Tories make Right To Buy top of agenda
NEW measures to give over a million more people the right to buy their own home are to be announced in the Queen’s Speech tomorrow, the Tories confirmed last night.
A radical Housing Bill is to feature in the programme announced at the State Opening of Parliament.
Designed to rekindle Margaret Thatcher’s property ownership revolution, the legislation will enable 1.3 million housing association tenants to go into the property market.
And a new “Right To Build” forcing councils to release plots of land for self- build homes will also be included in a bid to boost house building.
Communities Secretary Greg Clark said: “Our Housing Bill will offer over a million people a helping hand on to the housing ladder. That is what a government for working people is about – making sure people have the security they need to build a brighter future for them and their families.”
The Housing Bill is one of more than 20 key proposals to be announced by the Queen setting out legislation for the parliamentary year ahead.
She will visit amid tight security for the event.
David Cameron wants to use the occasion to emphasise the Tory ambition to become the “party of working people”. Under the Housing Bill, tenants will be entitled to the same house purchasing opportunities that council home dwellers have enjoyed since Mrs Thatcher’s government introduced the Right To Buy.
They will be able to cash in on significant discounts to buy their homes. At present, they can get discounts worth up to £ 77,900 outside London and £ 103,900 in the capital.
Affordable
Mr Clark said the Housing Bill will “create a level playing field” to ensure any social tenant wanting to buy their home would have the opportunity to do so at the same levels of discount.
Cash raised will be earmarked to fund building replacement affordable homes on a one- for- one basis. Councils will also be obliged to sell their most expensive housing when it falls vacant with the receipts used for new affordable homes in the same area.
First- time buyers will be further helped by plans to deliver 200,000 starter homes, available at a 20 per cent discount to first- time buyers under 40. Councils are to be obliged to allocate land with planning permission for self- build properties.