Housing – Parliamentary Oral Answer

Baroness King of Bow: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) local authority, and (2) housing association tenants in each London Borough have been sent letters encouraging them to exercise their right to buy their homes.

Baroness Hanham: The Government are determined that tenants who are eligible to exercise the right to buy their home and are able to afford it should be made aware of the significantly increased discount of up to £75,000 now available. In order to protect tenants' personal data, the department was rightly not able to use personal address data supplied by local authorities and housing associations to mail tenants directly. The contractor therefore used other database information to help target potential eligible tenants, as is the norm for direct mail marketing. Landlords have a statutory duty to inform their tenants about the changes. However, the department's research on previous changes to the scheme suggested that only a third of tenants were aware of those changes. It would be unfair if some tenants were not able to exercise their legal right to buy because of local councils keeping them in the dark and failing to promote the reinvigorated scheme.