Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 21
21
Paragraph: 125
Local authorities should receive 100 per cent of Right to Buy receipts.
Conclusion
Local authorities should receive 100 per cent of Right to Buy receipts. The time limit for using these receipts to fund a replacement should be extended to five years, rather than three. Councils should also be allowed to combine receipts with other pots, like grant funding, to maximise flexibility. Receipts must be used to fund like-for-like tenure replacements: a sold social rent home should be replaced with a new social rent home. Without these changes, Right to Buy will make achieving the development of the desired 90,000 properties per annum unachievable.
Paragraph Reference:
125
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The Government wants to support local authorities to build more affordable homes. The consultation on the Use of Receipts from Right to Buy Sales (receipts consultation) invited views on options to change the rules around these receipts to make it easier for councils to build more homes. The Government is considering its response to the receipts consultation which will be published in due course. On the type and tenure of replacement homes, the Government considers that local authorities are best placed to determine the housing needs of their local communities; and authorities have the freedom to do this under the terms of the agreements which they signed to keep the Right to Buy receipts.