Council House Sales To Tenants

[whiskeryron]

I was talking to a friend & discussing the sale of Council Properties to tenants, the legislation which I believe was introduced by Mrs Thatcher's government. My friend informed me that at the time all revenues received from the transactions could NOT be used to replace stocks of Council Houses that had been sold & so this caused a shortage of properties available for families on the waiting list for Council Houses. Does any A/Ber know if this is correct ?

WR.

[vakayu]

I don't know all the inns and outs and finer detail of this,which I am sure could be resolved by googling and doing some research,but I have a recollection there was criteria at the time saying something about not exactly promoting or encouraging replacing council houses,which is where our present shortages stem from.

[mazie]

Hi Wr...found this on wiki and I've posted the link below

"Proceeds of the sales were paid to the local authorities, but they were restricted to spending the money to reduce their debt until it was cleared, rather than being able to spend it on building more homes. The effect was to reduce the council housing stock, especially in areas where property prices were high such as London and the south-east of England."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_Buy

[whiskeryron]

Thanks very much to both of you for your prompt answers.

WR.

[lcg]

yes it is correct.....and central government still has that big pile of money stashed away; it just refuses to let it be spent on state-built social housing. most new builds are a mix between local authorities and private building firms who are given enormous tax breaks to build a few housing association flats/houses on massive developments. terrible, really x

[vakayu]

Hi whron,you're welcome,this is basically IMO where l the encouragement to get on the housing ladder stemmed from,whereas then most people would be trying to rent a council house,now it has completed changed.

[overthetop]

Amongst the many pages I have read over the last few days, I seem to recall that sales of houses to tenants was first mooted by Labour, but the Conservatives took it to another level. I could well be mistaken and stand to be corrected. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_Buy