News In Focus
27 April 2009
"'Right to buy" set to go with new Housing Bill
The Scottish Government has moved to end the right to buy for new-build social housing in Scotland.
Announced with the consultation on the Draft Housing (Scotland) Bill, published today, the reform is aimed at safeguarding social rented housing for future generations.
The consultation also seeks views on other possible right to buy reforms, including:
- ending the right for new tenants in all social housing property;
- devolving and extending the pressured-area designation process, which can suspend right to buy in certain areas;
- revising guidance to encourage landlords to give ex-service personnel the opportunity to count the time they spend in armed forces tenancies towards their right to buy qualifying period.
It also outlines proposals for modernising how social housing is regulated. The Scottish Housing Regulator would become an independent body to safeguard and promote the interests of tenants, and a national charter would set out required standards for social housing provision.
It is estimated that between 2012 and 2022 these reforms could retain between 10,000 and 18,000 homes for low cost rent that would otherwise be lost through right-to-buy sales.
Safeguard
Housing Minister Alex Neil said: "Ending the right to buy for new-build houses will safeguard social housing for future generations of families across Scotland. Meanwhile modernised regulation will ensure that new and existing social housing delivers improving value for tenants and taxpayers.
"These changes, alongside our efforts to reverse the decades of decline in council house building, backed by £50 million in funding, will support councils to begin building homes again.”
Graeme Brown, director of housing charity Shelter Scotland, described the proposals as "radical" and hoped they would mean "the death knell of this outdated policy". The current system, he said, was equivalent to "running a bath with the plug out", with good quality, affordable rented homes being built and subsequently sold at a discounted price.
Existing tenants would not be immediately affected under the plans, although the Government has also proposed devolving full control of the pressured-area system, where local authorities can apply for a suspension of all social housing purchases in areas with particular problems.
Mr Brown commented: "Since the policy started over 25 years ago, nearly half a million public sector homes have been sold off in Scotland, while only around 42,000 council homes have been built over the same period.
"Selling off council stock, while starving local authorities of cash to replace them, has been a contributing factor in the current housing crisis that sees hundreds of thousands of people either on waiting lists or in temporary housing."
The consultation is open until 14 August, and is available on the Scottish Government website at www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/04/27095102/0.