Safeguarding Affordable homes In The Highlands
The right to buy a council or housing association rented house is being suspended in many Highland communities for five years to safeguard the bank of affordable housing in these "pressured" areas.
The Scottish Executive has agreed that Highland Council can safeguard some rented houses in the following "pressured areas":
Housing in Caithness or Sutherland is not covered by the designation.
The Council applied to the Scottish Executive following extensive consultation.
Pressured area designation means that tenants who took up a tenancy with the Council, or with an affected housing association, on or after 30 September 2002 in these designated areas have, from today, their Right to Buy (RTB) suspended for five years, i.e. until November 2010, whilst the designation is in place. This includes tenants who were given their tenancy through a transfer or mutual exchange or, in some cases, succession.
Council tenants whose tenancy started before 30 September 2002 will still be able to buy their home, as will those who don’t live in the designated areas.
Councillor Margaret Davidson, Chairman of The Highland Council’s Housing and Social Work Committee, said: "This designation has been granted because of the severe shortage of affordable housing in many parts of the Highlands. Although more housing association rented housing is being built in partnership with the Council and Communities Scotland, it’s not nearly enough to replace the Council housing that has been sold through the ‘Right to Buy’.
"Communities have consistently told us that tackling this shortage should be one of our highest priorities. We are working hard with our housing partners to build new affordable homes across the Highlands but the challenge is enormous so I welcome this decision by the Scottish Executive."
A small number of Lochalsh and Skye Housing Association and Lochaber Housing Association tenants (who would have otherwise been eligible to buy) are also affected and are unable to buy their rented housing association homes through the Right to Buy. In general, other housing association tenants do not have the Right to Buy.
The Council requires to re-apply to the Scottish Executive in five years time to renew the designation if it considers that there is still a significant shortage of affordable housing.
There are a number of different ways that the Council and housing associations can help tenants to become home owners through low-cost home ownership schemes such as Homestake and rural home ownership grants (RHOGs). The Highland Council and our housing partners will continue to support all tenants, including those who have their Right to Buy suspended, to access these alternatives and become home owners.
The Council and affected housing associations will also be informing their tenants through their forthcoming newsletters.