Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has backed moves to remove the right to buy on new-build council houses. The credit crunch, however, has prompted the SNP administration to consider abolishing the right for anyone moving to a home in the social rented sector.

Sturgeon floated the original plan for restricting council house sales in the context of Scotland having a dearth of affordable housing. She believes ending the right to buy for new-build council homes will encourage local authorities and housing associations to invest in new properties.

However, she wants to consult on a more ambitious plan to scale back RtB, ahead of a housing bill which is likely to be introduced at Holyrood in the medium term. She believes there is a case for considering a ban on new tenants in the social rented sector, which includes council and housing association housing, having the right to buy their homes.

-- Advertisement --

The policy would not apply to existing tenants, but only to those who sign new tenancies in the future. It would also include individuals and families who re-enter the social sector, as well as those who are switching between providers.

Jacqui Watt, Chief Executive of the SFHA, said: "SFHA is delighted that the Scottish Government has boldly decided to go further than its Firm Foundations' commitment and take up our own suggestion to remove the Right to Buy for all new tenancies.

"We also look forward to discussing with them ways in which the exemption of housing association tenancies from the Modernised Right to Buy can be extended beyond the current deadline of 2012, which is also the year in which Scotland's progressive homelessness legislation takes full effect.

"It seems to us that these two pieces of public policy, which will allow many thousands of relatively new properties to become subject to removal from the affordable rented stock, at the very moment when all eyes will be on our homelessness targets, would be like polar opposites colliding. Scotland has attracted world-wide attention for its innovative approach to homelessness, and now it has the chance to similarly lead the way in the dismantling of a policy that has outlived its usefulness."

Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, said: "We are delighted the Scottish government has decided to lead the way in the UK and close the book on a policy that no longer fits the 21st-century landscape.

"With increasing pressure on affordable housing and the commitment to house all homeless people by 2012, Scotland desperately needs to keep and add to its stock of affordable rented housing. I hope that ministers are able to secure the parliamentary support that this bold move deserves."

(GK/JM)