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Decent aid for homeowners
FINANCIAL help could soon be at hand for hard-up South Tyneside homeowners who bought their council property under the 'right to buy' policy.
A Decent Homes programme is being carried out by South Tyneside Homes, with the aim of improving all social rented properties under the ownership of the council.
Improvements include external work to blocks of flats and maisonettes, many of which contain leasehold properties.
A number of residents living in these blocks are homeowners who will benefit as a result of the value of their property increasing.
But those homeowners, the majority of whom took the opportunity to buy their council home more than a decade ago, face significantly increased service charges to meet the cost of the improvements.
Now South Tyneside Council is to make available discount loans of between 750 and 30,000, to help ease the financial burden on leaseholders.
Members of the council's decision-making cabinet will be asked to endorse the introduction of the loans when they meet tomorrow. In a report to the committee, Coun Bill Brady, the council's lead member for housing futures, says: "Under the terms of the right to buy lease, leaseholders are liable to contribute to the cost of the repair work carried out on a building in which they live.
"However, this has the potential to cause financial hardship to those leaseholders on low incomes.
"Many of those who took advantage of the right to buy scheme have since retired or receive a limited income, and consequently do not have the resources to pay for the unexpectedly high bills."
Cabinet members will be told that in cases of exceptional hardship, the local authority also has the discretion to defer payment of any loan until the property is sold.
Coun Brady adds: "The provision of both mandatory and discretionary loans will ease the financial hardship to leaseholders by spreading the cost of unexpected and potentially large repair bills."
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Weather for South Shields
Thursday 23 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 7 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 25 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 4 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 26 mph
Wind direction: West
