This will more than quadruple the current discount cap of £16,000 in London and treble it in most other parts of the country, the government said. The maximum discount available is £38,000 in the South East.
Housing Minister Grant Shapps (pictured) said today that the “reinvigorated” right-to-buy scheme, announced alongside the NewBuy Guarantee, would not result in a loss of affordable housing, with receipts from sales going directly towards replacing the additional properties sold with new affordable homes for rent.
Councils will be able to sign an agreement with the government for using the receipts from sales to build new affordable homes in their area. Receipts will only need to meet 30% of the costs, mirroring the funding model used for the Affordable Homes programme.
Receipts not used locally will be passed to the Greater London Authority and the Homes and Communities Agency to be reinvested across the country.
The government highlighted that fewer than 3,700 right-to-buy sales took place in 2011, compared to a peak of 84,000 less than ten years ago, and Prime Minister David Cameron said the revamped scheme would give more people the chance to buy.
Talking on right to buy and NewBuy, Cameron said: “Strong families and stable communities are built from good homes. That’s why I want us to build more homes and I want more people to have the chance to own their own home.
“We are acting today across the board to make this happen. It’s no good hoping people will climb the property ladder if the bottom rung is missing. Affordable properties and available mortgages are vital.”
Shapps said scrapping the “miserly restrictions” on RTB discounts was “great news for thousands of tenants who have done well for themselves and want to buy the home they live in”.
He added: “We are determined to maintain the number of affordable homes for rent – so for the first time, homes that are sold will be replaced by a new affordable homes, helping councils meet housing need and getting the nation building again.”
