Conservative Manifesto

Read in the i yesterday about an American CEO who had heard about a study which found that increases in salary over £47,000 per year didn't have a significant impact on a person's happiness.
He reduced his million pound salary to £100,000 and used the difference to raise the pay of his employees.
Then today, I saw this.

fullfact.org/factcheck/economy/minimum_wage_prosecutions_rare-41406

Shame that employers in this country do not think like the American CEO.

Sorry, farmor, why was that comment directed at me?

durhamjen , this is what happens. The properties are sold for next to nothing, the tenant sells it on after the time is up to buy to let investors, and the property is then rented privately for several times the original rent etc etc. And anyway, is it legal for the government to force housing associations to sell their assets? It will never happen, and hopefully people willnot be taken in.

I agree, unlikely to happen. But if it does, on the subject of not being able to find the deposit, I think financing companies will spring up to finance such people. eg. They lend you the deposit; you buy the house; they then buy it from you leaving both of you to make a profit. Always money to be made on the London housing market.

The poor will not be able to get a mortgage to buy their HA property in London despite the discount. But anyway, this policy will never happen - it will be traded off in coalition deals or if not that will be legally challenged and that could take ages

Buy not but <sigh>

Good comment rose- and certsinly today but to let investments are proving hugely profitable - and often at the tax payers expense ( ie the rest of s as we all pay tax). They get tax relief on their mortgage interest, the expenses incurred in running and maintaining the property and then in some cases get housing benefit from their tenants to cover all or part of the rent. And then some people wonder why there is a housing problem when these gold plated landlords compete against ordinary buyers

rosequartz. Here lies the problem. Many people see their property as their pension. It is a way for the poor to get money. I have just read that only about 11,000 people will decide the colour of the next Government. They are the marginals, mainly in London. The Tories are hoping for their vote because the high price of property and the chance to buy into this market, is irresistible.

I used to enjoy the property programmes on the tv such as 'Homes under the Hammer'.

However, so much emphasis is placed on the words 'investment property' and not, as in the title 'Homes' that I don't watch them any more.

However - to be fair, many ordinary people were encouraged years ago to invest in property because pensions were uncertain.

£8 billion extra funding for the NHS.
This wasn't mentioned, though.

www.google.com/url?q=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/16/nhs-privatisation-biggest-history-staffordshire-cancer&sa=U&ei=uJgxVfDsFImpsgGFzoCYCQ&ved=0CAsQFjAD&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNEHJiK2xQ50x19TT8Ys7_FUA4TeXA

I have come to the conclusion that people are delusional and drunk with the power of money - getting it or spending it.
I think the Scottish castle couple let their heart rule their head. I found the oil tycoon and his beauty queen wife ridiculous. You wish the bloke selling the council flat good luck on his retirement. God knows where it will all end. I am getting so tired of the flash and greedy.

I understand some housing associations are thinking of taking them to court if they get in again and try this on, jo1book.
I wasn't sure whether to feel sorry or not for the couple in the Scottish castle. Can't understand why they bought it in the first place; neither could she, but only because they both appear to have lost their jobs.
I agree about the appalling taste. How on earth do they think someone else will buy that house? Their views are obviously so wrong, because they thought the couple viewing it actually liked the basement.

Just watched this programme. Appalling study of bad taste, romantic stupidity and greed. London Estate Agents and Property Developers are a nightmare breed.
On the question of selling off HA property. My husband is on the Board of a HA, and is so appalled at this suggestion, he has complained bitterly in an email to our local Tory MP. But we both feel this will not come about within a future coalition Government; merely electioneering.

Did anyone else watch the programme last night about million pound houses?

A man in Islington bought a 4 bedroomed council house three years ago for £157,000. He had lived in it since it was built. He wanted to sell it becuase there were 8 in his family and his three sons, all teenagers, were sleeping in the same room.
He was very pleased when he was told it was worth over a million. It went to auction, and was sold for £1,020,000. He said he might even be able to retire.
The man who looked at it was a property developer who could sell it to people who wanted to put 6 bedrooms in it, and charge £700 per month per room. I can't remember if he was the one who bought it.
It makes me feel sick to think that this should be happening to ordinary council or housing association houses.
I do not blame the man who lived in it. I blame property developers who want to make money out of everyone.

I think legally you've sailed close to the wind with ET- cheap, cheap, cheap

And why the 'cash' in inverted commas.?

Oh POGs for goodness sake - NS's parents bought their HA house and you castigate her for that? Are we to be responsible for our parents ' actions. It's well known that DC's father was involved in some dodgy tax business - off shore trust or something but I would only criticise DC if he himself were doing that. You are really scraping the bottom of the barrel - I would have thought that you could have found something more intelligent to criticise NS for. And cheap innuendo with ET as well

I think this is a great idea if administered properly - established and abandoned properties being bought for a nominal sum and being renovated and refurbished:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28641045

Sadly, many decent houses were demolished under the last Labour government under the Pathfinder Scheme - John Prescott's 'wonderful idea' carried out by Yvette Cooper.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_Market_Renewal_Initiative

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

Why should she be criticised

Why should Emily Thornberry be criticised?
Because she has done what many people would love to be able to do - purchase a Housing Association property but she has then criticised a proposed policy which would allow other people to do the same.

The only difference is that she purchased hers at auction (with or possibly without a mortgage) to add to her property portfolio, whilst most people who would love to buy one will want the property for a home which they will cherish.

'Do as I say and not as I do' is that old chestnut which people applied to the Labour Party [sigh] and unfortunately she is reinforcing that view.

(I bet Ed Miliband is not defending her as robustly as some Gransnetters )

Much of Milton Keynes has been built on the basis that social and private housing are mixed in each local estate. This works well and ensures that schools have a mixed intake.
Jings if your daughter managed to buy a house in the SE on a teacher's salary that is great - but if she has paid off her mortgage she presumably started a while ago. Property is relatively much more expensive now, compared to most wages. Someone pointed out that if bread had gone up in relative price, since the 70s, as much as average uk housing, bread would now cost £50 a loaf.

ethelbags There seems to be a very narrowly drawn group of people who manage to meet with your approval. It appears not to include "lower class" types - gypsies, the long term unemployed, etc., to whom you have previously referred. Nor does it include the "smug and cosy in their own homes" "hypocritical" middle classes who question the widom of selling off social housing, the "snooty" volunteers in charity shops or the "little darlings" at university.

The fact is a lot of people - whatever "class" you perceive them to belong to - are experiencing difficulties. This is true of people who live in council, housing association or privately rented homes and especially of families who are stuck on a waiting list for years or who are living in "temporary" bed and breakfast accommodation.

As to owner occupiers, if you believe all private new builds are "quite luxurious" I think you are mistaken. Some years ago, a large estate of private flats was built quite near where I live. They offered a deal whereby people could move in for an upfront payment of around £1,000, with stamp duty and legal fees paid and kitchen appliances included, which appealed especially to lower earners who had not been able to save for a deposit. But these flats are not "luxurious" and they have a uniform and rather unattractive external appearance. Internally they are cramped, with a small open plan living room area/cum kitchen, and tiny bedrooms - and they were massively over-priced.

And your assertion that owner occupiers would object to living amongst council/housing association tenants is, I believe, untrue. I live in a terraced house in a pleasant but ordinary road and my previous next door neighbour of around 14 years was a council tenant. He bought his house at a substantial discount (it having been fully modernised a couple of years earlier by the council) and then, a few years after that, he sold it and purchased a flat further out of London. It was a fantastic deal for him and one which would naturally tempt a lot of people. It gave him the opportunity to purchase a flat outright before reaching retirement age and possibly left him with some surplus money. But his good fortune meant somebody else's misfortune - an even longer wait for suitable housing because one more decent, affordable home had been removed from the social housing stock.

As to Emily Thornberry, presumably there was a reason why the Housing Association was auctioning the property. Why should she be criticised for the decision of a housing association? There are people on Gransnet who are, or have been, landlords. Should they be villified? After all, private landlords have just filled the gap created by the reduction in social housing. It has proved to be very lucrative for some - especially those that charge sky high rents for sub-standard accommodation. I feel there should be fewer private landlords and more social housing, or that proper rent controls should be introduced. But, as it stands at the moment, landlords who provide decent, secure, properly maintained accommodation at a fair rent are needed in response to a dire housing situation that successive governments have allowed to develop.

My theory is that Ed M was swept up in the Twitter storm

Which is very worrying that he would react without investigating further - therefore would he be a good prospect for Prime Minister



My DBF was a teacher and earned twice as much as me, and her pension was twice mine. But then I was only a Civil Servant with a so-called 'gold plated pension'.

Oh right. Sorry.

typical 'champagne socialist' - I will say no more