Right to Buy: Now scrap it all together, urge housing associations

Published by 24publishing for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Communities, Health, Local Government

Housing associations in Scotland want the Government to "stop tinkering around the edges of the Right to Buy scheme (RTB)" and be bold enough to scrap it altogether.

In its response to the Scottish Government consultation document “The Future of Right to Buy in Scotland”, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) said scrapping it would end the administrative costs of running two different RTB schemes and would preserve the stock for the 335,000 people on waiting lists across the country.
 
The SFHA says the social rented sector in Scotland has lost almost half a million properties to RTB sales since its introduction in 1980, with the Scottish Government estimating that nearly 60,000 RSL tenancies - 20% of all RSL stock - are subject to the preserved RTB.  

In Scotland there are two forms of Right-to-Buy: the original form, introduced by the Thatcher government in 1980 and the ‘Modernised Right to Buy’ introduced in Scotland in 2001, which offers less attractive discounts and more exemptions.

The SFHA says the "complex and multi-layered nature" of RTB rules and regulations, particularly around the modernised RTB, are "preposterously difficult to administer and understand".

Its response to the consultation said: "...around 80% of modernised RTB applications are aborted, wasting even more staff time. This is a resource that, if RTB were abolished, could be much better targeted towards helping tenants through the very difficult times ahead under welfare reform."

It also indicated evidence that RTB had pushed up the housing benefit bill as a result of those homes now ending up in the private sector and that preserved RTB sales are not being instigated by the tenant, but by members of their family, simply to sell on at a profit after the tenant’s death.

Its response paper said: "RSLs also have a statutory duty to house homeless applicants under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001. Fulfilling this duty is reliant on having the stock available to do so. The stark fact is that demand for rented accommodation is now far outstripping supply. Every house that is sold under the RTB is ultimately interfering with the rights of those applicants to rent a decent, affordable home in Scotland."

Andy Young, SFHA Policy and Membership Manager, said: “It is the view of the SFHA and its members that Right to Buy has had its day and has no place in 21st Century Scotland. It has been beneficial to a relatively small number of individuals, but in our view a loss to the greater public good.

“Scottish people did not generally vote for the introduction of the policy back in 1980 and the Scottish Government now has an opportunity to use its devolved powers to decide once and for all the fate of Right to Buy. It is our view that it would be beneficial for all concerned for this to be done in as transparent and decisive a way as possible. We therefore urge the Scottish Government to give notice to all those tenants with the Right to Buy that the scheme will be abolished in one year’s time.”

The consultation closes on 30 August.