I do not profess to know everything that’s going on around here. I take the view that if something is important or topical, then someone will draw it to my attention – in this case ex Redbridge councillor and deputy Leader Morris Hickey. As usual there is nothing on the award winning website Redbridge-i but the local press will probably pick up on it later.
This from yesterday’s Telegraph
Elderly homeowners will be encouraged to downsize to smaller properties and allow councils to rent their homes to local families under Coalition plans to ease the nation’s housing crisis. More …This from Today’s Conservative Home
The Government is urging other councils to follow the example of Conservative-run Redbridge [sic!] with a scheme to encourage the elderly to move to smaller properties and allow the council to rent out their homes. More …And a comment posted on the above
Our scheme in Redbridge - run by a Conservative-Liberal Democrat partnership - is a new pilot scheme that we're currently testing at the moment. It's targeted at mature home owners who are under-occupying their home and would like to move. Our Housing Service provides advice and support, in partnership with DABD(UK), including a direct offer of sheltered housing where appropriate. The home owner retains ownership of their home which is leased to the council to provide us with additional social housing. The owner receives all of the rent as income, as well as free property management.Of course if councils hadn’t sold off most of their council housing and the housing market wasn’t totally screwed in favour of speculators leaving homes empty then just maybe the problem would not be so bad and squatting may not have been such a problem …
Cllr Ian Bond (LibDem Deputy Leader of the Council)
In yesterday's newspaper, I read that the owner would receive the rental income only after expenses have been taken into consideration!
ReplyDeleteI don't poo-poo the idea but, how interesting it would be if large families could be placed where there is a surplus of school places.
One brush, and so many problems solved at once!
annesevant
It's another ripoff where home owners pay for Redbridge council's housing problem. Don't touch it with the proverbial barge pole.
ReplyDeleteThis is not a new concept in Redbridge.
ReplyDeleteAt least 2 properties in this road were purchased
and the elderly residents relocated to a flat,
quite happily. Council tenants were put in,
and are still there. The original owners
eventually died, without having the worry of
looking after their homes in their final months.
This scheme is NOT about the council purchasing property. It is for "managing" and letting, with the council charging the owner 20% of the rent.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous misses the point that in the new iniative the properties are not purchased by the Council but are managed by the Council until the time when the owner is no longer with us. There could be considerable costs to bring the properties to lettable conditions and these costs will be passed onto the owner via a reduced rent income.
ReplyDeleteAfterwards, the wishes of the heirs will have to be taken into consideration.
So, a much more complicated process than simply buying the house from the tenant and rehousing in a more suitable accommodation.
annesevant
On the other hand, Anne, buying properties would involve massive capital outlay, wouldn't it?
ReplyDeleteThat's right, Judith. So provide on the backs of the thrifty - the kind of thing that you would usually deplore.
ReplyDeletePerhaps she does? Pointing out that the alternative requires capital the council does not have, does not necessarily endorse the original premise.
Deletedon't want this to become a mother's meeting but, if council was to buy house, council would own house rather than have it for an unspecified length of time and then have to give it back (with perhaps an increased value, who knows!).
ReplyDeleteDepending on what is on offer for the elderly resident, I would consider the offer myself because looking after a property is a serious commitment: think of maintenance of electrics, roof, central heating if any. No mean task for an elderly person.
annesevant
But there's nothing to stop an elderly person from selling their house and moving to Sheltered accomodation without any assistance from the state.
DeleteYes - and its important to stress - amid all the publicity and noise that this scheme seems to have attracted - that it's a very small scale pilot and is entirely voluntary. The Council doesn't buy the home; we would lease it so ownership remains with the original occupant, who keeps their house and benefits from the income stream of the rent. There'll be a Cabinet report on this in February
ReplyDeleteIan
Whatever you may say, Ian (Bond), it's designed to solve Redbridge council's problem on the backs of the thrifty.
ReplyDeleteDid you not spot the abused apostrophe?
DeleteNo-one, as far as I know, is going to be forced into this new scheme - certainly from what I have read about it, it could (and the emphasis is on COULD) be helpful at a stressful time.
ReplyDeleteOver the past 5 years, I have had a lot to do with friends and relatives in Redbridge who could no longer cope in their old homes for reasons of health and/or extreme old age. In those cases, we were on hand to act as sole or extra carers. But not everyone has a friend or family member close at hand to deal with solicitors and estate agents and social and health services and builders and banks and removal men...... I can very easily imagine circumstances in which some Council assistance, at a reasonable cost, would be extremely helpful.
Yes, Weggis, I did. But very few of us are blessed with perfection.
ReplyDeleteStatement from Cllr Turbefield
ReplyDelete“The Council has been looking into an innovative pilot project where the Council would help older homeowners move into smaller properties and their larger property would then be let by the Council to families in need. No cases have been completed yet as the first stage of the pilot scheme has been gathering views of older people and designing an appropriate scheme. We understand from many older homeowners that they are interested in ways of moving to a smaller, more manageable property, without having to sell their home. This scheme could be a way of helping them do that and providing a home for a family in need as well as gaining an income from the rent. The property may be upgraded and it remains in their ownership, passing to their heirs in the usual way with vacant possession.
There are many benefits that the scheme provides including options to improve the lives of owners by relieving them of a burden without taking their capital asset away. As well as having the benefits of a more suitable, cheaper to run home, most will have more disposable income than now because of the rent received, improving their lifestyle options and stimulating the local economy. The scheme has an environmental impact too where improvements are necessary and carried out before letting. It improves energy efficiency, may reduce the need for travel if the owner moves nearer to family as well as potentially reducing social care costs.
If the pilot scheme is approved by Cabinet some cases will be completed and information on the scheme will be widely available. Cabinet are considering the report on the scheme in February.
It is important to stress that the scheme, if agreed, is entirely voluntary and there is no question of pressuring anyone to move who doesn’t want to.”
Thank you Cllr Turbefield.
DeleteFor readers who don't know, Robin is the Redbridge Cabinet member for Housing.
This is all very well, but does not increase the housing stock i.e you are merely exchanging 1 house for another, the gain may be 1 or 2 bedrooms, for what seems a very complex process, which will only provide a very expensive and very marginal increase in housing, much better to concentrate on bringing back into use those empty properties, both PUBLIC and private sector.
ReplyDeleteBy the way ,at november 2011 there were 2186 empty homes in Redbridge, of which 813 had been empty for more than 6 months.
ReplyDeleteI have been in correspondence with the council's Housing Department for well over 3 years about an unoccupied property very close to where I live. During this time there have been periods of total silence, refusal to respond hiding behind "data protection", and very clearly little or no progress towards persuading the absent owner to carry out whatever work is required and to let it.
ReplyDeleteIn another case, a bungalow in the area that I represented as a councillor had been empty for well in excess of 10 years. Despite constant reminders to the council, little appeared to be done. The whole site was an eyesore with little or no action taken. I retired from the council in 2006: the property has now been occupied by tenants for about 2 years.
As dopeyf says, the council should be far more proactive in dealing with the large number of empty properties.
I happened to be watching a TV show about renovating "empty homes". It seems that Local Authorities have a "Empty Property Officer".
ReplyDeleteThe TV featured the Empty Properties Officer from the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames (who drives a rather swish BMW - so he must be well paid)
I found reference to the Redbridge scheme here Click!
The Empty Homes Agency website can be found here Click!
A couple of things that can cause properties to remain empty for long periods (according to the TV show) are Planning Restrictions (up to FIVE years) and Probate (can take up to THREE years after a property owner has died). I know something about these restrictions on a personal level.
"There are almost three times as many empty homes in London as homeless people"
ReplyDeleteSnipe: http://snipelondon.com/metropolis/there-are-almost-three-times-as-many-empty-homes-in-london-as-homeless-people
A quick question here (which I may have overlooked by my skimming of this piece): If an elderly couple agree to this deal with the Council, who gets that house (or the proceeds from the sale of that house) when the couple die?
ReplyDeleteWhoever is specified in their Will.
Delete.. and presumably the beneficiary(ies) could elect to continue the arrangement?
DeleteSo the Council have no power to force the Executor/s into a fire-sale?
ReplyDeleteThat's what a Pilot Project is for - to iron out these sort of details ...
Delete