The government says its new Housing and Planning Bill marks the start of a national crusade to transform generation rent into generation buy, Housing Minister Brandon Lewis announced Tuesady (13 October 2015).
The minister said Tuesday’s publication will send a clear signal that the government will “keep the country building” while giving hard-working families every opportunity to unlock the door to home ownership.
Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said:
“As a one nation government we’re determined that anybody who works hard and aspires to own their own home has the opportunity to do so.
“More than 230,000 households have been helped into homeownership through government-backed schemes since 2010, while our extension to the Right to Buy will see a further 1.3 million housing association tenants given the opportunity to own their own home.
“And the Housing Bill will allow us go even further by kick-starting a national crusade to get 1 million homes built by 2020. It truly is an historic moment that will help deliver the homes hard-working people rightly deserve, transforming generation rent into generation buy.”
Measures in the Bill include:
- New affordable Starter Homes – a new legal duty will be placed on councils to guarantee the provision of 200,000 Starter Homes on all reasonably sized new development sites; these will be offered to first-time buyers at a 20% discount on market prices
- Local Plans – providing the government with targeted powers to ensure that all councils get their Local Plans in place by 2017, so they can help provide the homes their communities need
- Pay to Stay – ensuring that those tenants on higher incomes who are living in social housing have a rent that reflects their ability to pay, while those who genuinely need support continue to receive it
- automatic planning permission in principle on brownfield sites – to bring forward more land to build new homes quicker, while protecting the green belt planning reforms to support small builders – placing a new duty on councils to help allocate land so 20,000 custom and self-built homes a year can be built by 2020
- measures to tackle rogue landlords – giving councils the power to blacklist, and in extreme cases ban those who don’t abide by the law, while helping decent landlords recover abandoned homes quicker
- Ensuring high value assets are managed effectively – ensuring the sale of high value council assets that can be used to support people into home ownership
Publication of this Bill comes days after the government had reached an “historic deal” with housing associations to extend the Right-to-Buy to 1.3 million housing association tenants starting from next year.
The government has also recently announced new measures that will make it easier to turn underused commercial office buildings into new homes.
In addition, a new website has been launched this week to help aspiring homeowners achieve their dream of home ownership.
According to the British Social Attitudes Survey, 86% of people aspire to own their own home, and the new Own Your Home campaign will help direct people to the best scheme tailored made for their needs.
