'Right to Buy-back' to enhance way to obtain council homes working in london

Mayor based in london Sadiq Khan has announced a new plan to raise the capital’s supply of council homes through a new Right to Buy-back fund.

The fund will give boroughs the funds to purchase former council homes that have been sold into the private market with the government’s To Buy programme. Right to Buy gave council tenants who had lived in their house for more than three years the opportunity to buy their property at a price substantially below market rate. Because the Act’s introduction a lot more than 300,000 London council homes happen to be sold.

The Mayor’s To Buy-back scheme will make money open to help councils and council-owned housing companies acquire homes which will then be let at social rent levels or used as accommodation for homeless families. Every home purchased through built must meet the Government’s Decent Homes Standard.

Councils have lost both funding and expertise they might require to construct more council homes, but Khan believes this is finally now changing. As Mayor, he has committed to helping London’s councils start building council homes again with his ‘Building Council Homes for Londoners’ funding programme, which is on the right track to help boroughs start 10,000 new council homes between 2021 and 2023. More homes at social rent levels were started or acquired working in london than all other parts of England in 2021/21. In 2021/20, councils started over 4,390 homes working in london – the highest number since 1983.

Khan said: “In excess of 4 decades, London’s precious council homes have been disappearing in to the private sector, often not to get replaced. It’s time for that to alter.

“We’re not only helping councils to build thousands of new council homes, but we’re giving them the time to buy back former council homes through our Right to Buy-back scheme. In the midst of a housing affordability crisis it feels grossly unfair and unjust which more than four in ten council homes sold with the To Buy in London have reached the hands of private landlords. They were, after all, homes designed for the public good.

“I'm proud that we have brought council homebuilding look out onto levels not seen because the 1980s and I’m encouraged by the enthusiasm I see from boroughs across London for building new council homes. Fixing the housing crisis is going to take time, but this new Right to Buy-back scheme is an new tool that can help to take another step in the right direction.”