The ConservativeParty is to announce the extension of the Right To Buy policy to cover housing association homes as well as direct council houses and flats - if the party wins an overall majority at the May 7 election.
Current Right to Buy rules let most council tenants buy their homes at a discount. But housing-association tenants have limited discounts and can only buy a property acquired by an association since 1997.
Now the Daily Mail - regarded by many as being a sounding board for Tory policies ahead of the election - says the Conservatives will include a manifesto commitment to amend the 1996 Housing Act, extending the R2B principle to housing associations, formally and collectively known as Residential Social Landlords.
Earlier this month Westminster council in London announced it was to spend around £20m buying up and refurbishing 45 apartments which, over the past three decades, it had sold off under the Right To Buy policy.
The Labour group on the council claims the average cost per property for purchase is £419,000 with an average refurbishment cost of £36,000.
It claims many of the flats would have been originally sold to their former council tenant owners for under £100,000 each, thanks to the R2B discount scheme.
Comments
Because this policy worked so well under Thatcher, didn't it
A shortage of supply is the main issue affecting the property industry right now, this pledge from the Tories will do nothing to solve that. Why not build more houses, something we haven't been doing enough of for the last 30 years, rather than coming up with shameless electioneering like this
Anyway, it's all a bit redundant, because there's no chance in hell that the Tories will get a majority. No party will. They couldn't even form a majority government with the open goal of Gordon Brown in charge and New Labour in crisis. Cameron and his cronies won't be close to managing it this time, so this policy is just a bit pointless really.
[quote]if the party wins an overall majority at the May 7 election.[/quote]
Haha! Dream on.