tommikka
LE
There has been a lot of scaremongering, disinformation and misunderstanding about the Annington Homes deal and the future of military housing......
And be aware of housing. The great Anninngton Homes scandal reached fruition next year (Google it). So your cheap MQ suddenly doubles in price to market values. The Forces are sleepwalking into this.
SFA will not suddenly double in price to market rates next year
Since the sale in 1996 the MoD have a 58% discount in comparison to market rates, which is due for renegotiation after 25 years
That will hit in 2021. But it does not mean the price will go up to full market rate
The MoD retained liability to maintain the SFA. A normal private landlord would be liable and for the rates to go up to market rates the landlord would have to take on that responsibility, and to enable this the MoD would have to fix up every single property to standard before handing back or compensate Annington with the cash to do so
Unfortunately the governments and the treasury kept the capital that the Annington sale raised, and did not spend it on the SFA as had been intended
The cost of SFA to MoD bears little relation to the amount charged to service personnel - rates are set by the forces pay bodies, and are provided on a subsidised basis
The upcoming change is under FAM. That also continues to have a subsidy. Instead of the MoD paying to lease back the SFA that was sold in bulk, plus paying the fix when broke costs due to lack of maintenance, and also charging the soldier below market rent. (All of the outgoings less the rent raised are the varying subsidy) If the SFA are offloaded and then only the housing actually needed is rented then the subsidy is just the difference between actual market prices paid and the rent levels set by pay boards.
Soldiers get the choice to choose accommodation options, the MoD gets an fairly predictable cost
FAM won’t change whether or not people get subsidised accommodation rates, but it will make a difference to those whose eligibility is based on surpluses. If you sell off all of the different SFA types on the estate and rent from the private market as required then you don’t have an unused surplus