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42% of homes sold under Right to Buy in Wales now for private rent
More than 40% of council homes sold under the Right to Buy in Wales are now in the private rented sector (PRS), Inside Housing research has found.
Freedom of Information Act requests to the 11 stock-retaining local authorities in Wales revealed that 2,918 leasehold properties have been sold through the famous Margaret Thatcher policy.
Of these, 1235 – or 42.3% – are registered as having an away address for the leaseholder, indicating that they are being sublet.
The figures come after the Welsh Assembly voted to abolish the Right to Buy on Tuesday.
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Swansea Council reported the highest level of ‘Right to Buy-to-let’ of the eight authorities to respond, with 51.5% of flats sold now being rented out by private landlords.
Average council rents for a two-bedroom home in Wales are £81.59 a week, compared to average PRS rents of around £115 for a two-bedroom home.
A total of 139,000 council homes in Wales have been sold under the Right to Buy since it was first introduced, with houses making up the majority of sales.
| Local authority | Leaseholds sold under RTB | Registered with away address | RTB homes sub-let since 2012 | % of homes sub-let |
| Swansea | 637 | 328 | 2 | 51.49% |
| Pembrokeshire | 318 | 137 | 4 | 43.08% |
| Carmarthenshire | 229 | 98 | 42.79% | |
| Cardiff | 1201 | 477 | 4 | 39.72% |
| Powys | 110 | 42 | 1 | 38.18% |
| Flintshire | 82 | 31 | 0 | 37.80% |
| Vale of Glamorgan | 300 | 108 | 36.00% | |
| Denbighshire | 41 | 14 | 0 | 34.15% |
| TOTALS | 2918 | 1235 | 12 | 42.32% |
The Welsh Government’s decision to ban the Right to Buy follows a similar move by Scotland, where council tenants lost the right to purchase their homes in 2016 – but as leasehold laws do not apply north of the English border, data on subletting is not attainable.
“This research highlights the abject failure of the Right to Buy policy in Wales in achieving its intended aim of increasing the rates of long-term sustainable home ownership,” said Matt Dicks, director of the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru.
“We strongly welcome the passing of legislation to abolish the Right to Buy in Wales in a move that will help protect the level of social housing stock.”
The full data from the FOIA requests are below.
Click here to read our full investigation, including figures for England
Update: at 13:47, 08/12/17: The story was updated to include a quote from CIH Cymru.
