Top Tory Councillor Wants RTB ‘Re-Think’

A top Tory councillor is calling on Prime Minister Theresa May to ‘re-think the rules’ on Right to Buy – evoking the spirit of Margaret Thatcher. Councillor Rock Feilding-Mellen is the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Cllr Feilding-Mellen says it would be better to fund RTB – for council tenants as well as for housing association tenants – by offering shared equity deals so when homes are sold the discount would be repaid to the Exchequer to be recycled to help more people. He says: “An approach along these lines would increase the chance of being able to prevent our cities from becoming polarised between rich and poor areas and preserve mixed communities.” Read more on 24housing.

Council First to Launch Housing Scheme For Veterans

A council is claiming to have become the first in the country to officially launch a scheme to help veterans of the armed forces get a foot on the housing ladder. Birmingham Council is offering former servicemen and women assistance with shared equity loans which in turn will enable them to buy a home through the Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust – the council’s house building initiative. The council said it was able to introduce the scheme thanks to flexibility of the New Homes Bonus and that it could provide up to 10 per cent of the sale price of the house so that buyers would only pay a minimum of 5 per cent deposit. Read more on the Birmingham City Council website.