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1240/5(1791)
QUESTION TO BE ASKED OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE HOUSING COMMITTEE ON TUESDAY, 18th FEBRUARY 2003 BY DEPUTY G.P. SOUTHERN OF ST. HELIER
Question
Paragraph 3.6.3 of the report accompanying the Housing Committee's Strategic Policy (P.2/2002) states –
th e Committee proposes to investigate the possibility of introducing schemes for the part sale of dwellings on a shared equity basis. A working party set up by the Committee will report on this matter in 2002.'
( a ) Will the President inform members what progress has been made on this issue?;
( b ) Will the President indicate when the Committee expects to receive the working party's report? Answer
- In April 2002, the WorkingPartycommissioned consultants, BoleatConsulting, to prepare a report on Low Cost HomeOwnershipwhichwas received by the HousingCommittee in May 2002. Oneofthereport's conclusions was that the traditional shared equity scheme,involvingpart-rent and part-purchase,hadnothing to offer Jerseygiven the current relationship betweenrent and mortgage payments. In otherwords,anyone whocould afford to part-rent and part-purchasecouldalmost certainly afford to purchase the whole property.
H owever, the Report did recommend further investigation of a new scheme currently available in the UK,
known as "Homebuy". Under this scheme the Committee, if selling its own stock, would only initially receive a percentage, say 75 per cent, of the value of the property and would receive no rental for the remainder. The Committee would not recover the full value until such time, perhaps many years hence, when the property was sold or the part owner decided to buy the whole. If developing a new property for sale, the Committee would be required to expend capital funds of which say 25 per cent would be indefinitely locked up' in the properties sold.
C learly a scheme which either reduces considerably the return on assets sold or requires significant capital
outlay, is not, at present, an attractive proposition.
- As stated, the Committeehas already received this preliminary report but will be giving further thoughtto shared equityschemesat its next policy meeting on 17th March 2003, with the intention, in due course,to report its findings to the States.