City Led the Way in Selling Council Homes

Recent events have caused much reflection on the changes seen in the country since the turbulent years of the 1980s, but the change that permanently marks out that period was the sale of council houses and the social impact it has had. Back in the late 1960s, Nottingham City Council had sold a few council houses then, in 1976, the council set up a local scheme of sales.  Homes were offered either to sitting tenants, or those on the waiting list, in that as soon as a house became vacant it was offered for sale for a period of three weeks, and if unsold was returned to the rented stock.  Queues formed each Tuesday and Thursday outside the sales office, indeed some slept overnight to be first in line to view what was on offer.  Sales reached levels that were never again matched, even when the sale of houses became national policy after the Housing Act during the 1980s. Read more on the Nottingham Post website.