Labour has this morning pledged to introduce a shock new policy if it wins the next general election – giving private tenants the right to buy the private homes they live in.  

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell is promoting the idea as a way to make it easier for workers to buy the homes they live in, while also tackling what he calls the “burgeoning buy to let market” and what he claims is “the problem” of landlords who do not maintain their properties.

McDonnell had told the Financial Times that the price to be paid by tenants wishing to buy their homes would not necessarily be the market value.

“You’d want to establish what is a reasonable price, you can establish that and then that becomes the right to buy … You (the government) set the criteria. I don’t think it’s complicated.”

He continues: “We’ve got a large number of landlords who are not maintaining these properties and are causing overcrowding and these problems.” 

McDonnell says the plan would deter landlords refusing to invest in their properties while making what he calls a “fast buck” at the cost of their tenants and the community.

“We’ve got a large number of landlords who are not maintaining these properties and are causing overcrowding and these problems” he says.