A Labour government would compel property developers to meet the costs of building at least 50,000 discounted homes, as part of a package of measures to help renters and first-time buyers, the party will announce today.
The shadow housing secretary, John Healey, has drawn up proposals to allow local authorities to use the planning process to force developers to build a certain number of properties to be earmarked for local first-time buyers.
These would be sold at a discount of up to 50% to the local market rate, with the size of the reduction dependent on the gap between earnings and house prices in the local area - and the local authority could choose to target them at key workers such as nurses or teachers.
Healey said in Boris Johnson’s constituency of Uxbridge, in London, where the average house price is £350,000, the price of new homes built in this way could be just £190,000. The properties would be earmarked as first-time buyer homes in perpetuity, and would have to be sold on at a discount to market rates.
“Labour’s new discount homes will give hope to aspiring first time buyers on ordinary incomes who have been failed by the Tories over the past decade,” Healey said.
“Housing should be for the many, not the few, so a Labour government will cut the price of a first home for working people and lock in the discount to help future first time buyers too.”
Labour made housing a key theme in its manifesto, published last week - and has already promised to build 100,000 council homes, and 50,000 social homes each year by the end of the next parliament.
As well as increasing the opportunities for first time buyers, Jeremy Corbyn is promising to take on exploitative landlords: and he will announce on Monday that Labour would introduce a charter of renters’ rights and a national “property MOT” to tackle squalid private housing.
The Labour leader said he would introduce a legal requirement for landlords to complete an independent annual inspection to ensure homes were up to minimum standards.
If landlords let out substandard properties or flouted the rules, they would face fines of up to £100,000 and be forced to repay rent to tenants, he said.
Corbyn’s close aides have been trying to broaden the general election debate beyond Brexit, where Boris Johnson has driven home his promise to leave the EU by the end of January in an effort to win over disgruntled leave voters.
Labour said its research had found that tenants collectively pay more than £10bn a year in rent to landlords letting out substandard homes.
The party said that nationally one in four private rented homes were classed as “non-decent”, meaning they are damp, cold, in disrepair or unsafe to live in.
Labour’s private renters’ charter will be based on three key rights, including the right to an affordable rented home with increases capped at inflation and powers for further controls for certain high rent areas; the right to a secure rented home, with new open-ended tenancies, protecting tenants from unfair eviction; and thirdly, the right to a decent rented home, with new minimum standards, backed by a new annual property MOT and fresh local enforcement powers.
Under the first-past-the-post voting system, tactical voting is when you vote for a party that you would not normally support in order to stop another party from winning. For example, in a constituency where the result is usually tight between a party you dislike and a party you somewhat dislike, and the party you support usually comes a distant third and has no chance of winning, you might choose to lend your vote to the party you somewhat dislike. This avoids ‘“wasting” your vote on a party that cannot win the seat, and boosting the chances that the party you dislike most will lose.
A Labour government would introduce legislation covering the private rented sector in the first Queen’s speech, the party said, and pass legislation within a year to enshrine the new charter of renters’ rights.
These would be enforced by primary and secondary legislation, new local enforcement powers for councils and government funding for renters’ unions to allow tenants to organise and defend their rights, the party claimed.
Corbyn said: “Labour will be on the side of tenants and take on dodgy landlords who have been given free rein for too long. Real change means taking on those who exploit the housing crisis to charge eye-watering rents for substandard accommodation.”
Healey said: “The power imbalance in the private rental market is at the heart of our housing crisis, with rents eating up too much of people’s pay, tenants afraid of eviction if they report problems, and families with children forced to uproot their lives at short notice.
“Many landlords provide decent homes that tenants are happy with, but the Conservatives have gifted rogue landlords the freedom to flourish. Labour will put bad landlords out of business.”
The Conservative party’s record on housing has been seized upon by Labour as a potential weakness during the campaign.
Two weeks ago, the National Audit Office disclosed that successive Tory governments have failed to deliver a single new “starter home” despite promising to build 200,000 by 2020.
Corbyn has promised a record-breaking affordable house building programme including 100,000 new council houses a year by 2024. Boris Johnson has announced measures to help first-time buyers and boost private house building, promising a 1m homes over the next five years.
Polly Neate, the chief executive of Shelter, said: “For decades renters have had to live with the fear of being evicted from their home for no reason. Labour and the Conservatives have made clear that they will scrap this outrageous practice, and give renters the security and stability they deserve.”
A Conservative party spokesperson, said: “Under the Conservatives we’ve banned unfair letting fees and will introduce plans to empower renters and give them greater peace of mind.
“Jeremy Corbyn’s plans have been widely condemned by housing experts and will hurt the renters they claim to want to help by hiking up rents. All Labour offer are undeliverable promises that distract from their plans for the chaos of another two referendums.”
