The government has launched a consultation to seek views on how the Right to Buy scheme should be reformed to protect the stock of social housing.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said council tenants will still be offered the opportunity to buy their homes, but that opportunity should not come at the expense of those who need social housing, and the wider community.
Right to Buy discounts were reduced by the Chancellor in last month’s Budget from a maximum of £102,400 (£136,400 in London) to between £16,000 and £38,000.
Councils were also told they would no longer be required to give a portion of the receipts generated by sales to the Treasury, which totalled around £183m per year.
Fair and sustainable
The government is now consulting on the mechanics of the Right to Buy scheme to achieve Rayner’s goal of delivering a “fairer and more sustainable scheme that represents value to the taxpayer”.
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Views are being sought on rules such as qualifying criteria for tenants, maximum discounts and the replacement of homes under Right to Buy.
Rayner said: “I want social tenants who have made a home within their local community, contributing significantly through rent over many years, to have the opportunity to buy that home, as I did. This government remains committed to Right to Buy, which is why we are not proposing its abolition.
“However, discounts have grown substantially under the previous government, which has distorted the benefits that the scheme provides to individuals at the detriment of others in need of social housing and wider communities.”
According to the government, over 150,000 children are living in temporary accommodation, while nearly 1.3 million people are on social housing waiting lists.
Between April 2012 and March 2024, there were more than 124,000 council Right to Buy sales, and in the same period, fewer than 48,000 homes have been replaced.
“We want a scheme that helps long-standing tenants to buy their own homes but without disadvantaging wider communities and those in housing need.
“And we want councils to be building more homes than they are losing, supporting our commitment to deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation,” she added.
The consultation runs from 20 November 2024 to 15 January 2025.
