Labour MPs attack government for sneaking in changes which will cause insecurity as housing minister Marcus Jones says tenants will benefit

A Conservative minister has claimed council tenants may benefit from losing the right to live in their home for life because they might not have thought about buying their own property before.

Marcus Jones, a housing minister, said the new five-year limit on council tenancies would encourage people to own their properties.

Labour has accused the government of a “vendetta against council tenants”, while housing charities said it would break up communities, after the government quietly inserted the changes into the new housing and planning bill.

But Jones made the claim that council tenants would benefit after he was pressed by Labour MP Peter Dowd to justify the argument that it would “help social mobility”.

Speaking in the housing and planning bill committee, Jones said: “All of the policies within this bill are aimed at helping social mobility. We want people who are able to purchase their own property or able to exercise the right to buy to do so, to exercise what we see as a right to social mobility.

“Within this policy, in many cases, the circumstances of tenants will be reviewed, and in certain cases, where they so feel they are able to do so, it may well prompt some people who otherwise may not have thought about purchasing their own home to actually go forward and purchase their own home, which I think is an important opportunity for everyone to do.”

Gareth Thomas, Labour MP and former London mayoral candidate, who sits on the committee, said some of the minister’s remarks had been “insensitive” to those who will lose their homes.

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He said the government had offered no consultation and refused to confirm any exemptions for families with young children or those with long-term disabilities. He also said Jones had left open the possibility that housing association tenants would also be subject to such five-year limits at a later date.

The proposals were attacked in the committee by a raft of Labour MPs, who said the changes would cause insecurity and potentially even harm people’s mental health. They also questioned why the government sneaked the new clause into the housing bill at a late stage and with no impact assessment of the move.

Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, the housing charity, said the proposal means people will “increasingly find their only option is a lifetime of instability”.



“From now on new social tenants will be in the same boat as private renters living with the threat of eviction hanging over them,” he said. “Shorter term tenancies are not a solution to our housing shortage. The only way to achieve this is to prioritise investment in genuinely affordable homes that people on low and average incomes can afford to rent or buy.”



It was also condemned as “counter-intuitive and dangerous” by Professor David Robinson, a housing expert from Sheffield Hallam University.

“Stability and security are key to wellbeing, social links and confidence, and to remove such securities would impact on people’s ability to overcome any employment or personal challenges they encounter in their day-to-day lives,” he said.

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The row came as figures released on Thursday by the Department for Communities and Local Government show that council housing stock is declining because of the extension of the government’s right-to-buy scheme.

The data showed 2,941 homes were sold by councils through the right-to-buy scheme in England in July to September 2015, while only 423 were started or acquired to replace them using the receipts.

Since right-to-buy discounts were increased in April 2012, 35,229 homes have been sold, while only 4,117 have been started or acquired to replace them.

Terrie Alafat, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: “There is nothing wrong with the government’s aim to help people achieve their aspiration of home ownership – but if affordable homes for rent are being sold, it’s absolutely crucial that they are replaced. We are concerned about the loss of social rented homes at a time when more and more people are in need of affordable housing.”

David Cameron first signalled he would like to end lifetime tenancies of council homes as long ago as 2010, when he suggested it could help increase social mobility.



While admitting that “not everyone will support this and there will be quite a big argument”, he said at the time: “There is a question mark about whether, in future, we should be asking when you are given a council home, is it for a fixed period? Because maybe in five or 10 years you will be doing a different job and be better paid and you won’t need that home, you will be able to go into the private sector.”

But the plan was never implemented under the coalition, with Grant Shapps, then housing minister, eventually unveiling plans to let tenancy limits be set in each local area.

The new legislation forces councils to offer all new tenants contracts of between two and five years. At the end of the fixed term, local authorities will have to carry out a review of the tenant’s circumstance, and decide whether to grant a new tenancy, move the tenant into another more appropriate social rented property, or terminate the tenancy.

Where the local authority decides to terminate the tenancy, they will be required to provide advice to support the tenant into home ownership or to help them access other housing options, whichever is appropriate.

