Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The right to sell (back to the council)

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    The right to sell (back to the council)

    Well, they say Government policies always go full circle, in the end.

    I'm not really sure Gordon Brown would have liked to be the Labour Prime Minister who had to propose that people could sell their privately owned houses back to the council, for a huge loss, and then rent them back, in a complete and utter reversal of Maggie Thatcher's "right to buy" policy of the 1980s, mind you.

    "Something dramatic" is going to happen in world affairs in the next few weeks. You mark my words. Whenever a major world leader is stuck knee-deep in a trench like this, recently, "something" seems to happen to distract attention (and highlight the leader's personal qualities).

    Maybe Argentina will invade the Falklands again while we're not looking. Mind you, with property prices like they are, we'll probably let them have them, then charge them rent.

    #2
    The right to sell (back to the council)

    Well during the 90's whenever the Tory Government got found out over something, the next weekend the big story would always be about the Royals. Squigygate etc.

    Brown is in a deep hole and he can't get out. As for anything military, I don't think we have to forces to commit to anywhere else.

    Any problems would be seen as Browns making, as he didn't fund whatever department caused it / has to deal with it.

    Comment


      #3
      The right to sell (back to the council)

      Blair's usual tactic was to talk about banning fox hunting as a way of diverting attention from whatever his latest fuckup was. That avenue is closed to Brown, so he has two options - talk about legalising fox hunting, or (marginally more likely) some smoke-and-mirrors trick with the minimum wage where as usual he'll give with one hand while clawing back with the other.

      Comment


        #4
        The right to sell (back to the council)

        They never did 'properly' ban fox hunting, did they? There were enough loopholes to drive a routemaster bus (or indeed a large party of dogs and horses) through.

        Comment


          #5
          The right to sell (back to the council)

          Can someone explain what the proposed initiative is? I can't find it on the BBC site.

          Is it simply that the council should act as a buyer of last resort in a market where private buyers have disappeared?

          Comment


            #6
            The right to sell (back to the council)

            I assumer Rogin is referring to the second bullet in this story:

            Details emerged of the government's £200m "mortgage rescue scheme", which is designed to help up to 6,000 of the most vulnerable homeowners facing repossession. Eligible families who can no longer afford their mortgage repayments will be able to sell their home to a "registered social landlord" - such as a housing association - and then rent it back "at a level they can afford". Alternatively, they could sell a share of their property. However, so-called "sale and rent back" schemes can be controversial: the government has expressed concern about companies that buy the properties of struggling homeowners at a discount and then rent them back on unfavourable terms.

            Comment


              #7
              The right to sell (back to the council)

              Alternatively, they could do what Brown initially promised he would do during his brief honeymoon period this time last year - build more social housing, clearly publicly owned and accountable. All this fiddling at the margins of the market seems fraught with complications and dangers.

              Comment

              Working...
              X