Council Chair welcomes end of Right to Buy in Highland

As a result of changes to legislation, today (Monday 1 August), the “Right to Buy” has ended for all tenants, a move which has been welcomed by the Chair of The Highland Council’s Community Services.

The Council has faced a large increase in applications over the last 3 months as many tenants have applied to buy their home before the change in legislation took effect. The Council is currently dealing with over 150 applications received over the last 3 months compared to around 30 applications in the same period as last year.

Councillor Allan Henderson, Chair of the Community Services Committee said: “The Council welcomes the end of the Right to Buy as we believe this will safeguard social rented housing for future generations. It will allow us to concentrate on the important task of further increasing new council housing through our ambitious development programme.”

“We will of course deal properly with all the applications that have been submitted before the cut- off date. However we would ask applicants to bear with us as we deal with the large number of applications received in the run up to the end of the scheme.”

Pressured Area Status has applied in relation to Right to Buy in most of the Highlands. Under the legislation Councils have had the power to designate areas or types of house as pressured: where the need for housing is much greater than the housing available.  In Highland pressured area status has applied to all areas except parts of Caithness. This means that, except for some parts of Caithness, people who took up their tenancy after 30 September 2012 do not have a Right to Buy.