RSL tenants not interested in owning homes, says TSA survey

25 Sep 09
Tenants in social housing are turning their backs on home ownership, a survey has revealed
By Neil Merrick

25 September 2009

Tenants in social housing are turning their backs on home ownership, a survey has revealed.

Just 14% of council and housing association tenants questioned by the Tenant Services Authority aspired to own their home, while 2% said they would rent privately if they could afford it.

The TSA survey of 21,000 tenants in England is the second major study published by the authority this year. Its earlier survey of 26,000 tenants, published in June, also found general satisfaction with social landlords.

Previous surveys of housing association tenants, carried out between 1995 and 2004 by the Housing Corporation, found that as many as 32% desired to become property owners.

The TSA’s latest survey, published on September 21 and including local authorities and arm’s-length management organisations, is the first to look at tenants’ aspirations since the recession began.

Virtually all the households seeking to join the property ladder contained at least one person in employment. ‘If fulfilled, such moves will only compound existing economic polarisation by tenure,’ said the TSA report.

The findings back-up a Chartered Institute of Housing survey, also published in June, in which 79% of housing staff said social renting was becoming more popular and 51% reported a fall in demand for shared ownership schemes.

Sue Coulson, managing director of Orbit Housing Group’s low-cost ownership arm, said many tenants who wished to buy required 100% mortgages, which were no longer available.

‘People are wiser about how much they want to get themselves into debt,’ she added. ‘It’s an opportunity to reinvent renting as a tenure of choice.’

The TSA study found that 92% of households in shared ownership had not bought extra shares following their initial purchase.

TSA chief executive Peter Marsh said this ‘lack of appetite’ suggested that shared ownership was no longer a stepping-stone to full owner occupation as once envisaged.

The study also found that 81% of tenants were satisfied with their landlord while 76% were happy with its repairs and maintenance service. Tenants of arm's-length housing organisations were most likely to be satisfied with repairs and maintenance.

Seventy-three per cent of all tenants believed their neighbourhood was a desirable place to live, but levels of dissatisfaction were higher among younger tenants.


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