Will Angela Rayner close the Right to Buy council home loophole

Angela Rayner Deputy Prime Minister, and Secretary of State for Housing has some big ideas about housing. Promising 1,800,000 new homes over 5-years and providing more social housing. But before she goes about all of that, Rayner needs to first end the Right to Buy of Council Housing passed in the Housing Act 1980 – brought in under Margaret Thatcher.

This scheme allows council tenants to buy the property they rent at a discounted rate, which meant over 2,000,000 council homes were sold off in the first 16 years of the Act being passed, a rate of 12,500 homes a year. Last year this rate had escalated to 24,392 council homes being sold off

Is it fair and equitable that everyone who does not own their own home and is renting in the Private Rented Sector does not have the support and benefits afforded to council tenants? As there seems to be a very skewed system, one which Ms Rayner was very much in the focus for recently.

For example most of the general public are unaware that council tenants – according to the GOV.UK,  

‘Can get a discount on the market value of your home when you buy it if you qualify for Right to Buy. The maximum discount is £102,400 across England, except in London boroughs where it is £136,400. It will increase each year in April in line with the consumer price index (CPI). 

The discount is based on how long you’ve been a tenant with a public sector landlord, the type of property you’re buying – a flat or house, the value of your home. If you’re buying with someone else, you count the years of whoever’s been a public sector tenant the longest. You’ll usually have to repay some or all your discount if you sell your home within 5 years. You might get a smaller discount if you’ve used Right to Buy in the past. There are different discount levels for houses and flats.

 

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Investor and developer, Lamington Group unveils York based  hometel brand, room2 project

B-Corp real estate investor and developer, Lamington Group, is delighted to unveil details of its next project under the award-winning, eco hometel brand, room2, with a York property set to start site development this Summer, and open in early 2026.

This will be the brand’s first in the North of England and continues the group’s leading commitment to take real action on climate change by building and operating net-zero carbon properties.

The £30m asset will be funded off the group’s balance sheet, and the development will be managed by the in-house team of Lamington Group’s development arm. Located inside the city’s castle walls, room2 York, will offer 116 guest rooms, a meeting space, laundry room, gym, and new Winnie’s cafe and bar concept specialising in home cooked and locally grown food.

Robert Godwin, CEO at Lamington Group said: “room2 York will be a fantastic development that we are delighted to be progressing despite challenging economic conditions. In line with our One Living Planet strategy, we are proud to continue the creation of  long term environmental and social value for our partners, guests and community.”

room2 York is designed to meet operational and embodied net zero standards in accordance with the UKGBC net zero carbon framework, verified in design by Savills Earth.  The new hometel is designed to achieve ultra-low energy standards. It will be fully electric, fitted with roof solar panels, showers with wastewater heat recovery and CO2 sensor-controlled ventilation. The hometel has also been designed to meet WELL Platinum, championing the highest standard of health and wellbeing spaces for our guests and team members.

 

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Mal McCallion – ‘When two tribes go to war’ Rightmove & OpenRent

Thought Leadership by Mal McCallion – CEO of Modelprop

‘The first inkling that all was not well in this long-standing – and mutually-supportive – relationship between hashtag#Rightmove and hashtag#OpenRent was spotted by Nigel Lewis of hashtag#TheNegotiator. His exclusive story, that OpenRent had removed Rightmove’s logo from its product offering last week – days before any clarification statement from either party – set in train this entire public standoff.

It was fitting, then, that Lewis also broke the extraordinary news last night that OpenRent and Rightmove had kissed and made up.

Whoa – so what happened, to change from Rightmove’s statement a couple of days ago that yes, we’ve lost 8% of our letting property stock by executing OpenRent but everything will be OK, to welcoming their errant ‘partner’ back in to the fold?

Bad news everyone: OpenRent bowed to pressure

Rightmove piled on the pain, releasing a statement to the stock market emphasising that OpenRent had chosen not to renew on their terms – but, for investors, that was OK. They would continue to execute all refuseniks.

And so, painfully, OpenRent buckled. It’s fair to say that their business model is so predicated on simple, blind distribution through portals that to lose the main one was always going to expose their product as a bit rubbish. (Picture Mal McCallion)

However, OpenRent’s capitulation to Rightmove should worry us all

If a business that has 8% of Rightmove’s lettings’ stock won’t escape, despite a terrifying uplift in charging, what other agent can?

It’s hard to cry for OpenRent, who have been pulling the tightest landlords out of the market for a while and giving them cheap access to portals that other agents pay much more for. However, their outright humiliation at the hands of Rightmove will only serve to embolden a business that – let’s face it – doesn’t need any more reason to confidently uplift its charges in 2025.

From here on-in, Rightmove will have relatively little fear that any individual agent can swerve its price rises. If OpenRent capitulated, they believe, then you’re going to too.

 

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