What if you had the “right to buy” from a private landlord?
The Guardian: Right to buy plans floated by Corbyn backed by centre-right thinktank. The plan suggests renters would have the right to buy from private landlords.
On the surface, this sounds really outlandish. If I was a landlord I could be forced to sell my property? (The plan does outline measures to ensure that private owners wouldn’t lose money.) But if you think about it more deeply, is the “right to be a landlord” something that we as a society want to protect?
Given housing is deeply entwined with basic subsistence, making real estate a less-profitable vehicle of investing doesn’t sound like such a bad idea.
A radical plan like this is never likely to pass into legislation. And even if it did, the current property prices are so high that I can’t see it helping many people get onto the ladder in London.
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