Right-to-Buy to be suspended by fourth Welsh local authority

Right-to-Buy to be suspended by fourth Welsh local authority

Right-to-Buy is disappearing from Wales with a fourth council set to suspend the policy, citing diminishing stocks and large waiting lists.

Anglesey, or Ynys Môn voted on a decision to ask the Welsh Government for a five year suspension today after it was previously granted to Swansea, Carmarthenshire and Flintshire.

Anglesey will make the application to the Senedd by 25th March. The Council say there are currently 900 names on the local council’s housing waiting list with only around 260 becoming available to rent each year. 3,122 properties have been sold to tenants on Ynys Môn, leaving a remaining stock of 3,784.

Across Wales over 130,000 houses have been bought under the scheme for council tenants, and right-to-acquire, for housing association tenants, since 1980 which Welsh Labour says is a 45% reduction in the social housing stock.

The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) said suspending the right to buy allows councils to keep existing stock and safeguard new properties.

A spokesperson for the WLGA said: “Long campaigned for changes to the housing revenue account subsidy in Wales now offer local councils the ability to invest directly into their local housing stock rather than seeing millions of pounds of rent sent directly to the UK treasury.

“Suspending the Right to Buy offers councils a way of safeguarding this investment for those in need of social housing in the future.”

Mark Isherwood, the Conservative shadow housing spokesman, said: “The move to get rid of right to buy is a shortsighted measure that will do nothing to tackle the housing crisis.”

Josh Morris

Josh is the Journalist for the Today's Group and writes many of the articles for Today's Conveyancer. He graduated with a degree in Physics from Cardiff University in 2009 before training as a journalist. He has previously written for The Times, The Mirror and The Daily Express.

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