The Right to Buy provision reconsidered

Abstract

The Housing Act 1980 brought into legislative focus an aspect of the housing market which had for many years occupied a minor and relatively uncontroversial place in the activities of public housing authorities. The sale of council dwellings to sitting tenants had been carried out by many authorities long before discussion of a Tenants' Charter, but it had remained on a small scale. Not until the inflationary spiral of the early 1970s did it become widely apparent that there were potential investment benefits, and opportunities for making political capital, from the promotion of the idea. When such sales became a basic tenet of Conservative Party policy prior to the 1979 election, the projected scale of activity, which proposed legislation and its public debate made possible, resulted in sides being taken. Whether you were for or against, an implication of party political loyalties was often associated with your choice, and it was foreseen by many that, for better or for worse, this development would result in a large‐scale erosion of public sector housing.

Citation

Richards, S. (1984), "The Right to Buy provision reconsidered", Property Management, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 27-32. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb006567