Читать книгу Property Entrepreneur - Wong Vincent - Страница 10

The big reforms in land law in England took place during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These reforms, both in terms of their fiscal and social implications, widened the scope of ownership and control of property. For example, the Naturalization Act of 1870 gave aliens the right to own and transfer land in England for the first time. The Housing Act of 1919 gave rise to the building of new homes. Many of these first dwellings were built under a scheme called “Homes fit for Heroes” after the First World War. This started a long tradition of building state-owned housing in England, which gave rise to the many council estates that still stand today.

As the demand for social housing grew after the Second World War left over 1.4 million people homeless in England's major cities, new initiatives were started, and eventually the first New Towns Act of 1946 led to the establishment of whole new communities. Entire towns, with all the necessary infrastructure and facilities, were planned. Places like Milton Keynes, Telford, Harlow and Basildon were planned from scratch to cope with the impact of the post-war population boom.

The strain of owning and managing such a large housing stock put huge pressure on local government. In general, the 1960s and 1970s in the UK were years of massive economic unrest and instability. The pound was devalued, economic decline led to trade union strikes and unemployment rose dramatically. The welfare state was stretched and local government coffers were running dry.

Margaret Thatcher's solution, when she became Prime Minister in 1979, was dramatic. She implemented widespread deregulation and privatization in order to boost the economy and undermine the powers of the unions. But by far the greatest impact on the UK's property market came with the Housing Act of 1980, which gave council tenants the “legal right to buy their homes”. Tenants were entitled to apply for a mortgage from their local authority. At this time, mortgage interest relief at source (MIRAS) was also in effect, allowing people a certain amount of tax relief on the interest payments on their mortgage. A subsequent act dealt with the problems that many new homeowners faced due to the substandard quality of housing stock. The Housing Defects Act of 1984 gave former council tenants who had unsuspectingly bought their homes only to find major structural problems, the right to apply for local authority grants.

A key feature of the Housing Act 1980 was that council tenants could pay a deposit of £100 for the right to buy their home at a fixed price for the following two years. If the tenant then went on to sell that house within five years of purchasing it, they had to share the capital gain with the local authority. (Remember this feature when we come on to talk about options!)

But it was the Housing Act 1988 that brought about the most significant shift of control in favour of private landlords.