Government unveils full details of Right to Buy shake-up

The government had already announced at last month’s Budget that it planned to reduce the maximum cash discount available to tenants to between £16,000 and £38,000. This particular change comes into force today. 

Councils will also be able to retain all the receipts from sales – including the share that previously went to the Treasury – which total around £183m annually. 

Views are also being sought in the consultation on whether there should be a target to replace all future sales on a one-for-one basis.

Protections to stop newly built social homes being sold are also planned.

Angela Rayner, deputy prime minister and housing secretary, said: “Too many social homes have been sold off before they can be replaced, which has directly contributed to the worst housing crisis in living memory.”

She added: “Discounts have grown substantially under the previous government, which has distorted the benefits that the scheme provides to individuals at the detriment of others in need of social housing and wider communities. That is not fair.”

Fewer than 48,000 social homes have been built or acquired using Right to Buy receipts since 2012, according to MHCLG.

This is despite around 124,000 council homes sold through the scheme across the same period.

However in the foreword to the consultation, Ms Rayner said she still wants tenants who have “made a home within their local community” and paid rent “over many years” to be able to buy their home.

She said: “This government remains committed to Right to Buy, which is why we are not proposing its abolition.”

MHCLG also said it will not be extending the Right to Buy scheme to housing associations. The consultation pointed to “challenges” from two voluntary Right to Buy pilot schemes for housing association tenants, which were run between 2016 and 2021.

The government funded the discounts and housing associations were able to retain all the receipts from sales under the pilot. However, as of September last year, only 859 of the 1,839 homes sold between 2018 and 2021 had been replaced, MHCLG said.

The department said that housing association tenants will still be able to buy their rented home at a discount through the Right to Acquire.

As part of the consultation, ministers are also proposing targets for councils to replace stock sold with homes for social rent of the same size and in the same area.

Leaders from the across the sector welcomed the plans.

Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: “At a time when 4.2 million people are in need of social housing in England, we strongly support the government’s aim to protect the country’s social housing and welcome confirmation that Right to Buy will not be extended to housing associations.”

Gavin Smart, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: “The outcome from the various measures the government is taking should mean that the Right to Buy is a much more sustainable scheme than it has been since 2012.”

Adam Hug, housing spokesperson for the Local Government Association, added that the measures in the consultation will “help further in supporting the replacement of sold homes and to stem the continued loss of existing stock”.

MHCLG said that following the consultation, it will bring forward legislation on the changes “when parliamentary time allows”.

Labour had previously signalled in its election manifesto that it wanted to make changes to Right to Buy to protect social housing stock.