Local authority bid to buy back council homes

Brighton and Hove City Council is to buy back former council homes purchased by tenants under the Right to Buy Scheme, if a one-year trial is given the go ahead this week.
Cllr Anne MeadowsCllr Anne Meadows
Cllr Anne Meadows

The council said the move is to provide more affordable rented housing for people on the city’s housing register, by bringing homes sold under Right to Buy back into council ownership.

Members of the council’s housing and new homes committee will consider the proposed Home Purchase Policy at a meeting on Wednesday (September 20), before it goes to the policy, resources and growth committee on October 12.

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If the proposed trial is approved, the council could buy back four homes, each costing up to a maximum of £250,000. Properties would be independently valued and people selling would benefit from a quick sale with no chain. The scheme would be reviewed next year.

Councillor Anne Meadows, chair of the housing and new homes committee, said: “We are already building new council homes in the city, and this proposal is another way in which we could provide more homes to rent.

“Anything that brings us more social housing is fantastic for the city. Even if only a small number of properties is involved, it all adds up, and for four families on our housing register it could mean a new home.”

Money for purchasing homes would come from the council’s housing revenue account and the properties could be used to provide temporary accommodation or permanent homes.

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The Right to Buy is a Government scheme that enables council tenants to buy their home. Since 2005, any tenant who has bought their council home has to give the council first refusal to buy it back if they sell it within 10 years. However, until now the council has not exercised this right to buy back.

The proposed Home Purchase Policy would provide the formal policy and budget framework to enable the council to buy back council properties sold within the last 10 years, and longer ago, if they come onto the market.