Scottish local authority tenants to lose right to buy

Permalink: Scottish local authority tenants to lose right to buy
by Gill Montia

The Scottish government is planning to ditch the “right to buy” option currently afforded to tenants in local authority properties.

Scotland’s deputy first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has hinted that measures could be introduced for new tenants as early as next year, excluding them from the right to buy scheme.

Such a move would mean around 18,000 homes would be retained as social housing over the next 10 years.

Addressing the SNP conference in Inverness, the minister said: “We have a responsibility to provide homes for those who can’t afford to buy.”

She added: “Our ambition to substantially increase the supply of homes for rent will be frustrated if we then sell them off under the right to buy. That is why I believe that the right to buy has had its day.”

Over 400,000 council homes have been bought by Scotland’s local authority tenants since the policy was introduced by the Conservatives in 1980.

Restrictions over councils’ use of the money raised has meant that the stock of social housing has been depleted faster than it has been replaced in many areas of the UK.