Council houses are being sold off on the cheap to people
who immediately rent them back to housing benefit tenants. Councils are selling
off their already‑limited supplies of housing stock and allowing former
council tenants to profiteer as buy-to-let landlords. That is forcing local
authorities to pay more to place deprived families in properties that used to
be council-owned. At least 32 councils now rent or pay out housing benefit to
tenants living in homes sold since the Government revamped the Right to Buy
scheme in 2012. There are rules to deter the immediate sale of properties
bought under Right to Buy but renting is unregulated, so the Government’s hefty
discounts on sales have turned former council tenants into buy-to-let landlords
overnight. Council leaders have branded the situation a “national scandal”.
Read more on the Independent website.
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