The Government should ‘knock down’ barriers which prevent landowners from building and managing affordable homes in the countryside, pressure group says.
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has warned MPs Government policies, such as extending the Right to Buy to housing association tenants, discouraged landowners from making sites available because the homes would become unaffordable in the future.
‘The most common method for landowners to help solve the acute shortage of housing in rural areas is to sell land at a discount to housing associations to build affordable homes,’ said CLA housing adviser Matthew O’Connell.
‘However, since the introduction of the Voluntary Right to Buy (VRTB) many landowners are reluctant to pursue projects over concern homes will not stay affordable in perpetuity.’
Mr O’Connell accepts that some housing associations are committed to keeping properties in the affordable sector, but he said the policy has already meant fewer sites coming forward.
‘The Government must exempt Rural Exception Sites from the VRTB to restore confidence that this vital source of supply for rural affordable housing can continue.’
He also said local authorities should be more open to landowners owning and managing their own affordable housing projects.
In order to encourage landowners to release land at a discount for affordable housing, the CLA recommended Whitehall exempt the value of land sold for affordable homes from Capital Gains Tax.
They also suggested adding affordable rented housing to the asset classes eligible for conditional exemption from Inheritance Tax.
