§ Mr. Bodyasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will supply a list showing the various rents charged for private dwelling houses in Basildon by the Basildon Development Corporation in respect of all its different properties; what encouragement is given to tenants to persuade them to purchase corporation houses; and what is the basis of computing the price of private dwelling houses which the Basildon Development Corporation offers to its tenants for its purchase.
§ 1946. Mr. BrookeThe following table gives the range of exclusive rents charged by Basildon Development Corporation.
Standard Housing
- Bed/sitting-room bungalows—23s. 3d. to 25s. 6d. per week.
- Bed/sitting-room flats—23s. to 27s. 6d. per week.
- One-bedroom bungalows—24s. to 26s. per week.
- One-bedroom flats—28s. to 32s. 6d. per week.
- Two-bedroom maisonettes and flats—33s. to 38s. 6d, per week.
- Two-bedroom houses—30s. 6d. to 37s. 3d. per week.
- Three-bedroom houses—33s. to 42s. 6d. per week.
- Four-bedroom houses—36s. 9d. to 45s. per week.
Higher Income Group Housing
- Three and four-bedroom detached or semidetached houses—£171 to£210 per annum.
Houses which the Corporation have been required to buy under Section 6 (4) of the New Towns Act,
16W£9 10s. 8d to£216 0s. 4d. per annum. The wide disparity is due to the fact that many of these properties are let at concessional rents under the terms of Section 5 (2) of the New Towns Act, 1946.The Corporation are willing to sell any house they have built, but their experience is that tenants of standard houses are not disposed to purchase when they find that their outgoings by way of mortgage repayments would exceed the existing rent. Accordingly they are catering for people who wish to own their own houses by encouraging private builders to build houses for sale. They have sold, or agreed to sell, enough land for 403 houses.In reply to the last part of the Question I am informed that the Corporation is willing to sell houses at cost.