Stop ‘stock blocking’ to unlock more social homes

ENDING right to buy in Wales is a flawed strategy and will not solve the issue of a lack of social homes, writes Mike Rees of property consultants Bruton Knowles.

Stopping right to buy comes across as a bit of a perverse strategy as it stifles people’s ambition to own their own home and use this mechanism a way of getting on to the housing ladder.

My view is it would be far better to free up more social housing stock by limiting the assured tenancy terms, extended only on the basis that tenants continue to meet the criteria for rent subsidy.

The intention behind the Government’s Affordable Housing Policy is to provide housing at subsidised rents for those unable to buy or rent property at market prices.

Before the blanket ban, the system would allow qualifying tenants the added right to buy their property, similar to the provisions for council housing stock, at a discount and to reflect previous rental payments.

I wholeheartedly agree on the need to protect social housing for those who need it, but to remove the right to buy will mean that social housing tenants are then locked into an assured tenancy.

This to all intents and purposes cannot be ended other than under very special circumstances and will therefore continue indefinitely at a subsidised rent linked to CPI/RPI.

This policy helps those on limited incomes, but if those incomes then rise, because of career progression for example, they are still able to occupy that property and enjoy the rent subsidy.

This “stock blocking” of the system then denies those in real need and is where the focus needs to be in terms of freeing up properties for those who need it most.

If people are not allowed to take ownership of the property in which they live, the management and upkeep of that property then falls back on the taxpayer.

To really protect the intention of social housing stock requires a wider and bolder review of the current assured tenancy rules and a more focused means-tested approach.

Mike Rees is partner and team manager of the Cardiff office of Bruton Knowles.