Quote:
Originally Posted by kestrelx
it was her and her government that allowed people to buy counil houses at a reduced price
|
So enabling many people to own their own home, these people being mainly working & middle class. At the same time legislation was put in place to prevent people making massive profits, see below:-
Housing Act 1980
Part 1 of the Housing Act 1980 covers Right to Buy legislation in the social housing sector. Landlords are local authorities and Housing Action Trusts. Sitting tenants can purchase the homes they have been renting with the sale price being based on its market valuation. A mortgage with mortgage interest tax relief is granted by their local authority. For those who have lived in their houses for at least 3 years, it also includes a discount of 33% to reflect the rents and also to encourage take-up.For a flat lived in for the same duration, it is a discount of 44%. A tenant of over 20 years gets a discount of 50%.
These discounts however come with the proviso that if they sell their property before a minimum period expires, they will have to pay back a proportion of the discount. Those that are not eligible to buy are tenants of charitable housing associations.
The Act also gives those who pay a £100 deposit the right to buy their home at a fixed price in a period of two years after paying the deposit. If the tenant wants to sell the home they bought under the Act within five years of purchasing it they have to share the capital gain between themselves and their local authority.
Unsurprisingly, the right to buy proved really popular but even though proceeds of the sales were paid to the local authoritie they had to spend the money on reducing then clearing their debt rather than being able to spend it on building more homes. This led to council housing stock being drastically reduced especially in areas where property prices were high, such as London and the south-east of England.
Now if as you claim it was so detrimental why then didn't labor repeal or change the rulings ? They came into power in 1997 & as such had plenty of chance to reform things ! There is no doubt plenty of information out there to back up your argument but the same logic applies to the points I have also stated. Below an example :-
Article | Full Fact - FullFact.org