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Council Housing: Sales

Volume 457: debated on Monday 5 March 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many council houses were sold to sitting tenants in each year since 1976; and on what basis decisions are made to sell council houses to (a) tenants and (b) tenants of housing associations under the right to buy. (120864)

The right-to-buy scheme was introduced in October 1980. The number of council homes sold to sitting tenants under the scheme in England is shown in the following table:

Local authority housing stock sold under the right-to-buy scheme: England

Number of sales

1980-81

2,328

1981-82

105,199

1982-83

167,123

1983-84

106,262

1984-85

77,522

1985-86

72,142

1986-87

76,748

1987-88

93,729

1988-89

135,701

1989-90

133,804

1990-91

76,332

1991-92

48,290

1992-93

37,686

1993-94

44,678

1994-95

43,336

1995-96

31,512

1996-97

33,206

1997-98

41,329

1998-99

40,272

1999-2000

54,251

2000-01

52,380

2001-02

51,968

2002-03

63,394

2003-04

69,577

2004-05

49,983

2005-06

26,655

Total

1,735,407

Notes:

1. Data includes estimates for non-responding authorities.

2. Information on other sales to sitting tenants (eg, under the voluntary powers in section 32 of the Housing Act 1985) is not readily available.

Source:

Statistical returns from local authorities.

Under Part 5 of the Housing Act 1985, secure tenants of local authority landlords, and tenants of housing associations who held secure tenancies with those associations prior to 1988, have the right to buy the home they rent. A tenant who held a secure tenancy with a local authority, and subsequently became an assured tenant of a housing association following transfer of their home to the association with the authority's housing stock, has a “preserved right to buy”.

Local authorities and housing associations must sell properties to such tenants if they have been public sector tenants for at least five years before applying for the right to buy (two years if their tenancies began prior to 18 January 2005), unless:

the tenant is an undischarged bankrupt;

the property is exempt from the right to buy: ie, (i) it is let in connection with the tenant's employment; (ii) it is particularly suitable for occupation by elderly or physically or mentally disabled people; (iii) it is due to be demolished, or (iv) the landlord has an insufficient interest in it - ie, is unable to grant a lease of at least 21 years on a house or 50 years on a flat.