Issue - meetings
Shared Ownership Policy
Meeting: 23/11/2011 - Weekly Bulletin (Item 20.)
Shared Ownership Policy
Decision:
The Housing Portfolio Holder AGREED to the following policy changes:
To stop selling homes from the rented stock as equity share other than those designated for this purpose by the Council e.g. where properties are being sold as shared ownership as part of a refurbishment project.
To encourage and facilitate applicants with the necessary financial resources to buy from the available pool of existing equity share properties for sale. This will include properties that have been bought back by the Council and those properties that are for sale directly by existing equity shareholders.
If applicants have a need to be in a particular village they may bid for a property using the Homelink Choice Based Lettings route and will be assessed in accordance with Homelink policies. The existing lettings policy already has conditions that limit the chances of those who have the resources to access open market housing from being granted a social rented tenancy.
Successful bidders will only be allowed to rent a property they have successfully bid on if there are no equity share properties that they are able to buy currently for sale in that village or the nearby villages.
This policy will come into effect as soon as practically possible and no later than 1 April 2012.
This decision was published on Wednesday 23 November 2011. Democratic Services must be notified of any call in by 5pm on Wednesday 30 November 2011. If not called in, the decision may be implemented on Thursday 1 December 2011.
Meeting: 16/11/2011 - Housing Portfolio Holder's Meeting (Item 41)
41 Shared Ownership Policy 
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This item remains under discussion; further details will be given at the meeting.
Decision:
The Portfolio Holder AGREED to the following policy changes:
- To stop selling homes from the rented stock as equity share other than those designated for this purpose by the Council e.g. where properties are being sold as shared ownership as part of a refurbishment project.
- To encourage and facilitate applicants with the necessary financial resources to buy from the available pool of existing equity share properties for sale. This will include properties that have been bought back by the Council and those properties that are for sale directly by existing equity shareholders.
- If applicants have a need to be in a particular village they may bid for a property using the Homelink Choice Based Lettings route and will be assessed in accordance with Homelink policies. The existing lettings policy already has conditions that limit the chances of those who have the resources to access open market housing from being granted a social rented tenancy.
- Successful bidders will only be allowed to rent a property they have successfully bid on if there are no equity share properties that they are able to buy currently for sale in that village or the nearby villages.
This policy will come into effect as soon as practically possible and no later than 1 April 2012.
Minutes:
The Corporate Manager (Affordable Housing) reported that this was a follow-on from an agreed interim change to the shared ownership sales policy (16 March 2011), and was recommending this change be made permanent.
The Shared Equity for the Elderly scheme enabled a person over the age of 60 years who met qualifying criteria to buy a property on one of the Council’s sheltered housing developments.
The current policy operated as follows:
a) applicants for a Council house aged over 60 who had sufficient capital through ownership of a property and/or in savings at the time they apply, or who had owned a property at any time within five years of their application, would normally be expected to take part in the leasehold equity share scheme, and
b) if an applicant wished to live in a village with no sheltered housing scheme, in order to receive support from family or other formal or informal care networks, then they may be offered a non-sheltered bungalow but would be expected to take part in the shared ownership scheme.
In both types of case the applicant would be expected to purchase an equity share on a property, even if that property had previously been part of the rented stock.
The Corporate Manager (Affordable Housing) reported that the Council had 162 properties that, since September 2010, had been transferred to the Council’s General Fund ownership. This ensured that once the property had been bought back and resold the full amount is returned to the Council, thus enabling the scheme to be self-funding. This also meant that resale of the property was critical to ensure the General Fund stayed in balance. Now that the re purchased properties have to be re sold, there will over time be a loss of social rented homes unless a policy change is implemented.
It was noted that now that the Council had a financial requirement to sell its equity share properties to balance the General Fund it was proposed that those with the capacity to purchase a shared equity home should be encouraged to do so from the stock of available equity share properties rather than from the social rented stock. Not selling any additional sheltered properties under the equity share scheme was expected to help with the sale of the properties held by the General Fund for resale. However, if those who would currently be expected to purchase were allowed to rent instead this had the potential to make it more difficult for both the Council and existing leaseholders to resell equity share properties.
The Portfolio Holder AGREED to the following policy changes:
- To stop selling homes from the rented stock as equity share other than those designated for this purpose by the Council e.g. where properties are being sold as shared ownership as part of a refurbishment project.
- To encourage and facilitate applicants with the necessary financial resources to buy from the available pool of existing equity share properties for sale. This would include properties that ... view the full minutes text for item 41