Corbyn backs campaign against RTB
The labour leadership contest is probably not of that much interest to anyone involved in the property industry at the present time, most people are just happy that Labour and their property unfriendly policies were squashed by the Tory win in the recent election.
However a surprise candidate for the leadership of the Labour party in the name of Jeremy Corbyn is surprising most by his recent surge in popularity, he is presently showing as second favourite with “bookies” to win the contest next month
Corbyn has been beating his canvassing drum recently in the run up to the actual leadership vote, plans to extend the “right to buy” to tenants in privately rented accommodation is among the policies being put forward that would supposedly shake up property rights in the UK.
Mr Corbyn has proposed building 240,000 new homes a year and changing the “right to buy” so it applies to the private sector but not council houses or housing association properties. The new homes could be built through higher borrowing or funded by imposing higher taxes on unused land with planning permission and unoccupied properties.
In a recent Q&A with a Labour Housing blog “Red Brick” Corbyn reportedly said, “If we are publicly investing in building much needed social housing then this shouldn’t be converted to private wealth – one third of all council homes are now owned by private landlords. We need to mainatain the public investment in council housing for future tenants”.
He went on to say “I will vote against extending RTB to housing association properties, and would favour ending RTB full stop.”