Posted on Feb 25th, 2022
I read with interest your editorial (21 February) regarding buy-to-let landlords and the injustice faced by renters who are excluded from the prosperity generated by rising property prices and who are funding the comfortable retirements of their landlords.
While the suggestion of extending the right-to-buy scheme to the private sector is, at first glance, interesting, sadly this will not assist those who will never be able to afford to purchase a property. How will an individual receiving the minimum wage be able to afford the deposit required by a mortgage lender? Given that the average mortgage is repaid over 25 years, anyone over the age of 40 is likely to be excluded.
All political parties have avoided the fact that there is a chronic shortage of social housing. The Thatcher administration’s prohibition of local authorities using funds gained from former council tenants who purchased their properties to build new council-owned homes was shortsighted and caused incalculable social harm.
Original article:: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/feb/24/new-builds-and-new-rules-will-help-the-uks-trapped-renters
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