Tory plan to let tenants buy 1% of home a year

TENANTS will be able to buy tiny shares of their home every year to build up a nest egg over time, ministers will announce today.

Under reforms to shared ownership schemes to be announced by Housing Secretary James Brokenshire, renters will be permitted to purchase as little as one per cent a year of the value of the property.

Shared owners buy a slice of the home they live in – usually between a quarter and three quarters of the full price – and pay rent on the rest.

They can then buy additional shares each year up to the point when they own the house or flat outright. But minimum purchase levels of ten per cent a year can make it prohibitively expensive to increase equity, especially if the value has risen.

The new measure will be contained in a policy green paper for social housing. It will also promise ‘league tables’ of landlords – including councils and private landlords – so renters can judge the owner of a property. Mr Brokenshire will say the measures seek to rebalance the relationship between tenants and landlords.

The minister said: ‘Providing high-quality and well-managed social housing is a core priority for this Government.

‘Our green paper offers a landmark opportunity for major reform to improve fairness, quality and safety for residents living in social housing across the country. Regardless of whether you own your home or rent, residents deserve security, dignity and the opportunities to build a better life.’

Officials said new powers for the social housing regulator would give it ‘sharper teeth’ to help tenants.

In a separate move, to boost the number of council houses and flats, a consultation is under way on how to spend the money from ‘right to buy’ sales.

The aim is to make it easier for councils to replace properties sold under the ‘right to buy’ and build more affordable homes.

Shadow housing secretary John Healey said the green paper was ‘pitiful’ and contained nothing that ‘measures up to the scale of the housing crisis’.