Councils in England will be able to retain 100 per cent of receipts from the sale of homes through the Right to Buy (RTB) scheme for the next two years, the Government has announced.
The RTB scheme was introduced more than 40 years ago by the Housing Act 1980, allowing most council tenants the opportunity to buy their council home at a discount and helping thousands of families get on the housing ladder.
Since the maximum discount was significantly increased in 2012 and 2013, the average discount has risen by 150 per cent to almost £68,000 in 2021/22, leading to a quadrupling in the number of RTB sales.
The LGA has long called for reform of the scheme, with no region of the country or local authority able to provide one-for-one replacements of homes sold.
A recent report by Savills, commissioned by the LGA, the Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH) and the National Federation of Arms-Length Management Organisations, estimated that of the 100,000 homes expected to be sold through the RTB scheme by 2030, only 43,000 were likely to be replaced.
An LGA spokesperson said: “We are incredibly pleased to see these changes to the RTB scheme, something we have long called for, as the previous rules, alongside the significant discounts to tenants, have meant that councils have struggled to replace social homes on a one-for-one basis.
“With long waiting lists for social housing and the private sector becoming more and more unfeasible for some households, ensuring that councils have the funding to replace any homes sold through RTB quickly is crucial, and this announcement should go far in supporting this.
“This change, allowing councils to retain 100 per cent of RTB receipts for two years, must be made permanent, and councils also need the ability to be able to set discounts locally.
“The additional money that councils will now be able to keep will make it easier to replace homes sold and support an end to the prioritisation of one household’s home ownership over another’s access to secure, safe, social housing.”