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Councils urge government to act on Right to Buy receipts
The government should allow councils to keep 100% of the proceeds from homes sold under the Right to Buy, the Local Government Association (LGA) has said.
Calling on the government to change the rules on Right to Buy in this month’s Autumn Budget, the LGA warned that councils are currently able to replace only a third of homes sold under the Right to Buy.
The scheme, it said, could “grind to a halt” if the government does not change rules preventing councils from keeping more than a third of the proceeds received from council tenants buying their homes.
According to the LGA, 12,826 homes were sold off under the scheme in 2016/17, and councils only started 4,475 in replacement.
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It claimed that since 2012, 54,581 homes have been sold off and just 12,472 started, leaving a shortfall of 42,109 homes – equivalent to the population of Reading, Canterbury or Oxford.
Martin Tett, housing spokesperson at the LGA, said: “Families around the country desperately need more affordable homes and more routes into homeownership. A model of Right to Buy that actually allows councils to build more homes would vastly increase the opportunities for these families.
“Current Right to Buy arrangements are restricting councils from being able to replace homes being sold under the scheme. Right to Buy will quickly become a thing of the past in England if councils continue to be prevented from building new homes and replacing those sold.”
Lord Gary Porter, chair of the LGA, told Inside Housing last month after attending a housing summit at Number 10 that he was “hopeful” that the Autumn Statement would see action on council borrowing restrictions as well as on Right to Buy receipts.
After the meeting, sector figures said the government was in “listening mode” over these and other issues.
