Shaky start
Posted: March 12, 2012 Filed under: Housebuilding, Housing market, Mortgages Leave a commentIf NewBuy really is to be about supporting buyers and new homes rather than just subsidising housebuilders here are 10 questions that need answers.
The launch of the scheme this morning got off to a somewhat shaky start, with many reports claiming (wrongly) that it is for first-time buyers and others (rightly) pointing out the advantages for builders.
Read the rest of this post on my blog at Inside Housing.
Family values
Posted: March 7, 2012 Filed under: Budget, Housing benefit, Mansion tax, Welfare reform Leave a commentAnyone who has followed the debates about housing benefit cuts and the Welfare Reform Bill will probably have been thinking the same as me during the debates this week about the mansion tax and child benefit.
Surely we heard exactly the same arguments about ‘fairness’ and ‘family’ in all the debates over the last year about welfare reform and housing benefit cuts?
Last post
Posted: March 1, 2012 Filed under: Housing benefit, Welfare reform | Tags: government, politics 1 CommentAnd so, having ‘done this to death’, the bedroom tax and the Welfare Reform Bill have passed their final parliamentary hurdle.
The quote came from welfare reform minister Lord Freud as peers debated a final attempt to amend the under-occupation penalty. It may have been accurate in terms of the parliamentary procedure but it will have a hollow ring for landlords and tenants as they spend the next 13 months agonising about how a measure that will cost 670,000 people £14 per week will be implemented.
Read the rest of this post at Inside Edge, my blog for Inside Housing.
