Surplus Married Quarter Sale

[SirPeterHardingsLovechild]

Ex-MQ's go up for sale in Devizes tommorrow, Friday.

I am told that Annington Homes paid around £10K each for these houses. They've been tarting them up for a fortnight. New front doors, and a few flower beds. Not a bad investment to put them on the market...

Prices from £122,950

Company motto?

Annington. A new concept in the sale of second hand homes

HM Forces discount of 2%. Work it out.
Several families camped out tonight in Devizes

What is my point? I don't know, the world went mad a long time ago.

[polyglory]

I must admit I have to agree with you there.

What happened to Service personnel getting first bite of the Cherry?

I reckon I must be and old fart then.:rolleyes:

[mutleyfour]

Wasnt it part of the big sell off to the DHE that the military have to release at least 50 homes a month to be sold by Annington, who must be a subsidary of the DHE.

How long until there are no houses left?

lets see then, "Sir/madam, would you like to join up? We have no cheap housing or a proper pension any more. Oh and you can stand in for the fireman who earn more in 4 days than you do in a whole week."

[The Gorilla]

Mutley,

You couldn't be more wrong me old.

Michael Portillo, as Defence Secretary, sold the ENTIRE MQ estate to Japanese Bankers, for approx £2 billion. They set up a company called Annington Homes. Annington homes and the Japanese Banks now own all the remaining MQ estates and have done since about 1996.

The DHE (Defence Housing Executive) is an MOD agency to oversee the running of the service use of these (private) estates.
As part of the agreement, short sighted I know, Annington Homes has the RIGHT to sell off a certain number of homes per year. Eventually there will be absolutely no Quarters left for the DHE to manage.

Since the sharp rise in house prices, Annington have been selling off houses at a faster rate than was originally expected. Can't blame them, it was a purely profit driven plan for them. And very nicely they are doing too.

The DHE have to fall in with Anningtons plans I am afraid!!




:mad:

[StopStart]

But surely that £2 Billion is being used to redevelop and build new estates that will be owned entirely by DHE/MoD?




Nurse? Nurse?! Nurse!!!

http://www.stopstart.freeserve.co.uk/smilie/icon_drool.gif

[Mr C Hinecap]

StopStart.

Displaying such astounding logic and an incredible grasp of the situation is humbling.

Please leave your current post and take up a place on the Air Force Board forthwith.

:ugh:

[QuidProQuo]

Oh - if only the money had been ploughed back into the FQ estate. Rumour has it that the money received by the then Govt in 96(?) was exactly the amount needed to provide a 1p cut in income tax. The sale was rushed through to make sure the money was in the coffers by the end of the financial year. But the "bribe" (1p cut) didn't seem to work - labour landslide.

You can't blame Annington Homes, a private company, for maximising profit or DHE for making the best of a bad job (generally). You can only thank our ultimate lords and masters for the great idea!

[steamchicken]

Ain't Privatisation Wonderful?

[newswatcher]

Actual figures, according to HofC documents was £1,662m for some 57k properties. This is about £29k each.

As part of the deal, a claw-back arrangement was negotiated, which ranged from 50% of immediate future gains, to nothing after 15 years.

So if Annington have accelerated the sale of properties, and they are allowed to sell some 600-700/annum, then this should result in more money. :ok:

Every little bit helps!!

If you are feeling really sad, :sad: an interesting account here - http://www.publications.parliament.uk/cgi-bin/ukparl_hl?DB=ukparl&STEMMER=en&WORDS=annington+&COLOUR=Red&STYLE=s&URL=/pa/cm199798/cmselect/cmpubacc/518/51804.htm#muscat_highlighter_first_match

[mutleyfour]

So my earlier statement is correct, well ish, in a Labour Government sort of way.

You know the old "wasnt me" routine.

[16 blades]

...I've yet to see DHE 'make the best of a bad job'. They are a bunch of strokers (from personal experience).

....And now it has been announced that a certain Wilts airbase will close in 2012, they are using that as an excuse not to refurbish 1960's kitchens and 1970's wiring, despite the fact there is no way the service could do without the estate there!

Bunch of @rse!!!

[Scud-U-Like]

You certainly couldn't market ex-service housing stock as 'character properties'. The MOD could well go down in architectural history as one of the worst sink estate developers in the UK. It wouldn't even have a defence of ignorance, because, while it threw-up those bland, characterless brick and concrete abortions, it always managed, at the same time, to build aesthetically pleasing stuff for senior officers.

[The Gorilla]

SCUD

Thats as well may be, but it isn't stopping Mr Civvy from buying a 2 bedroom mid town house (Terraced to you and me) for £98K at RAF Scampton. No bus service, no amenities and lots of noise!!

:p

Morons!!!

[STANDTO]

Selling off of any public sector housing provided for public sector workers is a crime and one that will certainly bite the services on the backside in years to come.

Much the same has happened with police houses, and now with prices going through the roof in many areas, police officers are having to live in the very areas police houses were designed to keep them out of.

One of the good points of AMQ's and for that matter OMQ's was that they instilled a sense of community, as whilst other halves were away, at least there were people in the same boat nearby.

I noticed an ad in Flypast a while back, which promoted the sale of the houses at Scampton as some sort of Anorak Nirvana. Godforsaken place from what I remember.

[bighedsmallface]

Should see a sharp rise in noise complaints and "but why do they have to have an airbase here?" style comments in the future.

:rolleyes:

[steamchicken]

The boss of Nomura Securities' Principal Finance unit - the bit that did deals like this one, buying up large estates of cash generating but dull businesses (5000 pubs was another) -was until this year a chap called Guy Hands. Nomura was the lead bank in the sale of the married quarters estate.Link to Annington saying this is so (http://www.annington.co.uk/AnningtonInformationSheet20030114.pdf)

Guy is William Hague's best friend. He advised him not to become Tory leader and to spend the time until beyond the 2001 elections "f*cking his brains out".

an Oxford chum, Guy Hands, a "close friend and political ally", told Hague to forget about the leadership for at least five years, because he had some real living to do first before he could qualify for the role. Hague should enjoy some time with his new fiancee. Or, as the "blunt but persuasive" message actually put it, Hands advised him: "**** your brains out for the next few years."

Link to profile and quote (http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,499440,00.html)

In 1996 William Hague was a member of the Cabinet.

[Otis Spunkmeyer]

In Monty Python's 'The Meaning of Life' there is the scene in the Phoetus Frightening Room.

I could dig out the video but I'll attempt it from memory:-

Hospital Administrator:

'Aha, I see you have the machine that goes PING, we now rent this machine back off the company that we sold it to, therefore the money comes from the monthly expenditure account and not the annual capital account' (reluctant ripple of applause from doctors)