FirstBuy scheme to help first time buyers

Government Launches FirstBuy Scheme

The Government has launched the new FirstBuy scheme, specifically designed to help those struggling to buy their first home due to the need for large deposits.

Through FirstBuy, the Government and housebuilders together will offer a 20 per cent equity loan, which alongside a five per cent deposit from the buyer will enable them to take out a 75 per cent mortgage on the rest of the property.

Loans will be repaid on resale of the property, with the Government’s share available for reinvestment in more affordable housing. The first homes are expected to come on stream in September this year.

What is the Landlord Accreditation scheme?

It’s a voluntary scheme that private residential landlords and letting agents are encouraged to join.

The scheme aims to improve the condition and management of privately rented properties in the city. It also provides tenants with a clear indication of who has the Oxford City Council official stamp of approval.

Accredited landlords or agents have agreed to comply with a code of management and the properties that are rented out must meet specified minimum standards.

More details are available on the council website

Accredited properties are identifiable on the Council’s licensing database, please see our earlier post here

HMO licensing data on council website

One of the City Officers has sent us through instructions on how to tell whether properties in the City have HMO licences. This involves using “LocalView” on the City Council’s website.

To get to this page (which is surprisingly difficult if you use search terms like Local and View (!)) you can take one of two options:
either

1. Go to http:\\www. oxford.gov.uk
 Choose “About Oxford”
On the drop down menu, choose “Your neighbourhood”

Or

2. Make a bookmark to
http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decVanilla/LocalView.htm

You are prompted to type in the address of the property at this point. It then finds you lots of details on planning and building control history etc.

If there is an HMO licence attached to the property it will be shown as a box entitled  “Environmental Health” and will give a licence number.

Getting empty houses back into use

We are publicizing this exciting innovation from Oxford City Council.  It now offers home loans to owners of empty properties to enable them to return them to use.

The loan scheme is part of a multi-council initiative (administered by Windsor and Maidenhead) for private sector home owners to effect improvements, but which has recently been extended to empty properties.

The Council is notifying relevant owners of empty properties on their records of the scheme and is generating early interest.  Loans to in-situ owners are already being lent in Oxford via Environmental Development.

For more details click on Empty properties

Consultations affecting our ward

I don’t know about you, but I’m finding it tricky to keep up with all the consultations that are happening at the moment, especially as many are online and can be easily overlooked!

A pre-application briefing has been sent to residents groups by the University of Oxford relating to a prospective redevelopment of land at their Old Road Campus. A meeting will be held on 20/1/11 by the University with residents’ group reps. There is no application submitted to date, but if you want more details please contact your local residents’ group or get in touch with David or me

The City Council has a number of consultations happening right now. These include:

  1. Parks and open spaces (ends 31 Dec)
  2. Housing strategy (ends 17 Jan)
  3. The budget 2011-2015 (ends 31 Dec)
  4. Implementation of dog control orders (ends 31Jan)

These can all be accessed via the City Council’s consultation page here.

Then there are the County’s consultations!

  1. Draft Local Transport Plan (ends 9 Jan)
  2. Oxford, Headington: Highfield and Old Road Transport Improvements (ends 12 Jan)
  3. County’s 2011/12 budget proposals (ends 10 Jan)

There will be an open meeting for Highfield residents to discuss the revised Highfield scheme on 6 JanuaryThe consultation on whether funding should be discontinued by the County Council for Bury Knowle Library will be held between March and May 2011.

We have called in the decision on increased car parking charges in the Headington District Centre (by double in one case!)  for further scrutiny on 10 January. The paper showing these prospective increases can be accessed here – please click on the link from item 8 to view it. If you have any comments on this document please email either David or me as soon as possible

Prospective development sites in Headington

The City Council’s Planning Department is drafting a ‘sites document’ which will supersede part of the Local Plan. In this, they’ll look at a range of sites suggested for development and some of them are in Headington. They are going to have ‘pre-consultation’ before they draw up their draft and this is going to be a good opportunity for residents’ input. Sites in our area include Ruskin’s fields (as Ruskin suggested them) and the Old High Street car park (the suggestion being building over the car park — this was proposed by the Council’s Estates Department).

Planning is not pushing these developments — the sites document will be about those which might happen before 2026 and some of those mentioned in the city may be knocked on the head even before the draft is produced. In the case of Ruskin’s fields, the Conservation Area Appraisal will take precedence.

There will be a ‘workshop’ in the Headington Baptist Church on the evening of 30th November from 4.30-7.00 pm. It is open to all, and Ruth will be there too

Tenant tax to be scrapped

 The unpopular “Tenant Tax” will be scrapped, with local authorities being allowed to keep all council house rents and sales receipts they collect to reinvest in social housing, under plans announced today by the coalition government. 

The proposal, which sees the coalition delivering on a major Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment, will result in the Housing Revenue Account subsidy being scrapped in favour of greater financial freedom for councils. Under the previous system, all council tenant rent was paid into a local housing pot, from which the government was allowed to make deductions to fund subsidies for other local authorities. The government also retained some of the money centrally. 

The new proposals will see this Housing Revenue Account subsidy scrapped. Instead councils will be able to retain all of the money from rents and sales receipts to invest in the repair, maintenance and construction of social housing in their area. 

Full details of the new system will be announced as part of the Spending Review on 20 October and will be introduced as part of the Localism Bill this autumn.

Houses in Multiple Occupation – should there be a limit?

Various residents have contacted us about the new HMO licensing arrangements, specifically in regard to the number of HMOs in each area of the ward.  As I’m sure you know, there is an acute shortage of affordable housing in Oxford, so it’s important that rented accommodation is available in the city, and that it is of good standard.

There is a policy for HMOs in the Local Plan, however when the policy was written, C4 HMOs (6 and under residents) were not considered HMOs and therefore there is currently uncertainty as whether our restrictive policy can be applied to C4 HMOs. The restriction is to limit HMOs to 25% of properties in a road.

There is no definitive list of HMOs and C4 HMOs so the council is unable to say with certainty yet how many HMOs there are in any given street.  A list is being compiled of applications for C4 HMO licences and there is already one for existing licensed HMOs, but there are many more yet to be identified and logged.

The Lib Dem group is keen to ensure that all HMOs (of whatever kind) are inspected and licensed, (and deemed worthy of licensing!) so that we have a definitive list to inform further decision making on planning policies