Local authority leaders have welcomed the Government’s decision to allow councils to keep 100% of their Right to Buy receipts for the next two years.
A letter to all council chief executives and section 151 officers on behalf of local government secretary Michael Gove confirmed that councils would be able to keep their RtB receipts for 2022-23 and 2023-24.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said it wanted councils to be 'able to keep more of the money generated from Right to Buy sales to invest in new social homes for local people’.
A spokesperson for the Local Government Association (LGA) said: ‘We are incredibly pleased to see these changes to the RtB scheme - something we have long-called for as the previous rules, alongside the significant discounts to tenants, have meant councils have struggled to replace social homes on a one-for-one basis.
‘With long waiting lists for social housing and the private sector becoming more and more unfeasible for some households, ensuring that councils have the funding to replace any homes sold through RtB quickly is crucial, and this announcement should go far in supporting this.’
The spokesperson added the change should be made permanent and councils still needed the ability to be able to agree discounts locally.
