Right to Buy Scheme
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of a formal consultation on reductions to Right to Buy discounts.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook
In line with our manifesto commitment, the government undertook a review of the increased Right to Buy discounts introduced in 2012. The review was conducted internally within government but was informed by external analysis and reports, as well as engagement with local authorities, social housing tenants, and other stakeholders.
This engagement informed the conclusions of the review, which was to reduce maximum cash discounts to pre-2012 levels of between £16,000 and £38,000. More information about the review can be found on gov.uk here and details of the stakeholder engagement undertaken to inform it is set out within Annex B to the review document.
The reduced discounts will remain in place until further notice, but will be kept under review to ensure that we strike the right balance between protecting social housing stock and enabling tenants to access home ownership.
On 20 November, the government published a consultation on wider reforms to the Right to Buy scheme, including percentage discounts. This can be found on gov.uk here.
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