HC Deb 04 November 1970 vol 805 cc1062-4
13. Mr. Tebbit

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many houses were sold to tenants in the new towns in the year ended 30th June, 1970; and if he will take steps to increase this figure for the year ending 30th June. 1971.

The Minister for Housing and Construction (Mr. Julian Amery)

Development corporations and the Commission for the New Towns sold 208 houses to their own tenants in the year ending 30th June, 1970. My right hon. Friend has now invited corporations and the Commission to make available for sale to sitting tenants all their rented dwellings, except possibly old peoples' dwellings and flats. The basis of sale will be current market value with vacant possession, less 20 per cent.

Mr. Tebbit

I was so grateful to my right hon. Friend for his statement last week that I almost withdrew this Question. However, I thought that this was the right time to impress on him the need to achieve this increase. Does he intend to announce further schemes to help prospective purchasers with the initial deposit on these houses, remembering that these are in many cases people who in the past have been denied the opportunity of buying and are unfamiliar with the advantages of house purchase?

Mr. Amery

Arrangements have been made for building societies to give mortgages of up to 70 per cent. of the selling price to people who wish to buy and the Development Corporation is giving second mortgages to cover the remaining 30 per cent. If, in a particular case, a building society is not prepared to advance the required amount, the Corporation can give a 100 per cent. mortgage.

Mr. Denis Howell

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the New Towns Commission has been conducting an intensive campaign to attract tenants to buy their houses but that there has been no take-up? Can the right hon. Gentleman say how many tenants have expressed a wish to buy their houses, which the New Towns Commission is trying to sell?

Mr. Amery

The hon. Gentleman win be aware that there was no 20 per cent discount when his party was in office. We have provided an important additional incentive. It is too early to judge how effective this will prove, but I am sure that it will prove a great deal more effective than the measures which were in force when the hon. Gentleman and his hon. Friends were in power.

Mr. Molloy

Would not the right hon. Gentleman agree that the real contribution that he could make to assisting the housing problem would be to use his influence with many Tory-controlled councils to drop their black records and increase council building? So that everyone can be assisted, including those who wish to buy a house, will the right hon. Gentleman do what he can to reduce the high mortgage rates and thus make a real contribution to the housing problem, which up to now the Government have failed to do?

Mr. Amery

I think the hon. Gentleman will recognise, with his usual generosity, that the discount measures which we have taken, and the encouragement to take out mortgages which I have just expressed, will help a great deal in the direction that he wants to go.