Government Breaks Promise On Right To Buy Replacements

The government has said 15,981 homes had been acquired or started as replacements for those sold under the Right to Buy since 2012. This contrasts with a figure of 17,072 required to meet the promise to replace all ‘additional’ homes sold within three years. In total within this period, councils have sold 63,518 homes. Last year, former housing minister Gavin Barwell said Right to Buy was “only politically justifiable” if the government was meeting its housing pledge. Read more on Inside  Housing.

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£3.5 Billion Right-To-Buy Discounts Threatens Scheme

New analysis by the Local Government Association reveals almost £3.5 billion in Right to Buy (RTB) discounts have been handed out to council tenants over the past six years. The LGA, which represents 370 councils in England and Wales, is warning the RTB scheme has become unsustainable and risks becoming a thing of the past unless councils are given the powers to set discounts locally and replace every home sold. The Government increased the size of the discounts available in April 2012, as a result the average discount has increased by 132 per cent to more than £60,000 in 2016/17 – selling properties at almost half price. Read more on the LGA website.

https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/ps35-billion-right-buy-discounts-threatens-scheme

Government Within Four Homes Of Breaking Right To Buy Pledge

The government is within four homes of finally breaking its highly caveated pledge to replace all additional homes sold under the Right to Buy on a one-for-one basis. Statistics released this morning show that 2,558 council homes were sold under the discounts scheme between July and September – a 21% decrease on the same period last year. This means that since discounts were lifted in 2012, a total of 60,423 council homes have been sold. In the same quarter, 877 replacement homes were started or acquired using the receipts by councils and government agencies – a 38% dip year-on-year – taking the total number of replacement homes to 14,736. Read more on Inside Housing.

Government’s Own Figures Add Up To Councils Keeping RTB Receipts

CIH is citing the government’s own figures add up to councils keeping all right to buy receipts to build affordable homes – rather than being forced to hand over a proportion to the Treasury. Figures newly released by the CLG show 2,558 homes were sold by councils through the right to buy scheme in England in July to September 2017, while only 744 were started or acquired to replace them using the receipts. Since right to buy discounts were increased in April 2012, 60,423 homes have been sold, while only 14,736 have been started or acquired to replace them. Read more on the CIH website.

Right to Buy Scheme – Parliamentary Written Answer

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to allow local authorities to keep more than 30 per cent of the money generated from the sale of a council home under the Right to Buy scheme to help fund the building of replacement homes.

Alok Sharma: Local authorities who wish to build replacement homes enter into an agreement with this Department that allows them to retain and spend all the additional Right to Buy receipts (after covering debt, transaction costs and previously planned income from receipts) on replacement homes. The local authority must ensure that no more than 30 per cent of the cost of the new homes comes from the Right to Buy receipt.

Major Cities Falling Short On Right To Buy Replacements

Major city councils are failing to replace homes sold through the Right to Buy since the government introduced a larger discount for tenants. Birmingham City Council has the largest shortfall between homes sold through the Right to Buy and replacements either acquired or built, with only 253 homes replaced against sales of 2,627 homes since 2012/13 when the government increased the discount council tenants could get when buying their home through the Right to Buy. Read more on Inside Housing.

Council Homes Sold Off Almost Three Times As Fast As New Ones Are Built

Council homes are being sold off almost three times faster than local authorities can replace them, new analysis has revealed, with some local authorities selling 20 times the number of homes that were built in three years. Analysis of figures from 72 councils who responded to freedom of information requests found the mass selloff has raised more than £930m from the sale of more than 12,000 council houses since 2014. In those boroughs, just 4,309 houses were built in the same time. Read more on the Guardian website.

Less Than Half Of Right To Buy Replacements Are For Social Rent

Less than half of the council homes built to replace those sold under the Right to Buy are at social rents. Since 2012, councils have been allowed to keep a portion of the receipt from a Right to Buy home to build a replacement, with a total of 10,644 started so far against 51,352 sales. But Freedom of Information Act responses from 111 councils – 75% of those building replacements – showed only 48% (3,962) of the 8,109 new homes they had started were at social rents. Read more on Inside Housing.

Right To Buy Sales Pass 50,000 Since Discounts Raised

Councils sold more than 3,000 homes through the Right to Buy in the final quarter of 2016, taking the total sold under large discounts to over 50,000. 3,115 homes were sold between October and December last year – a 4% drop on the previous year, the CLG revealed. However 18 councils did not provide any Right to Buy figures, so the true total figure is likely to be higher. This took the overall figure for Right to Buy sales to 51,351 council homes since discounts were increased to £75,000 five years ago. Only 794 replacement homes were started or bought in the same three month period. This was a 47% increase on the previous year but a 39.4% drop on the previous quarter. Read more on Inside Housing.

Barwell: Right To Buy 'Only Justifiable' If Replacements Built

The housing minister has pledged to look again at Right to Buy rules after he said the policy is “only politically justifiable” if the government is delivering replacement homes. Gavin Barwell revealed he will reassess the rules on the use of Right to Buy receipts because future government projections suggest they will not be able to replace the homes sold. He said: “I do want to look at the rules in relation to Right to Buy receipts… because my own view is that Right to Buy is a good thing but it’s only politically justifiable if I deliver a replacement.” Read more on Inside Housing.

Concern Over Plans To Withhold Right To Buy Payments

Ministers are set to insist on withholding 30% of compensation payment for Right to Buy discounts until replacement homes are started. Associations, in negotiations with ministers on the details of the voluntary scheme, have been pushing against plans for the government to pay 70% of the compensation on sale and the remainder when a replacement home is started. However ministers will not budge on this point as they want a lever to ensure replacement homes are built. Although the NHF insists the deal with government is for full compensation even if homes are not replaced, the emerging split compensation plan is causing concern that associations might not in some instances be able to receive the full open market value of the homes they sell under the scheme. Read more on Inside Housing.

Only One In 10 Homes Sold Under Right To Buy Are Replaced In England

Local authorities in England have replaced one in 10 of the homes sold through right to buy since discounts were increased in 2012. Government figures show there have been 49,573 sales since the scheme was relaunched, while 4,594 have been started on site or acquired by councils. According to the latest data by the CLG, an estimated 3,250 properties were bought by tenants in the last three months of 2015, up from the 2,941 sold during the previous quarter, but slightly lower than the 3,288 sold in the same period of the previous year. During the same three-month period, 396 homes were started on site or acquired. Download the figures from the CLG website.

Housing Associations Issue Dire Warnings About 'Right To Buy

Housing associations providing homes for thousands of people across the North East have warned that Government plans to let tenants buy properties at a discount could lead to a major shortage of affordable accommodation. In a series of warnings issued to a Commons inquiry, they said:

• They won’t have enough money to build new homes to replace those sold

• Tenants risk taking on debts they can’t afford in order to buy properties

• Homes would end up in the hands of buy-to-let landlords

• Philanthropists who used to back housing associations will stop making donations

Read more on the Newcastle Chronicle website.

Councils Hand Back £46m RTB Cash

Town halls have handed almost £50m in unspent Right to Buy cash earmarked for replacement council housing to the government, claiming rules make it impossible to spend. Figures show £46.5m has already been handed back to the Treasury by councils. Councils have three years to spend the portion of Right to Buy receipts earmarked for replacement homes, before having to hand the money to the Treasury with interest. This time limit, along with restrictions on mixing receipts with other grant and a rule limiting the receipts spent on each home to 30% of build costs, have been flagged by councils as reasons why the cash has not been spent. The CLG said 14 councils had handed back money. Several of these are believed to have been before the three-year deadline was up. Read more on Inside Housing.

‘Khan Amendment’ To Ensure Replacement Homes Are Within Borough

Labour’s candidate for Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has challenged ministers over their Housing Bill by tabling an amendment that would ring-fence the expected annual £865 million raised from Right-to-Buy by housing associations in London. There are almost 400,000 housing association homes in London that are at risk of being sold off and not replaced under the government’s plans. The 'Khan Amendment' would require housing associations to replace homes sold off under the Right-to-Buy scheme with a new like-for-like home in the borough, preventing the hollowing out of local areas. Read more on 24dash.

How To Make Right To Buy Work For Those In Poverty

A combination of selling council houses as they become vacant and Housing Association homes being sold off under the new Right to Buy risks reducing the number of new lettings by up to 19,100 per year.  Will those on low incomes will be able to afford replacement homes?  If replacement homes are for shared ownership or let at a market-linked rent rather than the current social rents, then the answer is probably not.   Just 3% of new social renters could afford to buy a shared ownership property. In real terms, this means after five years we’ll have up to 13,000 more families stuck in homeless accommodation, and 61,000 more paying an average of £1668 a year more to rent in the private sector. But, if the new homes are let at the same rents as the homes they replace, Right to Buy could actually increase the number of low cost homes available to rent. Read more on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation website.

Council House Sales In England Back To Pre-Recession Levels

The number of council homes in England sold under the right to buy scheme has more than doubled in two years. The latest figures show sales are now above what they were in 2007, before the financial crisis that triggered the recession. CLG statistics revealed 12,304 sales under right to buy in 2014-15, compared with 5,944 in 2012-13. Housing charity Shelter said the homes were not being replaced by councils. Birmingham City Council sold 517 homes, the most in the last financial year. Read more on the BBC website.

SHOUT Produce Scathing Parliamentary Briefing

The SHOUT campaign for social housing have produced a Parliamentary Briefing in response to the publication of the Housing and Planning Bill. Their briefing “focuses on the sections of the Bill which particularly affect social rented housing and the people who live in it", and specifically covers the details of some specific sections of the bill. On the hot topic of the day, Right to Buy for housing association tenants, the briefing notes that “SHOUT supports the Right to Buy, but only if homes sold are replaced in the same area and at genuinely affordable social rent”.  Download the briefing form the SHOUT website.

£45 Billion Raised From RTB Sales

Pressure is mounting on the government to explain official figures on social housing replacement. It follows publication of research commissioned by the Commons communities and local government committee into the impact of Right to Buy on social housing stock. More than £45bn has been raised in total capital receipts RTB sales up to 2010/11, according to the report. It goes on to say that the number of dwellings owned by local authorities in England declined by 3.4 million in 34 years between 1980 and 2014. This was due “both to the RTB and the transfer of stock from the local authority to the housing association sector.” Download the report from the Parliament website.

7,000 Council Homes A Year Could Be Lost If Right To Buy Funding Gap Isn't Closed

Analysis from the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) shows that local authorities could be left with no money to replace the homes they are forced to sell to fund the policy.The research indicates that:

• Between 2,100 and 6,800 ‘high-value’ council homes are likely to become empty and be sold each year – compared to the government’s estimate of 15,000

• Those sales would generate between £1.2 billion and £2.2 billion a year – compared to the government’s estimate of £4.5 billion

• Around 1.45 million housing association tenants would be eligible for right to buy during the first five years of the policy, with around 10 per cent (145,000) likely to take advantage

• £1.2 billion would be around half the amount needed to compensate housing associations for homes sold under the scheme – housing associations would need almost all of the higher £2.2 billion estimate, leaving virtually nothing for councils to replace the homes they have sold or for the brownfield regeneration fund.

Read more on the Housingnet website.