Housing Solicitors

The Conservative policy of Right to Buy which was introduced under Margaret Thatcher’s government is being called a “strait-jacket” for Harrow Council, as many of the council properties sold to council tenants under the Right to Buy scheme are now being rented back to the council at an annual cost of £500,000.

Local online publisher GetWestLondon reports that some former council tenants are renting their homes back to the council at rents of up to £350 a week.

Right to Buy was intended to give council tenants the opportunity to buy their council homes and join the property ladder rather than paying rent all their lives.

Many council tenants who bought their homes after Right to Buy was launched in 1980 found themselves in financial difficulties when interest rates in the late 1980s and early 1990s started to climb, leaving some homeowners in negative equity – meaning the mortgage they had taken out was greater than the value of their home as property prices fell.

The latest scandal involving Right to Buy means that those who have bought their council houses as buy-to-let concerns are profiting, while council housing stocks dwindle.

Labour Cabinet Member for Housing, Councillor Glen Hearnden, said:

“It is an expensive irony that the much-lauded Right to Buy has ended up as a financial straight-jacket for Harrow residents.

“It really does not make sense to pay huge amounts of money to private landlords for houses we used to own.

“We haven’t built a council house for the past 23 years – which has further intensified pressure on our housing stock with the London rental market going through the roof.

“But we are putting right a quarter of a century of stagnation with our proposals to build new homes and regenerate our estates.”

A report by London Assembly member Tom Copley has revealed that 36% of council homes sold under Right to Buy are now being re-let back to councils across London – and frequently at higher market rates, GetWestLondon reports.

Cllr Hearnden added:

“We lose twice with the government scheme – we lose the property from our stock and then we pay to rent it back. It all adds up to our residents suffering.

“It feels like we are fighting the fires caused by an overheating housing market, while the government is stood on our hose pipe.”

House building suffered a decline after the 2008 credit crunch – following the banking crisis of 2007 – and some experts now say that because of shortages in social housing properties and a shortage of affordable housing to buy, around 250,000 homes will need to be built every year to accommodate the UK’s growing population.

Intense competition for housing has meant hikes in rents as well as property prices, placing a strain on waiting lists for Local Authority housing.

Duncan Lewis Housing Solicitors

Duncan Lewis housing solicitors can advise social housing tenants on a wide range of housing matters, including:

• Bedroom Tax
• Housing Benefit
• Disrepair
• Housing possession
• Landlord & Tenant disputes
• Local Authority housing
• Unlawful eviction.

Duncan Lewis is also one of the UK’s leading providers of Legal Aid services and has six offices across London and the southeast.

For expert legal advice on housing, contact Duncan Lewis housing solicitors on 020 7923 4020.