Closed consultation

Reforming the Right to Buy

Published 20 November 2024

Applies to England

Scope of the consultation

Topic of this consultation

This consultation seeks views on how the Right to Buy should be reformed to deliver a fairer and more sustainable scheme. We want to ensure that council tenants who have lived in, and paid rent on, their social homes for many years can retain the opportunity to own their home. However, reform of Right to Buy is essential to better protect much-needed social housing stock, boost council capacity and build more social homes than we lose, supporting the government’s commitment to deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.

The consultation follows the reduction in maximum Right to Buy cash discounts, which was announced at Autumn Budget 2024, and asks for views on:

• the qualifying criteria for tenants
• initial and maximum discounts as a percentage of the property value
• which types of properties should be exempted under the scheme
• whether there should be increased restrictions on properties after sale
• the replacement of homes sold under the Right to Buy
• rules governing the use of Right to Buy receipts and how these could be simplified

Geographical scope

These proposals relate to England only; the Right to Buy scheme ended in Scotland and Wales in 2016 and 2019 respectively.

Impact assessment

The purpose of the consultation is to seek views on options to reform the Right to Buy. Any policy changes brought forward as a result of the consultation would be subject to appropriate assessment.

Basic information

Body responsible for the consultation

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Duration

This consultation will last for 8 weeks from 20 November 2024 to 15 January 2025.

Enquiries

For any enquiries about the consultation please contact: righttobuy.consultation@communities.gov.uk

How to respond

You may respond by completing an online survey on Citizen Space.

Alternatively, you can email your response to the questions in this consultation to: righttobuy.consultation@communities.gov.uk

If you are responding in writing, please make it clear which questions you are responding to. Written responses should be sent to:

Right to Buy Team
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
3rd Floor, Fry Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

When you reply it would be very useful if you confirm whether you are replying as an individual or submitting an official response on behalf of an organisation and include:

• your name
• your position (if applicable)
• the name of organisation (if applicable)
• an address (including post-code)
• an email address
• a contact telephone number

Foreword from the Deputy Prime Minister

I know from personal experience that that the Right to Buy boosts social mobility and opportunity for families across the country. Many of those who buy under the scheme would not otherwise be able to afford to own their own home.

I want social tenants who have made a home within their local community, contributing significantly through rent over many years, to have the opportunity to buy that home as I did. This government remains committed to Right to Buy, which is why we are not proposing its abolition.

However, discounts have grown substantially under the previous government, which has distorted the benefits that the scheme provides to individuals at the detriment of others in need of social housing and wider communities. That is not fair. 

Reduced access to affordable social rented homes has seen millions of low-income families forced into insecure, poor quality and unaffordable accommodation. Over 150,000 children in temporary accommodation. Nearly 1.3 million people on social housing waiting lists.

The cost of this has been borne not only by those low-income families unable to secure a social home, but by the taxpayer in the form of a rapidly rising housing benefit bill. This is unsustainable and represents a poor use of public money.   

That is why this government is determined to take action.

After more than a decade of marginalisation, we must once again assert the necessity and the value of social housing. It is a crucial national asset to be proud of, to invest in, to protect and to maintain.  

Our ambition is to deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. This is essential if we are going to turn the tide on the numbers of families living in temporary accommodation  or stuck on social housing waiting lists. 

We cannot achieve that whilst councils are losing homes quicker than they can replace them through the Right to Buy scheme. Nor can we achieve that whilst councils risk losing their investment in a newly built social home as soon as three years after completion.

We want to reform the Right to Buy and deliver a fairer and more sustainable scheme that represents value to the taxpayer. We want a scheme that helps longstanding tenants to buy their own homes but without disadvantaging wider communities and those in housing need. And we want councils to be building more homes than they are losing, supporting our commitment to deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.

Social tenants who have made somewhere a home and contributed to it financially over many years will continue to be able to own that home. But crucially we will also protect social housing stock to meet future housing need, support councils to replace homes that are sold and improve their confidence to scale-up delivery.

We acted quickly in July to increase the flexibilities on how councils can use the capital receipts generated by a Right to Buy sale to accelerate the delivery of replacement homes.

And at Budget, the Chancellor confirmed that we will no longer require a proportion of those receipts to be returned to the Treasury. The Budget also confirmed the reduction of Right to Buy discounts to their pre-2012 regional levels (ranging from £16,000 to £38,000) from 21 November. These measures will better protect much-needed social housing stock and boost council capacity to ensure we are building more homes than we lose.

But reducing discounts is only part of the reform needed to achieve a fairer and more sustainable scheme. This consultation seeks views on wider reforms, including changes to eligibility requirements, which properties should be exempted from sale under the scheme and how rules on the spending of Right to Buy receipts could be further simplified. We want to deliver a scheme that works for social housing tenants, councils and wider communities alike.

I welcome views on these proposals, and I look forward to working with all those with an interest in improving the system to make sure that these plans for reform are robust, fair and deliverable.

1. Introduction

1. The Right to Buy provides an important route for social housing tenants to own their own homes, many of whom may not otherwise be able to access home ownership, boosting social mobility and opportunity for families across the country. Over 2 million tenants have bought under the Right to Buy since it was introduced in 1980. The government is firmly committed to enabling social tenants who have made a home in their local community and paid rent for many years, to retain the opportunity to buy that home.

2. However, many of the homes sold under the Right to Buy have not been replaced, despite the introduction of a one-for-one replacement target when discounts were significantly increased in 2012. Between April 2012 and March 2024 there have been over 124,000 council Right to Buy sales, and in the same period fewer than 48,000 homes have been replaced.^{[footnote 1]} There is insufficient supply of good quality social homes to meet demand for social housing  with nearly 1.3 million people on the social housing waiting list and 117,450 households, including over 150,000 children, in Temporary Accommodation.

3. The Right to Buy has particularly negatively impacted on the levels of social housing for Social Rent and reduced the number of larger family homes, both of which are more expensive for councils to replace and essential to meeting homelessness pressures.^{[footnote 2]} The Right to Buy has also reduced the motivation and confidence of councils to build, and restricted broader investment in council housing, given new stock might be sold under the scheme at a significant discount (as soon as 3 years after being built).

4. Additionally, many of the homes sold under the scheme have been sold and re-let, often as poorer quality and more expensive rentals (with heightened costs to the taxpayer, including housing benefit). External research has suggested that around 40% of properties sold under the Right to Buy are now let-out.^{[footnote 3]} These properties were sold at a discount and are now being let at higher rents costing the taxpayer more through welfare costs.

5. The government is committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation to meet the urgent housing need. This cannot be achieved whilst councils are losing homes quicker than they can replace them through the Right to Buy scheme. The government is committed to delivering a fairer, more sustainable scheme that represents better value for money for the taxpayer.

Government action to date

6. We acted quickly in July 2024 to increase the flexibilities on how councils can use the receipts generated by the sale of a home under the Right to Buy scheme to accelerate the delivery of replacement homes. The caps on the percentage of replacements delivered as acquisitions and the percentage cost of a replacement home that can be funded using Right to Buy receipts have been removed, and councils can now combine the receipts with section 106 contributions. These flexibilities will be in place for an initial 24 months, subject to review.

7. The government, at Autumn Budget, also confirmed that councils will no longer be required to return a proportion of the capital receipt generated by the sale of the home to HM Treasury, which has totalled c.£183 million a year. This will ensure that councils are better able to replace homes sold under the scheme to meet housing need.

8. We have reviewed the significantly increased Right to Buy discounts that were introduced in 2012 and concluded that discounts should be returned to pre-2012 levels ranging from £16,000 to £38,000 from 21 November 2024 (with the level of discount depending on the area in which the tenant lives).^{[footnote 4]} This is a crucial step in delivering a fairer, better value and more sustainable scheme. Reducing discounts will protect existing social housing stock, whilst ensuring long-term tenants can still benefit.

9. The government is also increasing the protections on newly built social homes by increasing the cost floor protection period from 15 to 30 years from 21 November 2024. The cost floor limits the discount on Right to Buy properties to ensure that the purchase price of the property does not fall below what has been spent on building, buying, repairing or maintaining it over a certain period of time. Immediate action to increase the cost floor period will improve councils’ confidence to scale up delivery of much needed new social homes ahead of wider reforms.

Consultation proposals

10. This consultation considers the broader reform necessary to support further the government’s objective of achieving a sustainable and fair Right to Buy scheme. We are seeking to deliver a scheme that enables tenants who have lived in, and paid rent on, their homes for many years to buy their home, whilst representing good value for money and enabling councils to accelerate the delivery of new homes.

11. The consultation seeks views on:

i. Eligibility – we propose to increase the eligibility requirement (currently 3 years as a secure tenant) to support councils to rebuild their housing stock and to better ensure that it is tenants who have lived in, and paid rent on, their social homes for many years that are able to own their home through the scheme.

ii. Discounts as a percentage of the property value – we propose to amend the current percentage discounts to align better with the new maximum cash discounts. We welcome views on what the appropriate levels should be, and we propose that the same rules should apply to houses and flats.

iii. Exemptions – we welcome views on whether the current exemptions to the scheme are fit for purpose and whether new build homes should be exempt from the Right to Buy, for a given period, to better incentivise councils to invest in new stock. We also welcome views on how to protect council investment in retrofitting and improving homes to a high standard.

iv. Restrictions on properties after sale – concerns have been raised around too many homes sold under the Right to Buy being let out. We do not propose to introduce covenants to prevent homes being let out, which we think would be restrictive and too difficult for councils to administer, or to create a discount in perpetuity, where the complexity of the proposition is likely to outweigh any benefits. We are seeking views, however, on whether the time period in which the council has the right to ask for repayment of all or part of the discount received should be increased from 5 to 10 years.

v. Requirements around the replacement of homes sold under the Right to Buy – we welcome views on the benefits of replacement homes being for Social Rent to support the government’s ambition to increase the number of Social Rent homes; whether replacements should be, as far as possible, of the same size and in the same area; and whether there should be a target to replace all future Right to Buy sales on a one-for-one basis.

vi. Simplification of the receipts regime – we welcome views on how the current system, where the capital receipt generated from the sale of a home, is divided into 6 parts (after funding the discount) can be simplified and strengthened to support the replacement of homes.

12. Our aim is to understand what barriers there may be to the introduction of these proposals and to inform their design. Subject to views in response to this consultation, we intend to bring forward legislation to implement changes when parliamentary time allows.

2. Eligibility

Current rules

13. Right to Buy is primarily available to council housing tenants. To qualify, an individual must be a secure tenant and have spent at least 3 years as a public sector tenant. A public sector tenant is someone whose landlord is a public body, usually a council or housing association.

14. The 3 years do not have to be continuous, and an individual can add together any time they have spent as a public sector tenant. They are also able to count any period when their husband, wife or civil partner was a public sector tenant.

15. There are other eligibility criteria that also need to be met, including having no legal issues with debt or outstanding possession orders and no history of tenancy fraud. The government does not propose to amend these.

Proposal

16. The government is committed to deliver a scheme that enables longstanding tenants, who have lived in and paid rent on their homes for many years, to buy their home whilst not eroding existing social housing stock.

17. However, in order to deliver a fairer scheme that represents better value for money, the government thinks that the length of time someone needs to have been a public sector tenant should increase; a tenant occupying a property for 3 years is extremely unlikely to have paid rent that equates to the available discount.

18. The main rationale given in 2014 for reducing the qualifying period from 5 to 3 years was to drive an increase in the take up of Right to Buy sales.^{[footnote 5]} The government now believes a more sustainable balance must be struck to support councils to rebuild their stock of homes and to better ensure that it is tenants who have lived in, and paid rent on, their social homes for many years that are able to own their home through the scheme.

19. One option is to increase the eligibility requirement to 5 years, which was the requirement between 2004 and 2015. The Housing Forum recommended a minimum requirement of at least 5 years.^{[footnote 6]} The average tenancy period of those buying under the scheme is around 10 years, and this was the threshold used in the initial pilot of the Voluntary Right to Buy for housing association tenants in 2016-17. The Local Government Association has suggested that the minimum tenancy should be 15 years.^{[footnote 7]}

Question 1

How long do you think someone should be required to be a secure tenant before qualifying for the Right to Buy?

• 5 years
• 10 years
• More than 10 years

20. In addition to changing the length of time someone is a tenant before they can exercise the Right to Buy, further eligibility criteria could be introduced.

21. One option would be to require someone to have been a tenant in the area in which they intend to purchase for a given length of time. Currently, there is no such requirement, but it could help to ensure that a tenant is invested in their community.

22. Another option would be to limit financial support from families or non-mortgage lending third parties to deliver a more equitable scheme. Currently there are no limits on the contribution that family members or third parties can make towards the purchase. It has been suggested that this can sometimes result in undue pressure being put on elderly tenants to buy under the scheme, and sharp practice in relation to third-party lenders, who offer to lend the money and then buy the property subsequently.^{[footnote 8]}

23. The government is, however, minded not to pursue either of these options. We understand that tenants generally buy the home which they have been living for many years and do not consider it necessary to require that someone has been living in the area in which they intend to purchase. We believe that increasing the eligibility requirement that someone is required to be a public sector tenant is sufficient to better ensuring that the scheme supports long-standing tenants who have made a home within their local community to buy that home.

24. Money from family and friends is often essential in supporting tenants to buy and we would not want any intervention in this space to prevent this. Enforcement of either option would also be difficult. In response to concerns around Right to Buy fraud, tenants that exploit the scheme can be prosecuted and there are clear rules around ‘deferred resale’, where tenants and companies enter into an agreement which results in the tenant ceding the property to the company in return for a loan to purchase. Even if the transfer takes place after a number of years, the discount has to be repaid from the date of the agreement. Best practice also includes a requirement for applicants to provide more specific information and documentation, including evidence of how the purchase will be funded.

25. Another approach would be to prevent those from exercising the Right to Buy if they have already benefitted from it or if they own another property. Currently, if someone has previously benefitted from a discount when purchasing a property under the Right to Buy, the amount of the current discount is reduced by the amount of the original discount (section 130 of the Housing Act 1985). We welcome views on whether we should restrict access to the Right to Buy further for those that have already benefitted from the scheme or who own another property.

26. The government also welcomes views on other eligibility criteria that could be introduced in order to deliver a fairer, more sustainable scheme that represents better value for money for the taxpayer.

Question 2

Should someone be prevented from exercising the Right to Buy if they have already benefitted from the Right or Buy or if they own another property?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

Question 3

Do you have any other views on criteria to determine eligibility for the Right to Buy? [free text box]

Right to Buy and Housing Association Tenants

27. Most housing association tenants, as assured tenants, are not eligible for the Right to Buy, unless they were living in a council home when it was transferred to a housing association, which is known as the Preserved Right to Buy.

28. In 2015 the Conservative Government committed to extend the Right to Buy to tenants of housing associations and said that the discounts would be funded by requiring councils to sell higher value council homes.^{[footnote 9]} The  National Housing Federation, on behalf of its members, then made an agreement with the Conservative Government to extend Right to Buy to eligible housing association tenants through a voluntary rather than statutory approach.^{[footnote 10]}

29. The Housing and Planning Act 2016 introduced measures requiring councils to make annual payments in respect of expected sales of “higher value” vacant housing stock that would be used to compensate housing associations for selling homes at a discount. The secondary legislation needed to implement the policy was not, however, introduced.

30. There were 2 pilots of the Voluntary Right to Buy scheme for housing associations in which eligible housing association tenants were given the opportunity to buy their home at a Right to Buy level discount. The first was a small-scale pilot in 2016-17, followed by a regional pilot in 2018-2021 across the Midlands.^{[footnote 11]} Housing associations received the full market value of the properties sold, with the value of the discount funded by the government.

31. Unlike the mandatory scheme, housing associations also had the final decision about whether to sell an individual property, although there was a presumption that they would sell a tenant their current home where they could, and that for any home sold under the agreement a new affordable property would be built. The type, tenure and location of replacements was a matter for the housing association as long as the property could be deemed to be affordable.

32. Learning from the pilots indicates that extending the Right to Buy to housing associations would further deplete social housing stock, disincentivise investment in social housing and be extremely costly to the taxpayer since the government would be required to compensate housing associations, as private bodies, for the discounts.

33. The average cost to government per sale in the Midlands pilot was £65,000 and the evaluation suggested that a full scheme could result in over 200,000 homes being sold over 10 years.^{[footnote 12]} Based on the average cost per sale in the Midlands pilot, this could cost the taxpayer over £13bn. In the Midlands pilot, even with government funding the discounts and the housing associations retaining all of the receipts from sales, as of September 2023, only 859 of the 1,839 homes sold between 2018-21 had been replaced.^{[footnote 13]}

34. In 2022, a further commitment was made to extend the Right to Buy to 2.5m housing association tenants,^{[footnote 14]} but this was not taken forward. In 2023 during debate on the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, the previous government reiterated a commitment made in the 2018 “Social Housing Green Paper: A ‘New Deal’ for Social Housing” that councils would not be required to sell off their higher value stock.^{[footnote 15]}

35. The government will not be extending the Right to Buy scheme to housing associations given the substantial costs to the taxpayer and the reduction in social housing stock that is likely to result. The government knows that some housing association tenants will be disappointed by this decision, however, eligible tenants will continue to be able to buy their rented home at a discount, ranging from £9,000 to £16,000 depending on where their rented home is located, through the Right to Acquire.

36. The government can also confirm that it will not be taking forward the policy on the sale of higher value assets proposed under the Housing and Planning Act 2016, which would have required councils to make a payment in respect of their vacant higher value council homes and return some of the funds to the government. The government will repeal the provisions in the 2016 Housing and Planning Act when Parliamentary time allows.

3. Discounts as a percentage of the property value

Current rules

37. When the Right to Buy was introduced in 1980, the legislation set out the percentage discounts that eligible tenants were entitled to, which increased with the number of years of tenancy. This ensured that minimum and maximum discounts were aligned to property values. Percentage discounts currently range from 35% to 70% of the property value for houses, and 50% to 70% of the property value for flats.

38. A maximum cash discount has also been in place since the scheme started. The presence of a flat cash cap, as well as the percentage discount, acts as a backstop, which can avoid excessive discounts in high value areas.

39. For houses, tenants currently receive a discount equivalent to 35% of the property value if they have been a public sector tenant for between 3 and 5 years. After 5 years, the discount goes up 1% for every extra year they have been a public sector tenant, up to the maximum of 70% or the cash cap (whichever is lower).

40. For flats, tenants currently receive a discount equivalent to 50% of the property value if they have been a public sector tenant for between 3 and 5 years. After 5 years, the discount goes up 2% for every extra year they have been a public sector tenant, up to a maximum of 70% or the cash cap (whichever is lower).

41. In 2012 maximum cash discounts were significantly increased and, from 2014, they increased annually by the CPI rate of inflation. From April 2024, prior to the reduction in discounts, the maximum cash discount available was £136,400 in London and £102,400 outside of London. In 2023/24, the average discount was £72,000.

42. The government is returning maximum cash discounts to their pre-2012 levels of between £16,000 and £38,000 (with the level of discount depending on the area in which the tenant lives) as a critical step to delivering a fairer and more sustainable scheme. These reduced discounts will enable a reasonable proportion of social tenants to access homeownership (circa 1,700 a year), whilst better enabling councils to replace homes sold.

43. Right to Buy sales are estimated to decrease by circa 25,000 over 5 years, meaning that the social rented sector will be larger as a result. The lower discounts will result in fewer replacements in total compared to the current discounts (since fewer homes will be sold) but where homes are sold, councils will be in a stronger position to replace them. The overall net impact on social housing stock will therefore be positive and support councils to better meet future housing need.

44. The government’s review of Right to Buy discounts concluded that consideration should be given, as part of the wider consultation, to reviewing the percentage discounts.^{[footnote 16]}

Proposal

45. We propose to amend percentage discounts to better align with the new maximum cash discounts.  We welcome views from respondents on what the minimum and maximum percentage discounts of the property value should be.

46. The table below sets out different percentage discounts as a proportion of estimated Right to Buy house prices by region and compared to the new cash caps.

Percentage discounts as a proportion of estimate Right to Buy house prices (2023-24 prices) (£)

	1%	3%	5%	10%	15%	20%	Cash cap
North East	1,000	3,000	5,000	10,000	15,000	19,000	22,000
North West	1,000	4,000	6,000	12,000	18,000	24,000	26,000
Yorkshire and the Humber	1,000	3,000	6,000	11,000	17,000	22,000	24,000
East Midlands	1,000	4,000	6,000	13,000	19,000	25,000	24,000
West Midlands	1,000	4,000	7,000	13,000	20,000	27,000	26,000
East	2,000	6,000	10,000	21,000	31,000	41,000	34,000 [footnote 17]
London	3,000	9,000	16,000	32,000	47,000	63,000	16,000[footnote 18]
South East	2,000	7,000	11,000	23,000	34,000	46,000	38,000[footnote 19]
South West	2,000	7,000	11,000	22,000	33,000	44,000	30,000

Question 4

What level should the percentage discount for an eligible tenant start at and what level should the maximum percentage discount be?

Minimum percentage

• 0%
• 1%
• 3%
• 5%

Maximum percentage

• 5%
• 10%
• 15%
• 20%

47. The use of different discount levels for flats and houses has been criticised for incrementally increasing the complexity of the scheme since its inception.^{[footnote 20]} We therefore propose that the same percentage discount rules would apply for flats and houses to ensure the scheme is fairer and accessible on the same rules for all eligible tenants.

48. The discount would increase by 1% for every extra year that an individual has been a public sector tenant, up to the maximum, to ensure that those tenants that have contributed the most rent over the years receive the highest level of discount.

Question 5

Do you agree that the same rules governing percentage discounts should apply to flats and houses, and that the discount should increase by 1% for every extra year that an individual has been a public sector tenant, up to the maximum?

• Yes
• No [Please explain]
• Don’t know

49. Removing the cash caps and relying solely on a percentage cap could help to simplify the scheme and make it more equitable. There is significant variation in house prices within regions and many urban areas have higher market prices than rural areas. Where the market price is lower, the council will receive a lower receipt from the sale making it more difficult to replace the home sold. This can be seen from the replacements by region in the Right to Buy statistics, where most of the replacements since 2012 have been in London, the South East and the East of England, with comparatively fewer in the North East and North West.^{[footnote 21]}

50. Allowing councils to set their own discount levels locally would better enable discounts to reflect local market prices. Local discounts were proposed by the Local Government Association in its February 2024 position statement on the Right to Buy.^{[footnote 22]} However, local discounts could result in a wide variation in discount levels, with tenants one side of a council boundary eligible for different discounts to those on the other side of it, and something of a postcode lottery.

51. Conversely, setting maximum discounts solely in reference to a flat percentage of the market value of the home would ensure that the discount is aligned to individual property values, thus reflecting differences in values within regions whilst mitigating the risk of significant variations across council boundaries. Aligning maximum discounts with a percentage value of the home would also negate the need for discounts to be increased to reflect market changes.

52. The Housing Forum, in its April 2024 report on ‘Reforming the Right to Buy’ suggested the discounts should be capped at no more than 20% of the market value,^{[footnote 23]} whilst the Joseph Rowntree Foundation argued in a March 2024 report that they should be capped at 30% of the market value.^{[footnote 24]}

53. Removing cash caps and relying solely on percentage discounts could result in discounts significantly in excess of the new proposed cash caps, which would negatively impact on social housing stock. We therefore propose to retain cash caps to avoid excessive discounts in high value areas and ensure that the scheme remains sustainable but welcome views on this.

Question 6

Do you agree that cash caps should be retained alongside discounts capped at a percentage of the market value of the home?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

4. Exemptions

Current rules

54. Certain types of properties are exempt from the Right to Buy (specific criteria must be met for properties to be exempted). The principal rationale for excluding these properties is that they are in short supply and exemptions need to be maintained. The government believes that these exemptions should continue but welcomes views on any necessary amendments or updates. It has been suggested in particular by stakeholders that some of the definitions are outdated, such as sheltered housing with resident wardens, which are not commonly used today,^{[footnote 25]}  and that it may be helpful to clarify the position around bungalows.

55. The full list of properties that are currently exempted from the Right to Buy scheme is below:

a. Properties where the landlord is a co-operative housing association.

b. Properties where the landlord does not have sufficient legal interest to be able to grant a lease exceeding 21 years for a house or 50 years for a flat.

c. A home that is particularly suitable for occupation by an elderly person.

d. A home that is one of a group of homes particularly suitable for elderly people and is let to a person aged 60 or over, and where the services of a warden are provided.

e. Tied accommodation occupied because the tenant is employed by a social landlord.

f. A home that is one of a group of homes designed with special features for letting to people with physical disabilities.

g. A home that is one of a group of homes let to tenants who are suffering or have suffered from a mental disorder where social services or other special facilities are provided.

h. Properties held on Crown tenancies, where tenants do not hold an appropriate tenancy (i.e. shorthold rather than secure) and rent (minus maintenance costs) are paid direct to the HM Treasury.

i. Properties held on a license (for example, alms-houses).

j. The landlord has published its intention to demolish the property the tenant currently occupies within 7 years, or served a notice that it will demolish within 2 years.

k. Properties where the landlord is a housing trust or housing association and is a charity or has not had specific grant-funding.

Question 7

Do you agree that the current exemptions to the Right to Buy scheme should be retained? If yes, please outline any changes that should be made to the exemptions.

• Yes [please outline if you also think there should be changes or additions]
• No
• Don’t know

Newly built and refurbished social housing

56. There are currently no exemptions for newly built social housing. When new social housing is sold relatively soon after completion, the discount can result in the property being sold for less than the cost of construction. This disincentivises councils from investing in new housing; the stock is at risk of sale as soon as 3 years after being built, given current eligibility rules. Norwich’s Stirling Prize-winning Goldsmith Street development is a recent example of newly built, high quality social housing now subject to the Right to Buy.

57. For the same reasons, councils may not be incentivised to invest in retrofitting and renovating homes since there is a risk that the investment will not be recouped through rent payments over the long term. This could have negative consequences for the quality of council homes.

58. The government’s manifesto committed to better protecting newly built social housing from the Right to Buy. We have already taken action to deliver on this commitment by increasing the cost floor period from 15 to 30 years. The cost floor rules are intended to offer financial protection to councils by preventing the discount on new homes from reducing the sale price below the amount that has been spent on the building, repairing or maintaining the home. It often takes 30 years or longer for the cost of building a new social home to be recouped.^{[footnote 26]} Extending the cost floor to 30 years will give councils greater confidence that homes built will not be sold for a loss for the period in which they are financed. This will also align the cost floor period with 30-year Housing Revenue Account business planning.

59. The government is aware, however, that the cost floor is not always sufficient in itself to protect new builds, because these homes can still be sold under the scheme and may not cover all forms of investment in existing housing stock.

Proposal

60. We welcome views as to whether new build social housing should be exempt from the Right to Buy scheme. This could be achieved by stipulating that any home built after a given date could never be sold under the scheme. This would be simple to understand and give councils greater confidence to build new homes.

61. However, the effect of such an exemption would be to remove the ability of a tenant who has moved into a new council home from ever being able to exercise their statutory Right to Buy for that property, regardless of the length of their tenancy. Unlike the other categories of exemption set out above which will meet the definition in perpetuity, these newly built social homes will also cease to be rationally defined as ‘new’ after a given period.

62. The alternative approach is to exclude newly built social housing for a set period of time, for example 10 or 20 years. An exemption of at least 15 years was one of the recommendations in UCL’s fourth report on Local Authority Housebuilding.^{[footnote 27]}

Question 8

Should newly built social housing be exempt from the Right to Buy? If yes, please explain why the existing cost-floor provisions are insufficient.

• Yes [please explain]
• No

Question 9

If yes, how long after construction should newly built social housing be exempt from the Right to Buy?

• 10 years
• 15 years
• 20 years
• 25 years
• 30 years
• Permanently
• Other

63. The Local Government Association has suggested that consideration should also be given to exempting homes that have been retrofitted or improved to high standards to mitigate councils making a loss on their investment.^{[footnote 28]} Increasing the cost floor to 30 years should help to mitigate this issue but further changes to the expenditure that is captured by the cost floor may be necessary. If exemptions for recently retrofitted homes were included, it would be necessary to define closely the types of expenditure that would qualify to avoid a situation where routine maintenance and repair is captured. As with new builds, consideration will also be needed on how long any exemption period should apply.

64. The government welcomes views on whether homes that have recently been retrofitted or improved to a high standard should be exempted from the Right to Buy for a period of time and whether this could alternatively be dealt with through changes to the cost floor.

Question 10

How can council investment in retrofitting or improving homes to a high standard be protected under the Right to Buy scheme?

• Amendments to the cost floor [please explain]
• Exemption for homes that have been retrofitted or improved to a high standard [please explain including length of any exemption]
• Other

Excluding homes for market rent

65. Currently local authority tenants with a secure tenancy are eligible for the Right to Buy, subject to meeting the specific eligibility criteria. This includes secure tenants in homes available at market rent, i.e. homes where the rent charged is at a similar level to the private rented market, as opposed to social or affordable rent. This could act as a disincentive for any council who is considering delivering market-rent homes, which can be used to subsidise the funding of social rent homes or to meet specific local housing needs. This is because of the risk of the property being sold, where a property let at market rents would be occupied by tenants who, by virtue of their higher income and lower social need, are better positioned to exercise the right to buy and purchase the property at a discount.

66. The steps the government has taken to reduce the discounts available to tenants and the further reforms proposed in this consultation will help to mitigate this risk. However, we are keen to explore further how local authorities can be best supported to secure alternative streams of revenue and capital income, so that they can play a bigger role in social housing supply. This would include delivering more homes to be let at a market rent, to enable cross-subsidy of homes for social rent.

Question 11

If answering on behalf of a council, would exemptions to market rent homes have a significant impact in allowing more cross-subsidy for the building of affordable housing?

• Yes
• No

5. Restrictions on properties after sale

Current rules

67. Once someone has purchased a home under the Right to Buy, it is theirs to live in and enjoy, the same as any home purchased on the open market. There are, however, certain restrictions that can apply to properties that have been sold through Right to Buy provided they are reasonable in the circumstances:

• If the property is sold within the first 5 years, the council has the right to ask for repayment of all or part of the discount received, on a sliding scale depending on how many years after the original sale. After 5 years, the property can be sold without repaying any of the discount received.
• If the property is sold within 10 years after the original sale, the seller will need to give first refusal to the council to purchase the property.
• Covenants can be included which prevent the property being used a holiday let, or as student accommodation.
• The rural designations provision that was introduced in 1985 to protect access to property for rural communities. Properties in these areas that are bought under Right to Buy can only be resold to a local person or bought by a local council. This is enforced through a covenant on the property which applies to all future sales. If this provision makes it difficult for the owner to sell, the covenant on the property can exceptionally be disapplied with the local authority’s agreement.

68. These restrictions were introduced to discourage early re-sales and profiteering on the scheme, and to ensure that home ownership is sustainable.

69. The government is aware, however, that many properties bought under the scheme have been sold on and re-let. In August 2015 Inside Housing published an analysis based on Freedom of Information requests to 91 councils, which found that almost 40% of ex-council flats sold through the statutory Right to Buy were now let-out .^{[footnote 29]} More recent studies have similarly found over 40% of properties sold under the Right to Buy have been sold and re-let.^{[footnote 30]}

70. Research commissioned by the Communities and Local Government Select Committee in 2016 suggested that this placed greater demand on housing benefit and public expenditure than if the same households had continued to rent from councils. ^{[footnote 31]} It found that average weekly housing benefit awards in the private rented sector were over £20 per week higher than in the social rented sector. This equated to increased housing benefit costs of over £1,000 per year per claimant in the private rented sector rather than in social housing. By 2019, that figure had increased to £30 per week, equating to £1,500 per year per claimant.^{[footnote 32]}

Proposal

71. The government is not proposing to introduce letting restrictions on properties purchased through Right to Buy. Restricting the letting out of properties after sale would likely be difficult for councils to monitor and enforce. Such a restriction would only apply to new sales, and not existing ex-Right to Buy properties.

72. There are occasions when people need to spend time away from their home; perhaps due to work commitments such as a short posting to another location, or to care for family members. In such circumstances it would not be productive or sensible to prevent people from letting out their home.

73. Another option could be to require the discount to be passed on in perpetuity upon sale of the property. If the properties end up having to be sold on the private market (because of a lack of buyers), the council would recoup the discounted share. This is a proposal that has been suggested by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation^{[footnote 33]}. It could be implemented by putting a covenant on the property saying it had to be resold to customers who meet certain eligibility criteria. This is the approach taken on First Homes, and various other discount sale schemes that are in operation.

74. This would, however, be a significant move away from the current Right to Buy model, under which the property sold under Right to Buy is a property which can be bought and sold in the same way as other market properties. It would need to be tested whether there would be a resale market in all areas and this model would likely also require a new mortgage product.

75. Given the commitment to reducing discounts and increasing the minimum eligibility period, the complexity of the proposition is likely to outweigh any benefits, and it could create a small sub-market of homes with small discounts that would do little for affordability. An alternative approach, to encourage people buying under the scheme to retain the property for longer, would be to increase the time period in which the council has the right to ask for repayment of all or part of the discount received to 10 years (currently 5 years).

76. The government welcomes views on other restrictions after sale that could be introduced in order to deliver a fairer, more sustainable scheme that represents better value for money for the taxpayer.

Question 12

Should the time period in which the council has the right to ask on the sale of the property for repayment of all or part of the discount received be increased from 5 years to 10 years?

• Yes
• No [Please explain]
• Don’t know

Question 13

Do you have any other views on restrictions that might apply to a property following its sale under the Right to Buy? [Free text box]

6. Replacement targets

Current rules

77. In April 2012, when Right to Buy discounts were significantly increased, a requirement was also introduced that for every additional council home sold as a result of the increased discounts, a replacement home would be provided nationally through acquisition or new build.

78. The number of replacements is calculated from the sum of starts-on-sites and acquisitions. This is measured against the one-for-one replacement target, in which every additional Right to Buy sale since 2012, above a baseline (calculated using 2010 sales figures), was to be replaced by a new affordable home nationally within 3 years (it should be noted that from 2020 onwards, councils were given up to 5 years to spend receipts).

79. Not enough Right to Buy replacements have been built or acquired to match the pace of sales and the commitment that every additional home sold would be replaced on a one-for-one basis nationally has not been met. During the period 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2024 there were 14,621 fewer replacements than the target.^{[footnote 34]}

80. The target does not require like-for-like replacement. The replacement stock can be social rent, affordable rent, shared ownership or First Homes and of any size and location. This can accommodate changes in local housing need: a council may be losing 3-bedroom family homes but need more single-bedroom flats suitable for older people, for instance. A like-for-like replacement is also not always financially viable for councils, and social rent can be more financially challenging due to the lower levels of rental income to borrow against.

81. However, overall, the failure to deliver social rent homes to replace those sold is a contributor to the urgent and rising need for social rent homes in most communities across the country. The result of not requiring a like-for-like replacement has led to a particular reduction in the number of social rent and larger family homes both of which are more expensive to replace and vital to meeting homelessness pressures. 98% of council housing stock is let at social rent and thus the vast majority of properties sold under the Right to Buy are social rent properties compared to only around a third of the replacements (36%) in the last 3 years. Replacements are on average smaller in size; between 2012-13 and 2022-23, 53% of Right to Buy sales had 3 or more bedrooms compared to 32% of replacements.

Proposal

82. The government has an ambition to reach net positive supply of social rented homes, for the first time in more than a decade, in the first full financial year of this Parliament. Reform of the Right to Buy is essential to that. Between March 2022 and March 2023, there was a net loss of 6,635 social rent homes. 205,000 social rent homes across the social rented sector have been lost since 2013 and that is largely due to the Right to Buy.

83. Reducing discounts is the first critical step. The new maximum discounts (ranging from £16,000 - £38,000) are estimated to reduce Right to Buy sales by c.25,000 over 5 years, meaning that those homes will stay within the social rented sector and the sector will be larger as a result. While replacement numbers will be lower than compared to the current discounts (since fewer homes will be sold), where homes are sold, councils will be better able to replace them. The overall net impact on social housing stock will therefore be positive. Reducing the chance of homes being lost under Right to Buy will, in parallel, improve the confidence of councils to scale up delivery.

84. The government understands that councils are keen to increase the number of homes for social rent and we welcome views on whether homes sold under the Right to Buy should, as far as possible, be replaced with a home of the same tenure. We also welcome views on whether homes should, as far as possible, be replaced with homes of the same size and in the same area, and on whether there should be a specific target following the reform of the scheme to replace on a one-for-one basis all council homes sold under the Right to Buy from that point onwards.

Question 14

Should there be a target for all council homes sold under the Right to Buy to be replaced, as far as possible, with a home of the same size, tenure and/or location as the home sold? Please provide detail to support your answer and indicate which consideration is the most important (tenure, size or location).

• Yes [please explain]
• No [please explain]
• Don’t know

7. Right to Buy receipts

Current rules

85. When Right to Buy discounts were substantially increased in 2012 councils were able, for the first time, to keep receipts from additional sales to use towards new affordable housing (so called one-for-one receipts). Prior to that around 75% of receipts went back to the Treasury and the remaining 25% could be used for any capital purpose (they were not ring-fenced for affordable housing).

86. The 2012 changes followed the Housing Revenue Account Self-Financing Settlement, which aimed to ensure that council finances were sustainable in the long term, based on net rental income and without any further subsidy payments to or from central government.

87. Since 2012, the level of an authority’s receipts available to fund replacement housing in any year (replacement receipts) is the total amount of its receipts arising from Right to Buy sales, net of the discount (which is paid to the tenant) and the following 5 elements:

• Transaction costs (retained by authority unconditionally): a set amount per Right to Buy sale to partially cover the authority’s costs of administering the Right to Buy scheme:
• Allowable debt (retained by authority unconditionally): calculated to cover the housing debt that the council is obliged to pay off in addition to that allowed for in the 2012 Housing Revenue Account Self-Financing Settlement.
• Local authority share (retained by authority unconditionally for any capital purpose): calculated to approximate what authorities would have retained had the pre-2012 system continued when they retained 25% of all net Right to Buy receipts.
• Treasury share: calculated to approximate what authorities would have paid the Treasury, had the pre-2012 system continued when authorities paid 75% of all net Right to Buy receipts. Local authorities were able to retain the ‘Treasury share’ in 2022-23 and 2023-24, to bolster their efforts to replace those homes sold under the Right to Buy, and the government confirmed at the Autumn Budget that councils will continue to be able to retain 100% of their receipts.
• Buy-back costs (retained by authority unconditionally): a small portion of the receipts which councils can use towards the cost of buying-back former council homes. Some homes bought under Buy-back are added to the council’s rental stock, but others are bought for demolition under estate regeneration schemes.

88. The authority is required to spend the remainder of the receipts on replacement social housing within 5 years, either by building new homes or acquiring existing properties. If the receipts are not spent in 5 years, then they are returned to the government to be spent by Homes England or the Greater London Authority for the provision of affordable housing.

89. There are other rules governing how these replacement receipts can be spent: they cannot be combined with other forms of grant funding and there have been restrictions on how many acquisitions are permitted or how much of a replacement home can be funded through the receipts as opposed to borrowing.

90. In July, the government increased flexibilities on the use of these receipts:

• The maximum permitted contribution from Right to Buy receipts that can be used for replacement affordable housing has increased from 50% to 100%.
• Right to Buy receipts can be pooled with section 106 contributions, enabling councils to use Right to Buy receipts to purchase discounted affordable homes delivered by private housebuilders in new housing developments under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
• The 50% cap on the percentage of replacements that can be delivered as acquisitions each year has been lifted.

91. The flexibilities will be in place for an initial 24 months and will then be subject to review. Local authorities are encouraged to make the best use of these flexibilities to maximise Right to Buy replacements and to achieve the right balance between acquisitions and new builds.

Question 15

If answering on behalf of a council, do you have any evidence to demonstrate the impact of increased flexibilities around spending of Right to Buy receipts in accelerating and boosting replacement homes? [Free text box].

Proposal

92. The government is intent on reforming the current arrangements in order to provide councils with increased flexibility on using their retained receipts and to maximise the proportion of the receipt that can be used to support the delivery of replacement housing.

93. The government, at Autumn Budget, confirmed that councils will no longer be required to return a proportion of the capital receipt generated by the sale of the home to HM Treasury, which has totalled c.£183 million a year. This will ensure that councils are better able to replace homes sold under the scheme, thus delivering a more sustainable scheme. However, we are keen to explore other means to simplify existing rules and maximise delivery of new social homes.

Combining receipts with other forms of grant funding

94. Right to Buy receipts can now be pooled with section 106 contributions, but we know that many councils would like the ability to combine receipts with other forms of grant funding to support investment in new social homes.

95. The government has committed to setting out detail of future investment in affordable and social housing at the Spending Review and welcomes views on the impact that combining receipts with other forms of grant will have on viability of local development schemes.

96. Permitting grant funding and replacement receipts to be combined without any restrictions could effectively result in double subsidy for one affordable home and a high effective grant rate, which may limit the total volume of new affordable supply that can be delivered. We welcome views as to how permitting combination of Right to Buy receipts with other forms of grant funding would support the delivery of affordable homes whilst representing value for money for the public purse.

Question 16

Do you have any evidence to demonstrate that combining receipts with grant would accelerate and boost delivery of affordable housing and how the risk of double subsidy would be mitigated? [Free text box].

Time period for spending replacement receipts

97. The rationale for requiring replacement receipts to be spent within 5 years is to encourage councils to build as soon as possible or return them to be used by Homes England or the Greater London Authority to fund new affordable homes.^{[footnote 35]} However, the government recognises that it is not always feasible to secure the necessary additional financing and agreements to deliver replacement housing within 5 years, although we expect that the new flexibilities in spending receipts will mitigate this.

98. Removing the time period would afford councils complete flexibility but may result in receipts remaining unspent for many years when they could have been redistributed to support new supply elsewhere.

Question 17

How long should councils have to spend their one-for-one receipts?

• 3 years
• 5 years (current rules)
• 8 years
• 10 years
• More than 10 years
• Indefinitely

99. If receipts cannot be spent by the local council, they are redistributed to Homes England or the Greater London Authority. Councils currently return a small proportion of receipts, less than 1% of replacement receipts were returned to government to be redistributed via Homes England and the GLA in 2023/24. However, where receipts are returned, we are keen to better ensure that they support the delivery of replacement homes in the area in which properties were sold. We welcome views on creating a similar arrangement to that which exists with the GLA with other Mayoral Combined Authorities. For those councils not covered by a Mayoral Combined Authority, the receipt would continue to be returned to Homes England for redistribution.

Question 18

Should unspent replacement receipts be returned to the relevant Mayoral Combined Authority as happens currently with London Boroughs and the GLA?

• Yes [please explain]
• No [please explain]
• Don’t know

Local authority share of receipts and buy-back allowance

100. The government welcomes views as to whether the local authority share and buy-back allowance should be removed and incorporated within replacement receipts. This would lead to efficiency savings by reducing the administration associated with the current dividing up of receipts and ensure that more capital is invested into replacing stock.

101. We understand that despite local authorities being able to use their share of the receipts for any capital purpose, many choose to spend it on replacement homes. The legislation governing buy-back is complex and incorporating it within the replacement element of the receipt would not prevent authorities from engaging in the sensible buying back of former council homes as replacement social housing. However, incorporating the local authority share and buy-back allowance would mean that this capital becomes subject to the same conditions governing replacement receipts (e.g. being spent within a given time period).

Question 19

Should the local authority share and buy-back allowance be incorporated within replacement receipts?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

Simplifying the calculation of attributable debt (used to calculate allowable debt)

102. The calculation to determine the debt supported by the net rental income of the homes of a local authority sold under Right to Buy (“the attributable debt”) requires a lot of administrative effort. The debt the 2012 Self-Financing Settlement assumed the authority would have to pay off (“the assumed debt”) is normally subtracted from the attributable debt to give the allowable debt. Local authorities need to enter 3 or 4 items of data for every Right to Buy sale onto one spreadsheet which then calculates the attributable debt using formulae that is complex. Errors can sometimes be discovered years later if the wrong data is entered.

103. We propose to calculate the total attributable debt by multiplying the average attributable debt of each authority’s housing stock by the number of homes sold under Right to Buy. This will simplify the calculation to reduce the demands made upon councils and central government and eliminate the need for attributable debt to be individually calculated.

Question 20

Do you agree that the total attributable debt should be calculated by multiplying the average attributable debt of each authority’s housing stock?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

Abolishing the return of 75% of mortgage repayments that relate to pre-2012 sales

104. When the Right to Buy was established, tenants had the right to a mortgage from their local authority to help with the purchase. The Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 removed the right to a local authority mortgage.

105. When a local authority receives a Right to Buy mortgage repayment or a repayment of a Right to Buy discount that relates to a sale that took place before 1 April 2012, 75% of those receipts are still returned to central government. These amounts are now small, less than £400,000 was collected last year, and we propose to suspend this requirement meaning that all authorities without a Housing Revenue Account in 2012 would no longer have to return 75% of mortgage repayments.

Question 21

Should the requirement to return 75% of mortgage repayments that relate to pre-2012 sales be ended?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

Proposal to introduce a power to set the rules governing the use of receipts by general determination

106. Whenever changes are made to Right to Buy receipt rules a revised section 11(6) retention agreement usually has to be issued to every stock-holding council. A different approach could be to provide the Secretary of State with a power to set the rules governing the use of receipts by general determination, with special determinations as necessary. This would mean it would no longer be necessary to issue a revised section 11(6) retention agreement to every stock-holding council or lay amendment regulations whenever they are changed. Instead, the Secretary of State could amend one legal document, a general determination.

Question 22

Should the Secretary of State be provided with a power to set the rules governing the use of Right to Buy receipts by general determination?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

Allowing Right to Buy receipts to be passed on to Arms-Length Management Organisations.

107. Local authorities are not currently allowed to transfer Right to Buy receipts to a housing to an Arm’s-Length Management Organisation (ALMO) as the homes built through these organisations do not come under the Housing Revenue Account and are, therefore, not subject to the same protections which residents in council homes enjoy. This means that rents are not set according to government policy and residents are not guaranteed a Right to Buy their homes.

108. Building and managing council housing within a local authority’s Housing Revenue Account ensures that residents’ rights are protected, and they have access to the Right to Buy. The Housing Revenue Account is ring-fenced from the council’s wider budget meaning that tenant’s rent cannot be used to subsidise other council activity or vice-versa, which is an important safeguard. However, the government understands that there may be occasions where delivering affordable housing through ALMOs might be appropriate. Savills research for the Local Government Association has suggested that allowing ALMOs to reinvest Right to Buy receipts could increase replacements, by allowing replacements to come forward which might otherwise not be viable.

Question 23

Should Arm’s Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) be permitted to use Right to Buy receipts to deliver new affordable housing?

• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

Question 24

Do you have any other views on the rules governing Right to Buy receipts that have not been covered by the questions above? [Free text box]

8. Public Sector Equality Duty

109. The Equality Act 2010 requires the government to pay due regard to the need to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act.
• advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
• foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

110. We anticipate no direct discriminatory impact on individuals with protected characteristics since any changes made by the proposed reforms will be applied to all council tenants equally. However, there may be indirect discrimination (both positive and negative) as women, older people, people with disabilities and people from BAME backgrounds are disproportionately represented in the social rented sector, meaning individuals attempting to buy under the scheme may be impacted, but the proposed reforms are intended to reduce the impact of Right to Buy on social housing stock and thereby enable more people with those characteristics to have access to housing when at present they are in less suitable accommodation.

Question 25

Do you believe any of the proposals set out in this consultation document could negatively or positively impact individuals who have a protected characteristic. Please explain your rationale, and evidence your thinking where possible.

• Age

Please explain your rationale

• Disability

Please explain your rationale

• Sex

Please explain your rationale

• Gender reassignment

Please explain your rationale

• Marriage or civil partnership

Please explain your rationale

• Pregnancy and maternity

Please explain your rationale

• Race

Please explain your rationale

• Religion or belief

Please explain your rationale

• Sexual Orientation

Please explain your rationale

About this consultation

This consultation document and consultation process have been planned to adhere to the consultation principles issued by the Cabinet Office.

Representative groups are asked to give a summary of the people and organisations they represent, and where relevant who else they have consulted in reaching their conclusions when they respond.

Information provided in response to this consultation may be published or disclosed in accordance with the access to information regimes (these are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and UK data protection legislation.  In certain circumstances this may therefore include personal data when required by law.

If you want the information that you provide to be treated as confidential, please be aware that, as a public authority, the Department is bound by the information access regimes and may therefore be obliged to disclose all or some of the information you provide. In view of this it would be helpful if you could explain to us why you regard the information you have provided as confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the Department.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will at all times process your personal data in accordance with UK data protection legislation and in the majority of circumstances this will mean that your personal data will not be disclosed to third parties. A full privacy notice is included below.

Individual responses will not be acknowledged unless specifically requested.

Your opinions are valuable to us. Thank you for taking the time to read this document and respond.

Are you satisfied that this consultation has followed the Consultation Principles?  If not or you have any other observations about how we can improve the process please contact us via the complaints procedure.

Personal data

The following is to explain your rights and give you the information you are entitled to under UK data protection legislation.

Note that this section only refers to personal data (your name, contact details and any other information that relates to you or another identified or identifiable individual personally) not the content otherwise of your response to the consultation.

1. The identity of the data controller and contact details of our Data Protection Officer    

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is the data controller. The Data Protection Officer can be contacted at dataprotection@communities.gov.uk or by writing to the following address

Data Protection Officer
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Fry Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

2. Why we are collecting your personal data  

Your personal data is being collected as an essential part of the consultation process, so that we can contact you regarding your response and for statistical purposes. We may also use it to contact you about related matters.

We will collect your IP address if you complete a consultation online. We may use this to ensure that each person only completes a survey once. We will not use this data for any other purpose.

Sensitive types of personal data

Please do not share special category personal data or criminal offence data  if we have not asked for this unless absolutely necessary for the purposes of your consultation response. By ‘special category personal data’, we mean information about a living individual’s:

• race
• ethnic origin
• political opinions
• religious or philosophical beliefs
• trade union membership
• genetics
• biometrics 
• health (including disability-related information)
• sex life; or
• sexual orientation.

By ‘criminal offence data’, we mean information relating to a living individual’s criminal convictions or offences or related security measures.

3. Our legal basis for processing your personal data

The collection of your personal data is lawful under article 6(1)(e) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation as it is necessary for the performance by MHCLG of a task in the public interest/in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller.  Section 8(d) of the Data Protection Act 2018 states that this will include processing of personal data that is necessary for the exercise of a function of the Crown, a Minister of the Crown or a government department i.e. in this case a consultation.

Where necessary for the purposes of this consultation, our lawful basis for the processing of any special category personal data or ‘criminal offence’ data (terms explained under ‘Sensitive Types of Data’) which you submit in response to this consultation is as follows. The relevant lawful basis for the processing of special category personal data is Article 9(2)(g) UK GDPR (‘substantial public interest’), and Schedule 1 paragraph 6 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (‘statutory etc and government purposes’). The relevant lawful basis in relation to personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences data is likewise provided by Schedule 1 paragraph 6 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

4. With whom we will be sharing your personal data

MHCLG may appoint a ‘data processor’, acting on behalf of the Department and under our instruction, to help analyse the responses to this consultation.  Where we do, we will ensure that the processing of your personal data remains in strict accordance with the requirements of the data protection legislation.

5. For how long we will keep your personal data, or criteria used to determine the retention period

Your personal data will be held for 2 years from the closure of the consultation, unless we identify that its continued retention is unnecessary before that point.

6. Your rights, e.g. access, rectification, restriction, objection

The data we are collecting is your personal data, and you have considerable say over what happens to it. You have the right:

a. to see what data we have about you.

b. to ask us to stop using your data but keep it on record.

c. to ask to have your data corrected if it is incorrect or incomplete.

d. to object to our use of your personal data in certain circumstances

e. to lodge a complaint with the independent Information Commissioner (ICO) if you think we are not handling your data fairly or in accordance with the law.  You can contact the ICO at https://ico.org.uk/, or telephone 0303 123 1113.

Please contact us at the following address if you wish to exercise the rights listed above, except the right to lodge a complaint with the ICO: dataprotection@communities.gov.uk or

Knowledge and Information Access Team
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Fry Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

7. Your personal data will not be sent overseas

8. Your personal data will not be used for any automated decision making

9. Your personal data will be stored in a secure government IT system

We use a third-party system, Citizen Space, to collect consultation responses. In the first instance your personal data will be stored on their secure UK-based server. Your personal data will be transferred to our secure government IT system as soon as possible, and it will be stored there for 2 years before it is deleted.

1. Right to Buy sales and replacements, England: April 2023 to March 2024. ↩

2. Ibid at 1. ↩

3. UK Housing Review 2022 shows England’s Right to Buy is a “strategic failure” and will exacerbate inequalities if left unchecked, CIH, published 8 March 2022. ↩

4. A review of the increased Right to Buy discounts introduced in 2012, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, published 30 October 2024. ↩

5. Reducing the Right to Buy qualifying period for social tenants, DCLG 1314, Department for Communities and Local Government, 31 January 2014. The change from 3 years to 5 years was brought in through the Deregulation Act 2015. ↩

6. Reforming the Right to Buy: A policy paper from The Housing Forum, The Housing Forum, published 23 April 2024. ↩

7. Right to Buy position statement - Our call on Government to make the scheme work for everyone, Local Government Association, published 9 February 2024. ↩

8. 38th Report of the Committee of Public Accounts, Session 2015-16, Extending the Right to Buy to Housing Association tenants. Supplementary written evidence from the National Housing Federation, 13 April 2016. Steps to tighten up on potential Right to Buy fraud and sharp practice were looked at as part of the Voluntary Right to Buy pilots for housing association tenants from 2015, and a working group was set up between the government, councils and HAs, which issued a guide on best practice. ↩

9. Over a million more people given the chance to own their own home, Department for Communities and Local Government press release, 26 May 2015. ↩

10. A Voluntary Right to Buy for Housing Association Tenants, House of Commons Library, Constituency Casework, published 26 September, 2023. ↩

11. Voluntary Right to Buy Midlands pilot: evaluation. Data on replacement showed that by September 2023 only 859 replacement homes had been started compared to the 1,839 completed sales under the pilot. ↩

12. Voluntary Right to Buy Midlands pilot: evaluation. An evaluation of the Voluntary Right to Buy Midlands pilot, which was launched in August 2018 and is concluding in 2021, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (2018 to 2021), published 8 February 2021. ↩

13. Voluntary Right to Buy Midlands pilot: annual data release, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities,  February 2024. ↩

14. Right to buy extension to make home ownership possible for millions more people, Prime Minister’s Office Press Release, 9 June 2022. ↩

15. Social housing green paper: a ‘new deal’ for social housing, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, published 14 August 2018. ↩

16. Ibid at 4. ↩

17. Except in Watford where the maximum will be £16,000. ↩

18. Except in Barking and Dagenham and Havering, where the maximum will be £38,000. ↩

19. Except in Epsom and Ewell, Hart, Oxford, Reading, Reigate and Banstead, Tonbridge and Malling, Vale of the White Horse and West Berkshire, where the maximum will be £16,000. ↩

20. Jones, C., and Murie, A. (2006). The Right to Buy. Analysis and Evaluation of a Housing Policy. Blackwell, Oxford. ↩

21. Ibid at 1 ↩

22. Right to Buy position statement: Our call on Government to make the scheme work for everyone, Local Government Association, 9 February 2024. ↩

23. Reforming the Right to Buy:  A policy paper from The Housing Forum, The Housing Forum, April 2024. ↩

24.  Baxter, D and Elliot, J Bringing private homes into social ownership can rewire the housing system, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 18 March 2024. ↩

25. Ibid at 23. ↩

26. Diner, A and Wright, H Reforming Right to Buy Options for preserving and delivering new council homes for the twenty-first century, New Economics Foundation, published May 2024. ↩

27. Morphet J and Clifford B Local authority Direct Provision of Housing: Fourth Research Report, Bartlett School of Planning, UCL, January 2024. ↩

28. Ibid. at 22. ↩

29. Revealed: 40 per cent of ex-council flats now rented privately, Inside Housing, 14 August 2015. ↩

30. Christophers, B., Rentier Capitalism: Who Owns the Economy, and Who Pays for It?, 2020, p. 346. ↩

31. Cole I, Green, Stephen, McCarthy, L and Pattison, B The Impact of the Existing Right to Buy and the Implications for the Proposed Extension of Right to Buy to Housing Associations. Project Report. Parliament Website, Communities and Local Government Select Committee (2015).  ↩

32. Stephens, M., Perry, J., Williams, P. and Young, G. (Eds.) UK Housing Review 2022 Right to buy: the long view of a key aspect of UK housing policy, UK Housing Review 2022. ↩

33. Ibid at 24. ↩

34. The 2010 baseline predicted that without the 2012 reforms there would be 33,660 Right to Buy sales between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2021. The actual number of sales was 96,145. This means that the replacement target was 62,485. During the period 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2024 there were 47,864 actual replacements, which means there were 14,621 fewer replacements than were needed to meet the target. The measurement of the number of homes sold/acquired and the replacements built which count towards the commitment does not include: homes sold by councils within the baseline forecast for Right to Buy sales from 2012; homes sold under the preserved Right to Buy; council homes sold other than through the Right to Buy; and homes built by local authorities with grant or non-Right to Buy receipts. ↩

35. Use of receipts from Right to Buy sales: Government response to the consultation, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, published 19 March 2021. ↩