Do We Have To Sell Off High-Value Council Houses?

The plan to sell off high-value council houses would require the top third in value of all council houses to be sold when they fall vacant, an estimated 15,000 sales per year. A report from a group of London boroughs estimates they’d need to sell 3,500 houses and flats in the next five years. This gives a real measure of the scale of the disaster that’s about to befall those areas where these more valuable homes are located.  The effects will be concentrated in certain areas rather than being pepper-potted, as the government is believed to be planning to define ‘high value’ regionally (so London will be one of the regions). In Westminster this would literally mean all relets – 400 units per year – being sold, with none being available to families on the waiting list. Read more on the Red Brick blog.

Reduction in Landlords Seeking Vacant Possession

The National Landlords Association (NLA) reports a 43 per cent reduction in the number of landlords seeking vacant possession of their properties year on year.  According to the NLA’s Quarterly Landlord Panel, 14 per cent of landlords sought vacant possession of their properties in 2013 compared to some 20 per cent of landlords in 2012. In addition, the number of landlords reporting antisocial behaviour from their tenants has fallen three percentage points (17%) year on year; down from 18 per cent in 2012 to 15 per cent in 2013. Read more on the NLA website.