26th
Aug 2022
London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan wants private landlords who bought council houses and are letting them out to consider selling them back to councils.
In July 2021 Khan set up a budget of £152 million for 14 borough councils to buy back 1,577 ex-council houses, many from BTL landlords and those which have been bought back will become what the Mayor calls “affordable housing”.
According to his pans 908 of these homes will be rented out at social rent levels, the cheapest affordable council rents. He has just now added Hounslow and Islington councils to the scheme with the green light given to purchase 39 ex-council homes for Afghan families.
He says in a statement ‘trumpeting’ the supposed success of the Right to Buy Back scheme with increasing numbers of smaller landlords selling u because of tax and regulation changes, it would be so much better if they sold their properties back to councils rather than selling to other landlords.
In 1980 when the Tories introduced the Right to Buy scheme as part of the 1980 Housing Act which gave council tenants the opportunity to buy the properties at considerably lower prices than the market rate, if they had lived in their homes for more than three years.
Around 14,000 replacement council homes bought from Right to Buy receipts in London, is much lower than the number of council homes sold in the scheme in the same period – approximately 23,000.
When commenting on the impact of the Right to Buy scheme, he says: “For more than 40 years, London’s precious council homes have been disappearing into the private sector, often never to be replaced. As Mayor I have maintained a relentless focus on stemming the tide and replenishing London’s social housing stock.
“I am proud that, thanks to my interventions, we have brought council homebuilding back up to levels not seen since the 1970s and I’m hugely encouraged by the enthusiasm I see from boroughs across London for building new council homes and using my Right to Buy-back scheme to return homes to public ownership.
“These homes were built for the public good and it has been painful to watch them disappear into private portfolios. Returning these homes to public ownership is a key part of my plan to build a better London for everyone – a city that is greener, fairer and more prosperous for all.”
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