First Time Buyers – Parliamentary Written Answer

Sir Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his policy is in the event that a developer cannot find sufficient purchasers to satisfy the First Homes policy.

Christopher Pincher: Guidance for First Homes, published alongside the written ministerial statement on 24 May 2021, recommends that if a home remains unsold after a total of 6 months of marketing, despite making every reasonable effort to ensure the home is sold to a suitable person, the developer should be able to release the home onto the open market and pay the local authority a percentage of the sale price equal to the proposed percentage discount.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2021-06-04/10155 

Regulator Was Warned About ‘Sham Transactions’ In 2015

The Regulator of Social Housing was warned about a housing association accused of using “sham transactions” to violate agreements to provide affordable housing in 2015. London District Housing Association (LDHA) was accused by Southwark Council in two court cases of “conspiring” to sell homes meant to be used as Section 106 affordable housing on the open market. The association signed Section 106 agreements agreeing to provide homes as shared ownership but then sold them as market sale while pretending they had been ‘staircased’ to 100% ownership on day one, the council alleged. Southwark Council took LDHA and several other organisations to the High Court in 2015 and 2016. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:JKJIs5lI9zwJ:https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/regulator-was-warned-about-sham-transactions-in-2015-56096+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&safe=vss

CLG Considering Allowing Shared Ownership For RTB Replacements

Housing minister Alok Sharma is examining the request, submitted by Treasury advisor Arlingclose on behalf of the authorities in June. The proposals call for legislation to be changed to allow councils to spend money raised through Right to Buy sales on purchasing homes from the open market for shared ownership. Councils are supposed to replace homes lost through the Right to Buy with new builds for affordable rent, but are only allowed to spend 30% of receipts on the construction costs. Virtually all the homes sold under the Right to Buy are social rent properties, and the policy move would raise fears over the further depletion of social rented stock. Read more on Inside Housing.

Starter Home Buyers Could Receive £141,000 Windfall From Taxpayers

The government’s starter homes initiative could deliver a taxpayer-backed windfall of £141,000 each to 200,000 lucky first-time buyers, but 2 million more aspiring homeowners will be stuck renting, campaigners say. The scheme, which allows developers to replace shared ownership and affordable rented homes with properties sold at a 20% discount, has been widely criticised since it was first announced in December 2014. One of the key concerns for housing campaigners is that the homes can be sold on at the open-market rate after five years. Lobby group Generation Rent said that this meant a “£27bn raffle” in which the original buyers stood to gain, while those who missed out would find it ever harder to get on the housing ladder. It said the scheme’s potential rewards “far exceed the already generous returns of home ownership”. 
 Read more on the Generation Rent website.

Associations Given Head Start On Land Bids

Housing associations have become eligible for a two-month head start over private sector competitors when bidding for public land. An “unexpected but welcome” side effect of the reclassification of associations as public bodies last year means they have a new special standing, enabling them to bid for developable public land. The Cabinet Office has confirmed housing associations are now able to use a 40-working-day window before land disposed of by government departments is advertised on the open market. The government has committed to release enough public land to build 160,000 new homes between 2015 and 2020. Read more on Inside Housing.

Council Privately Rent Houses - As 1,700 Still On Waiting List

Council houses are being offered for rent on the open market because people do not want to live in them – despite 1,779 tenants on the waiting list for properties. Dozens of hard-to-let council houses have already been rented out in Stoke-on-Trent. The unwanted properties have been snapped up by people attracted by the cheaper rents compared to the private sector. People must have a 'local connection' and be able to afford the rent to qualify for one of the homes. Many of the properties shunned by tenants are two and three bedroom homes. The situation has been blamed on the Government's welfare reforms which have seen tenants penalised for having spare bedrooms. Read more on the Stoke Sentinel website.

Osborne’s Great British Sell-Off

Members of the public and businesses will be offered the chance to buy government land and property on the open market, a landmark change designed to raise money for Treasury coffers and free up space to build new homes. The scheme, announced by chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, will see a Rightmove-style website launched, enabling the public to locate every inch of the £330bn worth of government-owned land and buildings – and identify which sites could be sold off, even if they are currently in use. Anyone can then submit an application to the government, with their proposal considered by policy experts before the land is sold on at a fair price if the application is successful. Read more on the City AM website.

ALMO Offers Tenants Up to £29,000 to Buy Open Market Homes

Barnet’s council tenants are being offered a helping hand to buy a home of their own in a campaign by north London social landlord Barnet Homes. Tenants who want to buy a home of their choice on the open market could receive a maximum cash grant from Barnet Homes of £29,000 towards their property purchase anywhere in the UK.  The campaign, which has £400,000 available to fund grants until April 2013, is designed to help increase the supply of homes to rent to families in housing need in the borough.  Applications for the cash incentive grants are being accepted now and are given on a first come first served basis. The grant does not have to be repaid.  Tenants could get:

• £18,000 for tenancies between two and five years with two or more bedrooms

• £26,000 for tenancies longer than five years with two bedrooms

• £29,000 for tenancies longer than five years with three bedrooms or more.  

Read more on the Barnet Homes website.