Social Homebuy - Helping Council tenants towards home
ownership
Council tenants looking to get a foot on the
housing property ladder are being given the chance to buy a share
in their home thanks to a pilot scheme being run by Harlow
Council.
Social Homebuy, which runs until 31
March 2008, is a new home ownership scheme where council tenants
can buy as little as 25% of their home and pay rent on the share
they don’t own. This gives tenants another option to buy other than
the right to buy scheme.
The scheme is similar to other shared
ownership initiatives as it allows secure tenants to buy an initial
share. But, unlike other schemes tenants can receive a
discount of up to £10,125 on the first share that they buy and can
then gradually move up to full ownership.
Councillor Mark Wilkinson, Chair of the
Council’s Housing Committee, said: “I’m delighted we are able to
offer our tenants this scheme. Only a handful of Councils across
the country have been given Government approval to run such a
scheme. Social Homebuy is perfect for tenants who currently might
not be able to buy their home outright but want to step towards
owning their own home. People struggle to get on the housing
property ladder nowadays and it can be even harder for people
renting a property.”
The rules for Social Homebuy are similar to
that of the right to buy scheme. Most of secure tenants and certain
family members will be approved. But there are additional
exceptions, for example, people must not have a current claim for
housing benefit or currently claim full council tax benefit during
the application for Social Homebuy.
Tenants can obtain an application pack by
phoning Contact Harlow on 446655 or the Home Ownership Section on
446424 or alternatively email homeownership@harlow.gov.uk.
Tenants can also use the same contact details for information on
the right to buy scheme.
Ends