Charity wants Scottish Government to scrap right-to-buy for council tenants

Pressure: Government urged to scrap right-to-buy for council housing.© STV

Housing campaigners are urging the Scottish Government to end the right of council and housing association tenants to buy their home.

The charity Shelter Scotland said doing this would encourage local authorities to invest more in social housing.

With 156,000 households on the waiting list for a council property, 10,000 new social houses are needed a year to meet current demand, Shelter Scotland believes.

But in the last decade 92,000 council properties have been sold through right-to-buy, according to the charity.

Since the right of tenants to buy their home at a discounted price was introduced by Margaret Thatcher's government, about 455,000 homes have been bought using it, with almost two-thirds of properties in Scotland now owner-occupied.

About 534,000 tenants have the right to buy their council or housing association home, with 207,000 entitled to a discount of up to 70%.

The Scottish Government is now consulting on changing the policy, with the option of scrapping it altogether being considered.

In its response to the consultation, Shelter Scotland said right-to-buy should be abolished. Failing that, it would only support major overhaul of the policy so that all tenants get a modernised scheme with smaller discounts where they had to wait longer to be eligible to buy their home, the charity said.

Shelter Scotland director Graeme Brown said: "Right-to-buy has greatly benefited many thousands of council tenants who have been able to buy their home at a discount. But the good fortune of a few has come at the cost of many more people having to go through the despair and frustration of sitting on council waiting lists for months and years.

"A cost is also incurred by the local authority that paid for the houses, as they are forced to sell them off at a big discount.

"Years of tampering with right-to-buy has left the legislation complex and confusing. Shelter Scotland's preferred option is to scrap right-to-buy and consign it to the history books. The policy has no place in today's housing system where demand for social homes continues to outstrip supply by some distance.

"We estimate 10,000 new homes a year need to be built.

"By protecting existing and future council-house stock, local authorities will be much more inclined to invest in social housing. That's why we are calling for the abolition of right-to-buy and investment in a social housing system that meets current and future demand in Scotland."

The Scottish Government said there were "strong views" on all sides of the issue.

A spokeswoman said: "We are ensuring that social housing is protected for future generations, providing homes for the people and jobs in the Scottish economy. Over the years, the sale of hundreds of thousands of properties under right-to-buy has led to a haemorrhaging in our social housing stock and that is why the Scottish Government has launched a consultation on the future of right-to-buy in Scotland.

"We know that right-to-buy is an area where many people have strong views and this consultation is an opportunity for everyone to tell us what they think."

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