Less Than One In 10 Housing Association Tenants Likely To Buy Under New Right-To-Buy

Researchers quizzed nearly 7,000 housing association tenants in the Big Tenant Survey carried out by Sheffield Hallam on behalf of Housing Partners. It found that two thirds of social housing tenants are not interested in exploring Right-to-Buy and of the third who are interested only 7% are assessed as being able to afford their property. The survey reveals that of the 33% of tenants who said they were very likely or fairly likely to take up the Right-to-Buy opportunity 71% were in workless households,  61% had a household income of less than £21,000 per year, 41% were on Housing Benefit, 22% were aged 55 plus and 7% were in rent arrears. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Number Swapping Due To Bedroom Tax Up By a Quarter

The number of social housing tenants using home-swapping services as a result of welfare reform has risen by a quarter in the last 12 months, according to new figures. The statistics from Housing Partners, the comapny behind the mutual exchange platform HomeSwapper, show that the number of tenants successfully swapping homes has risen by nearly 6,000 in the past 12 months - an increase of 25% on April 2013, the month when the bedroom tax was introduced. The data also shows that there are almost 200,000 one and two-bedroom social housing properties available through HomeSwapper for those looking to downsize. Read more on 24dash.