is to be built, or if new social tenancies are created then they shouldn't have the benefit of RTB.

Funny old world, with so many people with very short memories and possibly no consciences. If her property was rented to her brother, I wonder what rules she followed to evict him so that she could sell her property?
I think I read something that her husband, Mr Mark Rayner, when a Bachelor, also purchased his council house, which I understand is now the matrimonial home.
I suppose the longer this potential bending of the rules, drags on The harder, it might be to believe the facts.
Have Shelter, Crisis etc made any comments?

Reply to the comment left by Hedley at 01/03/2024 - 13:10On the extent of the comment about the discounts having been far too high: I think that means *are* far too high.
In the area that I live some of my direct neighbours are council tax tenants and I happen to know that for a three bed house with a garden and off-road parking they pay £207 per week in rent (and I am obliged to pay more than they do in Council Tax). So that is about £850 PCM. But in the area I live the cost of renting a three bed house on the open market varies from £1,500-£2,000 PCM. Council houses sell for slightly less than other houses locally, even though the ones near me are well built.
So the tenants are obliged to pay about half the market rent for their council houses and when they are eventually entitled to buy their houses they are already living in a cheap house to start with and they are then entitled to get a 25% discount on top of that without having to go through all the effort, stresses and strains of searching for and buying your own home; and the stress of this is considerable, as most homeowners who have bought their own home know.
But you are not automatically entitled to get onto that particular gravy train. I come from a working family but I would not have been entitled to a council house. I paid for the deposit on my first house from after tax earnings and I paid the mortgage from after-tax earnings. When I bought my first BTL I paid for that from after tax earnings. When I sold the first BTL I owned I declared the CGT and paid the tax due.
I do hope that Angela Rayner understands how enormously privileged that she is to have been given that massive gift by the taxpayer (i.e. small portfolio BTL landlords like me who are presently being penalised by the tax system and have not been given big handouts by the state).
The privileged do not just live in Monaco, Switzerland and the Bahamas.

RTB didn’t cause the problem. Every house bought by a council tenant was one less tenant for the council to accommodate.

The problem is that the U.K. population has ballooned, people live in smaller households and house building hasn’t increased sufficiently.

I know unemployed couples with children that have a house each. It’s easy when the State is paying for them.

Reply to the comment left by Cider Drinker at 01/03/2024 - 19:53
An increase of 10 million in a little over 10 years. We haven't been having that many kids!

Every home bought under RTB was one less for the council to maintain, and one more for the council to rip off in service charges if it was a flat.

Reply to the comment left by NewYorkie at 01/03/2024 - 22:29
That is very true.
Council service charges can be very high because the councils are hopeless at maintaining their properties.
On a 2 bed ex - council flat in a block of 32 flats I was charged almost £20,000 about 15 years ago because they changed the front door the kitchen window and resurfaced the communal area.
Having an ex - council house just like Ms Rayner is a much better idea especially if it comes with a discount which at the present time I believe is around 35% it was probably more when Ms Rayner took advantage of her discount.