Councils 'Doubtful' Over Shapps' Right to Buy Claims

From 2 April local authority tenants in England could qualify for a maximum discount of up to £75,000 to buy their council home and the Government wants councils to use the receipts to replace every home sold.  The Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH), however, argues that the plan will not deliver the one-for-one pledge.  The government has stated that any commitment to replace applies only to sales additional to those expected under the current Right-to-Buy rules.  The self-financing settlement includes an assumption about how many sales each council can expect and the total receipt they will yield.  Of this, the Treasury takes 75% and the rest goes towards the council’s ability to fund capital spending. Only receipts above this amount will be used to replace sold homes.  With bigger discounts, and thus smaller receipts, councils will have to sell more homes to achieve the assumed receipt.  The government hopes that raising the maximum discount to £75,000 will deliver a big increase in sales; but this may be too optimistic.  RTB sales in many areas are currently well below expected numbers. This year, Birmingham, England’s largest social landlord, will sell only around 150 homes out of an expected 200.  And with 3 out of 4 tenants receiving housing benefit, raising the RTB discount may not have that much impact.  Receipts available to build new homes are unlikely to yield one-for-one replacement in most areas.  Read more on 24dash.