Right to Buy Scheme: Housing Associations – Parliamentary Written Answer

 tephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to extend right to buy to housing association tenants after the completion of the 2017 pilot scheme.

Christopher Pincher: The Government remains committed to the Right to Buy and to spreading the dream of home ownership to even more people. The Midlands pilot of the Voluntary Right to Buy scheme completed this year and has been fully evaluated. The Government is looking at the findings, which will be used to inform future policy. As set out in the 2019 manifesto, the Government will evaluate new pilot areas and we will be announcing more details on that.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2021-09-03/41867

Conservatives Pledge Extension Of Housing Association Right To Buy Pilot In Manifesto

The Conservative Party has promised to extend the Right to Buy for housing association tenants to further regions of the country in its election manifesto. However, the document neglects to mention plans to offer housing association tenants a ‘shared ownership’ right to buy - suggesting the party may have already gone cold on the idea first announced last month. The manifesto confirms a number of housing policies which had been revealed last week and commits the party to continue with several ongoing housing policies. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/home/conservatives-pledge-extension-of-housing-association-right-to-buy-pilot-in-manifesto-64274?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Right to Buy Scheme: Housing Associations – Parliamentary Written Answer

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what the funding arrangements are for the Right to Buy pilot for tenants of housing associations in the Midlands this summer; and how long the pilot will last.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: In the Autumn Budget 2017 the Chancellor announced funding of £200 million for the Voluntary Right to Buy Midlands pilot, which will be launched this summer. The Government will fund the cost of the discounts, and all sales under the pilot are expected to be completed by March 2020.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Lords/2018-06-18/HL8720

Tories Drop Two Flagship Housing Policies From Key Strategy Document

Two of the Conservatives’ flagship housing policies have been dropped from a key government document, raising questions about the future of the plans. The new “single departmental plan” published by the CLG does not include a single reference to Starter Homes, which form a central plank of the Government’s commitment to increase home ownership, or of the planned extension of Right to Buy. The document, which forms part of the guidance for civil servants working on housing, is in stark contrast to the previous plan published last year, in which the two policies featured prominently and were mentioned several times as part of the Conservatives’ housing strategy. Read more on the Independent website.

No Higher-Value Asset Payments In 2018/19

Under the Housing and Planning Act 2016 local authorities are expected to pay a levy to government which they make up through selling their most valuable homes when they become vacant. The policy was intended to fund an extension of the Right to Buy to housing association tenants.  However, there have been few recent announcements on the levy, leading councils to warn that the resulting uncertainty is making it difficult to form Housing Revenue Account (HRA) business plans. Mr Javid has now revealed that “local authorities will not be expected to make a payment in 2017/18 or in 2018/19”. Read more on Inside Housing.

Delayed Right To Buy Pilot For Housing Association Tenants To Go Ahead

A question mark has hung over the pilot that was first announced at the Autumn Statement last year after it was not introduced as expected in April. However, Autumn Budget documents reveal that funding has been set aside for the pilot - with £85m of additional spend planned in 2019/20. The total cost will be £200m. The Budget states: “The Budget confirms that government will proceed with a £200m large-scale regional pilot of the Right to Buy for housing association tenants in the Midlands”. There was no further mention of the sale of high-value council homes in the Budget documents, which is supposed to fund the wider roll out of the scheme. Read more on Inside Housing.

Right To Buy: Flagship Government Housing Scheme In Trouble

A signature Government housing scheme is in trouble, as ministers are uncertain how they intend to pay for it despite the policy being announced nearly three years ago. In 2014, the Government announced a major new housing initiative - a big extension of Right to Buy. Three years on, Sky News has seen figures which show the scheme has barely got off the ground. Only 55 sales have been completed in a tiny number of pilot areas, with only a few hundred more in the pipeline. Consequently thousands of people are in limbo. Read more on the Sky News website.

West Midlands Associations Consider Using Choice-Based Lettings For Right To Buy

Housing associations in the West Midlands are considering using the region’s choice-based lettings system to help those in ineligible properties for the Right to Buy identify alternative homes. The region would act as a full-scale pilot of the RtB extension, meaning associations are obliged to identify an alternative, available housing association home where properties are excluded. This could occur due to planning conditions, financial covenants on a property or specific types of housing such as rural. In a smaller pilot last year, around a third of more than 50,000 homes in the pilot were excluded. Read more on Inside Housing.

Government Rejects CLG Committee Recommendation On Right To Buy

The government is sticking with its plans to make councils sell off their higher value assets to fund housing associations’ Right to Buy. In a report out last year, the CLG Committee made a recommendation that government should fund the ‘public policy’. However, the government has rejected that, saying “we made a clear commitment” to fund the policy by “requiring councils to manage their housing assets more efficiently, with the most expensive properties sold off and replaced as they fall vacant.” The government also hit out at the “£200bn of value locked up in council housing”, saying it “makes no sense for a local authority to keep hold of higher value vacant council homes when it could sell them to fund additional housing”. Read more on 24housing.

Right To Buy Extension Pilot Could Damage Supply In West Midlands

A West Midlands pilot of the Right to Buy for housing associations could add to stock pressures in the region, a new report warns. The report, which was authored by independent think tanks Futures Network West Midlands and the Human City Institute, argues that associations offering tenants the right to purchase their homes at a discount could lead to dwindling numbers of high quality social housing stock. Housing minister Gavin Barwell has said the West Midlands is a “strong contender” for a regional voluntary Right to Buy pilot for associations. Read more on Inside Housing.

Plan To Extend Right To Buy 'To Hit Affordable Housebuilding'

The Government is set to extend the controversial Right to Buy policy to tens of thousands of new properties amid warnings the move will "jeopardise" future affordable house building.  Under the plans, ministers want to extend the policy to tenants in properties built by arms-length housing companies set up by councils to bypass Whitehall restrictions on homebuilding. Councils say these spin-out companies are one of the few “viable” ways for them to build new affordable homes, and that replacing the homes they lose through Right to Buy sales is now “near impossible”. Read more on the Independent website.

Right To Buy Extension To Companies Could Reduce Affordable Development

Councils could reassess plans to build affordable rented homes through housing companies after the government said the Right to Buy should apply to these homes. The government’s Housing White Paper said where a council has placed a tenant in an affordable rented home they should have the right to buy this property. Inside Housing understands the government has not decided the legal mechanism it could use to compel councils to sell company-owned homes through Right to Buy. These companies are registered as private businesses, and sit off the council and national balance sheet as a result. Read more on Inside Housing.

71% Unsure Of Right To Buy Purchase Price

Affordability remains a key issue in moderating demand for Right to Buy, says a new report. 71% of respondents said they did not know what the purchase price of their property would be, while 21% said they had a rough idea. The report, commissioned by the National Housing Federation and five participating housing associations, was conducted by the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University during 2016. It found regional variance in levels of tenant demand and property valuations, reflecting the different local markets in which the pilot was operating. Download the report from the Housingnet website.

Housing Gets £4bn Boost To Increase Number Of New Homes

The chancellor committed almost £4bn to housing in his autumn statement, in a move he said represented a step-change in the government’s ambition to increase the supply of homes for sale and rent. The money, which the Treasury said was new cash, will be spent through two funds: one providing money for infrastructure projects to make sites viable for building, the other providing money for affordable homes. Measures to tackle the housing crisis included:

·         A £2.3bn housing infrastructure fund for local authorities to help deliver up to 100,000 homes

·         An extra £1.4bn for local authorities and housing associations to provide affordable housing to rent or buy

·         The roll-out of right-to-buy to 3,000 more housing association tenants

Read more on the Guardian website.

Right To Buy Extension Delayed Until At Least 2018

The national roll-out of Right to Buy for housing association tenants will not take place until after April 2018 at the earliest, with the sell-off of high-value council homes also delayed. Gavin Barwell, housing minister, said he had written to councils to tell them the government will not be requesting any high-value asset payments during 2017/18. Councils had called for the policy to be delayed from its expected start date of April 2017. He also confirmed the regional pilot of Right to Buy announced in yesterday’s Autumn Statement will test one-for-one replacement and portability of discounts, unlike the current pilot.  Read more on Inside Housing.

Right to Buy Scheme: Housing Associations – Parliamentary Written Answer

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on ensuring that all registered social housing association tenants have the right to buy their own homes since the conclusion of the pilot scheme.

Gavin Barwell: We remain committed to the Voluntary Right to Buy for housing association tenants and the pilot scheme is informing the design of the main scheme. The Government is continuing to work closely with the National Housing Federation and the housing association sector on the implementation of the main scheme and will announce more details in due course.

Pay To Stay Meetings Cancelled As Policies Face Delay

Meetings of the government’s Pay to Stay working group have been cancelled as several key measures in the Housing and Planning Act look set to be delayed. The government has cancelled scheduled meetings despite the policy- under which higher earning tenants pay up to market rent- originally being planned for implementation in April next year. It is not clear why the meetings have been cancelled, but sector figures this week said it suggested a delay. Councils have been urging ministers to put the start date back to give them time to prepare. The news emerged days after a senior civil servant admitted the Right to Buy (RTB) extension to housing association tenants is set to be delayed as a result of the Brexit vote. Read more on Inside Housing.

Minister Casts Doubt Over Higher Value Levy Date

Housing minister Gavin Barwell has admitted councils need “plenty of time” to prepare for the higher value asset levy, raisings doubt over whether it will be introduced from April next year as expected. The government was widely expected to implement the policy from April next year but detailed regulations required to implement the measure have not been published. A CLG civil servant also admitted that the Right to Buy extension has been delayed by the Brexit referendum vote. Speaking at a CLG committee session, Mr Barwell said the government has not made any decisions about when councils will be expected to make the payment but details of the “controversial policy” would require “quite a notice period” before being introduced. Read more on Inside Housing.

Right To Buy Extension Delayed By Brexit Vote

The Right to Buy extension to housing association tenants is set to be delayed due to the EU referendum result, according to the CLG official leading on the scheme. Guidelines for the voluntary Right to Buy programme now have no fixed publication deadline for coming out, as civil servants prioritise dealing with the uncertainty brought about by a new government and the Brexit vote. Officials had hoped to publish guidelines within the next six months. Further details of the government’s position on the subject will come out with the Autumn Statement on 23 November.  Read more on Inside Housing.

Exempt Rural Landowners From CGT

The extension of right-to-buy to housing association tenants has served to discourage rural landowners from making sites available for new affordable homes, according to country business lobby CLA. The organisation, which represents landowners, farmers and rural businesses, has told a cross-party group of MPs that landowners have the potential to inject life into rural areas by making land available to house young families, local workers and older people seeking to downsize or retire. The CLA is calling for the Government to encourage landowners to release land at a discount for affordable housing by exempting the value of land sold for affordable homes from Capital Gains Tax. Read more on Housing Excellence.