Final days of Right to Buy in Scotland

The Right to Buy scheme will end at midnight on Sunday, marking the end of a two-year notice period after Scottish MPs voted to abolish it.

One of the pillars of Thatcherism, the policy saw half a million Scots families purchase their council or housing association home at a discount.

Trumpeted in some quarters as a vital step toward a property-owning democracy, others saw Right to Buy as a political attempt to undermine Labour’s working class base and weaken municipal power.

The Right to Buy in Scotland was established by the Tenants’ Rights, Etc. (Scotland) Act in 1980, with council tenants offered a 33 to 50 per cent discount, depending on their how long they had lived in their home. It was extended to housing association tenants six years later.

Subsequent legislation, by the UK Parliament and – following devolution - the Scottish Parliament, made various amendments to the terms under which tenants could exercise their Right to Buy.

Around 35 per cent of Scotland’s homes were owner-occupied when the policy started, after 20 years it was 63 per cent. But in recent years, a burgeoning private rented sector (PRS) amid “decades of underinvestment” has overshadowed Right to Buy’s perceived benefits. Between the years 1979-80 and 2014-15 a total of 494,580 council and housing association homes were sold under the legislation, but only 163,000 new ones built – a net loss of a third of a million.

Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, said the policy has resulted in a “housing crisis” north of the border and “has no place” in Scotland’s housing system.

He added: “It is good news that Right to Buy has finally had its day in Scotland.

“More than half a million social homes were sold off under right-to-buy in Scotland. For every three homes sold only one was built in replacement – so no wonder we have a housing crisis in Scotland.

“Now that Right to Buy is consigned to history - and with a waiting list of 150,000 for a council house – what Scotland desperately needs now is a step change in the delivery of affordable housing. We need to build at least 12,000 new affordable homes a year to meaningfully tackle Scotland’s housing crisis. We also need a new national homelessness strategy to get to grips with the root causes of homelessness.

“Only with these progressive changes will we start to address the profound damage caused to our housing system by policies like Right to Buy and the decades of underinvestment in affordable housing.”

The rules around Right to Buy in Scotland have been tightened over the years, with reductions in the discount available and limits to eligibility. Any tenancies starting after March 2011 were not given the right to buy their property.

Right to has been outlined to be abolished in Wales later this year but the UK government plans to extend the scheme to 1.3 million housing association tenants in England, a move described as “entirely speculative” and “vague” by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). A voluntary deal was agreed with the National Housing Federation which will take the lead building properties to replace those that are sold off.