| Topic: | Questions that need to be answered | |
| Posted by: | David Giles | |
| Date/Time: | 27/07/13 06:25:00 |
| The whole idea of using taxpayers' money to subsidise private landlords so that the private landlords can add to the value of their properties is highly dubious. It is even more dubious when one knows of the close connections between some of the ruling Labour Councillors and some private landlords in the Borough. Is this a national scheme using special central government funding ? Where is the money coming from? Has this scheme been approved by the Secretary of State for Local Government, Eric Pickles? Will landlords who receive this funding be able to raise the rents they charge after using taxpayers' money to improve their properties? Will landlords who receive this funding be able to sell their properties and make a capital gain after using taxpayers' money to improve their properties? Will the Council publish the details of which landlords have applied for these grants and which landlords have received these grants and the relevant addresses and amounts ? Who will decide who will be given these grants? Will the decisions be made by elected Councillors from the ruling Labour Group, some of whom may be landlords themselves or who have relatives, friends or party members who are landlords, or will the decision be made by impartial council officials without direction or interference from the elected Councillors ? Why should the Council subsidise landlords who own substandard properties and not subsidise or reward landlords who have invested in their properties and whose properties are of the required standard? Does the Council include in its register of Councillors' interests, a list of properties owned by Councillors and their family members? Is this whole scheme a way of transferring taxpayers' money, contributed by taxpayers from all sections of society, including tenants, pensioners and young people and others on low incomes to people who already own property and who could if they so wish improve their properties using their own funds or loans obtained in the normal way from banks or building societies ? |