Labour plans to protect non property owning class from exploitation.

[andygardener]

I would agree if these houses had been built for that purpose, but the only reason some people can't afford to buy an house now is because the banks wouldn't lend to them and preferred to lend to buy to let, buy to let was the primary reason for the housing bubble which inflated prices out of the reach of many.

The greed of buy to let investors caused the problem so they can’t take the moral high ground by claiming to be doing people a favour. I don’t have a problem with greedy people looking after number one and exploiting other but to claim they are then doing everyone a favour is a tad hypocritical.

 

The bubble was caused by banks lending huge multiples of even alleged income to people self certifying. Someone on £30K a year who decades ago might have had £60K buying power ended up with hundreds of thousands of buying power, hence prices kept going up.

 

This will have applied to buy to let to some degree but buy to let was not the cause.

 

Nobody is suggesting buy to let landlords are selfless providers of largesse..they are in it to make money, they take risks and provide something the market wants. Buy to let is about far more than people on housing benefit, I rented a nice house years ago when my job meant I was spending a lot of time down south and I wasn't sure if I'd be staying in Sheffield.

[maxmaximus]

The bubble was caused by banks lending huge multiples of even alleged income to people self certifying. Someone on £30K a year who decades ago might have had £60K buying power ended up with hundreds of thousands of buying power, hence prices kept going up.

 

This will have applied to buy to let to some degree but buy to let was not the cause.

 

Nobody is suggesting buy to let landlords are selfless providers of largesse..they are in it to make money, they take risks and provide something the market wants. Buy to let is about far more than people on housing benefit, I rented a nice house years ago when my job meant I was spending a lot of time down south and I wasn't sure if I'd be staying in Sheffield.

 

The housing market cannot function without someone buying the cheapest houses, first time buyers were traditionally the start of every chain and without them the chain collapsed and nothing sells, first time buyers were replaced by buy to let investors, and buy to let investors didn’t provide anything they just bought up the cheaper properties in direct competition with people less fortunate than themselves. They created their own market by buying up the cheapest houses and forcing prices out of the reach of their customers.

[ECCOnoob]

Fair Rents Act 1977 - LABOUR government

 

Fair Rents Act 1977 repealed 1989 - TORY government (giving landlords carte blanche on what to charge regardless of whether it's warranted)

 

A return to the Fair Rent Act is what is needed.

 

It was repealed after the introduction of the Housing Act which incorporates contents from the Rent Act.

 

Happens all the time in law. Acts come and go. Things become combined and amended.

 

---------- Post added 13-01-2013 at 17:08 ----------

 

Everywhere you post you are in denial. Now answer the questions I set you.

 

Since when did I work for you. Never heard such rudeness.

 

No. Im not answering your 'questions'. They have nothing to do with this topic.

 

You want to talk about government policy and benefits to the country take it to another thread. Im not playing your little quiz here.

[monkey104]

I do think the buy to let topic has been talked about so much that it is like one of those words when you say it over and over and over it sound meaningless!

[Lab-rat]

 

The are now more private rented houses than council houses. We have gone back 50 years. The coming generations are screwed. The burden of rent is literally destroying out society.

 

Borrowing £147 million for the World Student Games without securing central government backing all but ruined investment in other areas of our city for DECADES!!! We are still paying back this loan now, & it sticks in the throat that they intend to knock down Don Valley Stadium & leave nothing tangible to show for it!

 

Perhaps it is this lack of money left to spend out of the budget for things such as building new council houses, that can be attributed to the short sighted view that this showcase would bring inward investment into the city after industrial decline.

 

I fear that the lower paid have been, & will continue to, (affordable housing wise) suffer now & in the future for the few weeks of glory in the early 1990s.

[chem1st]

Borrowing £147 million for the World Student Games without securing central government backing all but ruined investment in other areas of our city for DECADES!!! We are still paying back this loan now, & it sticks in the throat that they intend to knock down Don Valley Stadium & leave nothing tangible to show for it!

 

Perhaps it is this lack of money left to spend out of the budget for things such as building new council houses, that can be attributed to the short sighted view that this showcase would bring inward investment into the city after industrial decline.

 

I fear that the lower paid have been, & will continue to, (affordable housing wise) suffer now & in the future for the few weeks of glory in the early 1990s.

 

I reckon we could build plenty of houses, repave the roads, and a do a lot lot more too. And I reckon we could do it all without spending a single penny of sterling.

[maxmaximus]

Borrowing £147 million for the World Student Games without securing central government backing all but ruined investment in other areas of our city for DECADES!!! We are still paying back this loan now, & it sticks in the throat that they intend to knock down Don Valley Stadium & leave nothing tangible to show for it!

 

Perhaps it is this lack of money left to spend out of the budget for things such as building new council houses, that can be attributed to the short sighted view that this showcase would bring inward investment into the city after industrial decline.

 

I fear that the lower paid have been, & will continue to, (affordable housing wise) suffer now & in the future for the few weeks of glory in the early 1990s.

 

It’s not so much about the lack of money and more about how the money we have is spent.

Housing benefits are paid to millions of people and if this money was used to build new houses instead of going in to the pockets of private land lords the country would be much better off.

£450 a month is the repayments for a £100,000 mortgage and government is just giving it away with nothing to show for it.

[Resident]

It was repealed after the introduction of the Housing Act which incorporates contents from the Rent Act.

 

Happens all the time in law. Acts come and go. Things become combined and amended.

 

But only parts of the act were cherry picked. The housing act does not offer the protection to tenants that the fair rents act did. This is evidenced by the fact that those tenants still covered by the fair rents act as before it was repealed still pay LESS in rental charges than someone under the housing act in a like for like property.

[Lab-rat]

It’s not so much about the lack of money and more about how the money we have is spent.

Housing benefits are paid to millions of people and if this money was used to build new houses instead of going in to the pockets of private land lords the country would be much better off.

£450 a month is the repayments for a £100,000 mortgage and government is just giving it away with nothing to show for it.

 

You've lost me you've got one payment of money.....which surely can't service two bills at once. If a person needs a place to live surely that money has to go to pay to finance that rather than a building project that you can't ask someone to live in until it's complete?

 

Successive governments & local councils scrapping over conflicting political agendas have meant money has been siphoned off where it should have been spent on stuff like council houses & road maintenance.

 

Using your theory if we don't pay out benefits to unemployed we can use this money to repair the road surfaces & infrastructure which will attract inward investment creating jobs meaning people may not have to claim benefits.......................if only it was that simple?

[chem1st]

You've lost me you've got one payment of money.....which surely can't service two bills at once. If a person needs a place to live surely that money has to go to pay to finance that rather than a building project that you can't ask someone to live in until it's complete?

 

Successive governments & local councils scrapping over conflicting political agendas have meant money has been siphoned off where it should have been spent on stuff like council houses & road maintenance.

 

Using your theory if we don't pay out benefits to unemployed we can use this money to repair the road surfaces & infrastructure which will attract inward investment creating jobs meaning people may not have to claim benefits.......................if only it was that simple?

 

What is money?

 

We can use alternative currency, better currency. Currently doing so would be illegal. Unemployment and poverty continue to persist and recently rocket.