Right to Buy (Housing) Bill

A

BILL

TO

Reintroduce a ‘Right to Buy’ scheme, similar to that introduced in the Housing Act of 1980, so that secure tenants in council houses can purchase their homes.

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

Section 1 - Definitions

1. ‘Council home’ refers to a property that is publically owned, and is being rented out to a tenant.

2. ‘Secure tenant’ refers to a lifetime tenancy where one can only be evicted in certain situations.

3. The term ‘market value’ refers to the estimated amount for which a property should exchange on the date of valuation between a willing buyer and a willing seller in an arm’s-length transaction after proper marketing wherein the parties had each acted knowledgeably, prudently and without compulsion.

4. The term ‘Right to Buy’ refers to the ability of secure council house tenants to purchase their current residence from their respective local council.

5. The term ‘Local Council’ refers to the relevant unitary authority council by which the council house is maintained and owned.

Section 2 - Right to Purchase Council Homes

1. If an individual has been a secure tenant in a council house for at least 5 years from the day they received the key to the house, they will be entitled to purchase that council house from their respective local council.

2. Local authorities will have the power to freeze the right to buy scheme in their respective area, as long as approval is granted by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

3. Local authorities must reinvest at least 90% of the revenue gained from the sale of council houses into the building of new council houses.

i. The Department for Communities & Local Government will be responsible for ensuring that Local Authorities are reinvesting at least 90% of revenue generated by house sales.

ii. If a Local Authority is found to not be spending at least 90%, the Department for Communities & Local Government will have the power to either seize the remaining funds and give it to surrounding Local Authorities for house building, or they can take control of the house building in the offending Local Authority, using the remaining percentage of the funds below 90% to do so.

Section 3 - Discounts

1. Discounts on the market value of the home will be applied for purchasing. The discounts will be as follows:

i. if the secure tenant has lived in the home for at least 5 years, they will receive a discount of 10%; and

ii. an additional 2% discount for every year the secure tenant lives in their home will be applied until the discount reaches 20% or the discount is worth £60,000 (£85,000 in London Boroughs), whichever is lowest in value.

Section 4 - Replacement social housing

1. The Department for Communities and Local Government must co-ordinate with local authorities to ensure each house purchased under the provisions contained in this act is replaced and available as social housing within 12 months

2. The provisions contained in this act are suspended if an annual audit of a local authority's social housing stock reveals that in 5 per cent or more of cases replacement houses were not available within 12 months

Section 5 - Full Title, Commencement and Extent

1. This bill extends to England & Wales.

2. This bill will come into force immediately upon royal assent.

3. This bill may be cited as the Right to Buy (Housing) Act 2017.

This bill was written by the Secretary of State for Wales, the Rt. Hon. real-friends KBE MP, on behalf of the Conservative & Unionist Party.

This division will end on 20 October.

Division! Clear the bar.