‘Right to Buy-back’ to boost supply of council homes in London

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced a new plan to boost 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 through the government’s Right to Buy programme. Right to Buy gave council tenants who had lived in their house for more than three years the chance to buy their property at a price substantially below market rate. Since the Act’s introduction more than 300,000 London council homes have been sold.

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

Councils have lost both the funding and expertise they require to build more council homes, but Khan believes that 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 track to help boroughs start 10,000 new council homes between 2018 and 2023. More homes at social rent levels were started or acquired in London than all other regions of England in 2020/21. In 2019/20, councils started over 4,390 homes in London – the highest number since 1983.

Khan said: “For more than 40 years, London’s precious council homes have been disappearing into the private sector, often never to be replaced. It’s time for that to change.

“We’re not only helping councils to build thousands of new council homes, but we’re giving them the resources 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 that more than four in ten council homes sold through the Right to Buy in London are now in the hands of private landlords. These were, after all, homes built for the public good.

“I am proud that we have brought council homebuilding back up to levels not seen since 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 innovative new tool that will help to take another step in the right direction.”