The right to buy for newly built affordable homes in Scotland will be abolished by the Scottish government. Under a draft housing Bill, the government is also consulting on a proposal to block tenants moving into existing affordable homes from exercising the right to buy. This move could mean 18,000 homes were kept for affordable
Councils across England are facing a huge drop in cash as right-to-buy sales fail. A snapshot across 10 councils has revealed that receipts from right to buy fell 89 per cent in the last year, from 380 homes in the third quarter of 07/08 to 40 for the same period in 08/09. The implication for
The law has been changed so that no more tolerated trespassers can be created and all existing tolerated trespassers will be given a new tenancy. Before the amendments to the Housing and Regeneration Act and the successor landlord order came into force yesterday thousands of council tenants had lost their housing rights, even if they
Across England the average discount on a local authority home has fallen from 27 per cent in 1997/98 to 11 per cent in 2007/08, junior housing minister Iain Wright said in response to parliamentary questions. The trend was most dramatic in London, where the average discount was worth 53 per cent of an average right-to-buy
For the first time in nearly 20 years English local councils are to begin constructing homes, following last week’s announcement by John Healey allowing town halls to retain rent from council housing and receipts from the right-to-buy scheme. Analysts predict that nearly 140,000 homes will be built in the next decade, as local authorities start
The Office of Fair Trading has criticised three ex-directors of Fasttrack for misleading council tenants in a right to buy scheme. The directors persuaded tenants to make right to buy applications and, as part of the deal, the buyers were required to sign up to a credit agreement with finance provider FAI. The OFT found