My Utopian World - Property Ownership

Actually this is something I've put a bit of thought into over the years, but it was only while reading a comment on another post that I realised I'd never put it all down coherently, so here it is.

Warning - my red roots show in this post:-)

House ownership
IMO this has to be an all or nothing issue in society, and I prefer the all. So home ownership is encouraged, where applicable.

Council houses are available to rent, and to buy after 1 full years tennancy. Councils MUST put any money gained from selling their houses into building/aquiring new public housing. After 1 year, you can either buy the house as normal with a single lump sum (mortgage or otherwise), or you can apply for your current rent to start going towards paying of the cost of the house at 2% above base rate. While you own less than 50% of the house, you can "sell" it back to the council if you wish to move. Once you own 51%+ you must sell the house on the open market & refund the relevent %age to the council on completion. Houses that are part owned may be passed on to the next generation to continue to buy (not just rent).

Private renting as allowed too, although I would tighten controls on what counts as habitable, the number of people allowed to reside per square metre and some H&S issues.

Local council tax is a flat fee, plus an income derived sum. Transients have to pay the flat fee into a central fund.

Second Home Ownership
Obviously people can buy more than one property if they wish & have the means, however, I do not approve of perfectly good houses sitting empty so:

All domiciles must be occupied for at least 6 months of the year. Any house that has not been resided in for 6 months in the previous 18 (giving 6 months leeway) will be compulsoraily purchased by the council for 2/3 market value. an additional 6 months extension can be applied for if the house is either on the market, or the owners can prove they are currently in negotiation regarding new tenants/owners.

Second homes are subject to full council tax. If rented out, the owner has to pay the tax annually regardless of whether the tenants are permenent or not. This will mean that many rented houses pay the tax twice (once by the owners & once by the tenants). Good!

Oviously this is quite a complicated subject, and I've just scratched the surface here. As usual feel free to comment, critisise or clarify , and I'll do my best to answer all concerns.

For Previous Utopian World posts, please click on the link near the top of my sidebar.