The government has given details of a scheme allowing 30 per cent reductions for what it calls ‘local first time buyers’ and 'key workers'.
There will be a scheme called First Home which will make properties available at a discount.
“Councils will be able to use housing developers’ contributions to discount homes by 30 per cent for people who cannot otherwise afford to buy in their area” says a statement from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government this afternoon.
The statement fails to make clear whether this will apply only to new build property purchases or whether it could be extended to all homes, but it says the new First Home scheme will be available "for people who cannot otherwise afford to buy in their area."
The MHCLG has also revealed that the Affordable Homes Programme - widely criticised for its failure to deliver affordable homes under the previous Conservative government - will be “renewed.”
The government has also confirmed that it will ban new houses being sold on a leasehold basis and it will reduce ground rents for new leases to zero.
New legislation will also be brought forward to require developers of new build homes to belong to a New Home Ombudsman.
“We will … help first time buyers get a foot on the property market with 30 per cent discounts for local people and key workers. We are moving forward with legislation to set ground rents to zero, abolish leasehold houses and prioritise the safety of residents with the biggest change to building safety laws for 40 years” claims Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick.
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Already being used in Chichester. I have 2 under offer using this scheme.
So a bit of a policy fudge, then? Some vague info about 'local first-time buyers' and 'key workers'. Who does this include? How local do you have to be? If you live in North London and try to buy a home in NW London, do you fit the criteria?
Surely it must just be on new-build homes, right? I can't see how it would extend to all homes; how would that even work? People selling being forced to lower their prices by 30%? Surely not?
Another confused policy, in my view, and could easily go the same way as Help to Buy - which, when you actually look at the figures, hasn't really helped that many buyers and has tended to favour the more well-off, and a fair few second-steppers.
The affordable homes programme is also a nonsense - because it doesn't deliver affordable homes!
The definition of affordable has now been changed to such a degree that - in London in particular - a one-bed flat for £300,000 is now deemed affordable. The government and I must have very different definitions of affordable. Affordable should be homes that even people on average salaries can afford without having to save for donkey's years. That isn't the case at the moment.
We've had the scheme in Wales for years.........occasionally throws up massive anomalies whereby a local ftb ends up getting consent to build a massive "affordable" home next door to their parents and worth 400% more than a "true" ftb house locally.....crazy !!
Also local developers "went on strike" over the last few years as the planning consent often insisted that the 25% "affordable homes" on a site had to be built and sold first at 70% market value ie no profit whatsoever, before they could actually finish the other homes.
Since then the councils have changed tack and now insist on a lump sum from them that goes towards building "affordable homes" in the area.....which is a lot better....its all still "market manipulation" in disguise.
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