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Exclusive: 7% rise in former Right to Buy homes now rented privately
The number of former council homes being let privately has soared to more than 40%, new Inside Housing research has revealed.
Freedom of Information Act request responses from 111 councils – two-thirds of all stock-holding town halls in England – show 40.2% of former Right to Buy flats are now being sublet.
This is a 7% rise from the 37.6% recorded last time Inside Housing carried out this research in 2015 – a rate of growth which would see more than half of all former Right to Buy homes rented privately by 2026.
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Eamon McGoldrick, managing director of the National Federation of ALMOs, said true subletting figures could be “at least” 5% higher than shown by the data.
He said: “Leaseholders are allowed to sublet but some of them don’t actually inform the council that they’re doing it, possibly because they think it will be an issue.
“So there will be another number on top of this figure that haven’t given the freeholder an away address.”
The councils have sold a total of 180,260 leasehold properties under the Right to Buy since its introduction in 1980, with 72,454 now registered with an ‘away address’, indicating subletting.
John Bibby, chief executive of the Association of Retained Council Housing, said the figures were not surprising.
“The government has promised a root-and-branch green paper on social housing and it will be interesting to see if that includes Right to Buy and its impact,” he said.
Subletting of Right to Buy homes (England)
| Local authority | Leaseholds sold under RTB | Registered with away address | RTB homes sub-let since 2012 | % of homes sub-let | |
| Milton Keynes UA | 1609 | 1140 | 11 | 70.85% | |
| Bolsover | 116 | 75 | 64.66% | ||
| Brighton & Hove UA | 2871 | 1556 | 414 | 54.20% | |
| Canterbury | 354 | 190 | 4 | 53.67% | |
| Cheshire West & Chester | 317 | 170 | 3 | 53.63% | |
| Stevenage | 1408 | 751 | 122 | 53.34% | |
| Nuneaton & Bedworth | 448 | 233 | 52.01% | ||
| Norwich | 2964 | 1436 | 50 | 48.45% | |
| Winchester | 371 | 178 | 8 | 47.98% | |
| Eastleigh | 34 | 16 | 0 | 47.06% | |
| Kingston upton Thames | 1515 | 711 | 19 | 46.93% | |
| Ipswich | 371 | 174 | 6 | 46.90% | |
| Newham | 7125 | 3324 | 120 | 46.65% | |
| Stoke-on-Trent UA | 374 | 174 | 7 | 46.52% | |
| Blackpool UA | 395 | 183 | 46.33% | ||
| Dacorum | 1779 | 824 | 46.32% | ||
| Welwyn Hatfield | 1282 | 592 | 196 | 46.18% | |
| Southampton UA | 1923 | 886 | 46.07% | ||
| Northampton | 881 | 405 | 8 | 45.97% | |
| Harlow | 2499 | 1144 | 13 | 45.78% | |
| Ashfield | 194 | 88 | 30 | 45.36% | |
| Chesterfield | 240 | 108 | 12 | 45.00% | |
| Oadby & Wigston | 69 | 31 | 0 | 44.93% | |
| Mansfield | 273 | 122 | 19 | 44.69% | |
| Barrow-in-Furness | 213 | 95 | 2 | 44.60% | |
| Ealing | 4716 | 2099 | 41 | 44.51% | |
| Sedgemoor | 113 | 50 | 8 | 44.25% | |
| Lewes | 263 | 116 | 19 | 44.11% | |
| Bassetlaw | 168 | 74 | 44.05% | ||
| Ashford | 266 | 117 | 6 | 43.98% | |
| Redbridge | 2474 | 1086 | 33 | 43.90% | |
| Lincoln | 319 | 139 | 3 | 43.57% | |
| Cambridge | 1162 | 506 | 43.55% | ||
| York UA | 527 | 229 | 17 | 43.45% | |
| Portsmouth UA | 2007 | 867 | 22 | 43.20% | |
| Cannock Chase | 272 | 117 | 2 | 43.01% | |
| Gravesham | 434 | 186 | 44 | 42.86% | |
| Tendring | 402 | 172 | 2 | 42.79% | |
| Barking & Dagenham | 3495 | 1488 | 413 | 42.58% | |
| Wandsworth | 15970 | 6752 | 28 | 42.28% | |
| Exeter | 1006 | 425 | 22 | 42.25% | |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 1700 | 717 | 31 | 42.18% | |
| Swindon UA | 496 | 209 | 42.14% | ||
| Camden | 8378 | 3530 | 39 | 42.13% | |
| Eastbourne | 667 | 280 | 26 | 42.98% | |
| Islington | 8059 | 3378 | 93 | 41.92% | |
| Oxford | 678 | 282 | 4 | 41.59% | |
| Hillingdon | 3266 | 1355 | 34 | 41.49% | |
| Southend of Sea UA | 612 | 253 | 7 | 41.34% | |
| Birmingham | 5081 | 2087 | 41.07% | ||
| Warwick | 591 | 241 | 3 | 40.78% | |
| City of London | 932 | 380 | 5 | 40.77% | |
| Wolverhampton | 2232 | 905 | 291 | 40.55% | |
| Runnymede | 150 | 60 | 0 | 40.00% | |
| Sheffield | 2488 | 995 | 46 | 39.99% | |
| Hammersmith & Fulham | 4710 | 1883 | 39.98 | ||
| Poole UA | 582 | 232 | 58 | 39.86% | |
| Waveney | 113 | 45 | 6 | 39.82% | |
| Epping Forest | 1047 | 414 | 138 | 39.54% | |
| Crawley | 1609 | 631 | 39.22% | ||
| Kirklees | 1006 | 394 | 9 | 39.17% | |
| East Riding of Yorkshire | 228 | 89 | 3 | 39.04% | |
| Colchester | 1054 | 411 | 58 | 38.99% | |
| Haringey | 4969 | 1925 | 60 | 38.74% | |
| Southwark | 12539 | 4857 | 38.74% | ||
| Northumberland | 257 | 99 | 0 | 38.52% | |
| Havering | 2503 | 963 | 34 | 38.47% | |
| Cheltenham | 477 | 183 | 5 | 38.36% | |
| Rotherham | 534 | 202 | 13 | 37.83% | |
| Waltham Forest | 2123 | 802 | 42 | 37.78% | |
| Westminster | 8988 | 3363 | 37.42% | ||
| Tamworth | 420 | 157 | 2 | 37.38% | |
| Adur | 511 | 190 | 7 | 37.18% | |
| Gateshead | 887 | 327 | 6 | 36.87% | |
| Dover | 459 | 169 | 36.82% | ||
| South Tyneside | 765 | 280 | 8 | 36.60% | |
| Dartford | 456 | 166 | 9 | 36.40% | |
| South Cambridgeshire | 123 | 43 | 13 | 34.96% | |
| Broxtowe | 281 | 98 | 0 | 34.88% | |
| Scarborough | 66 | 23 | 0 | 34.85% | |
| Woking | 406 | 141 | 34.73% | ||
| Bournemouth UA | 517 | 179 | 58 | 34.62% | |
| Kingston upon Hull UA | 468 | 162 | 34.62% | ||
| Hounslow | 3026 | 1038 | 34.30% | ||
| Lambeth | 9479 | 3235 | 47 | 34.13% | |
| West Lancashire | 415 | 141 | 33 | 33.98% | |
| Doncaster | 260 | 88 | 21 | 33.85% | |
| Greenwich | 4736 | 1602 | 72 | 33.83% | |
| Guildford | 512 | 173 | 12 | 33.79% | |
| Lewisham | 557 | 188 | 33.75% | ||
| Stroud | 163 | 55 | 1 | 33.74% | |
| Melton | 30 | 10 | 1 | 33.33% | |
| Kettering | 261 | 86 | 1 | 32.95% | |
| North East Derbyshire | 80 | 26 | 11 | 32.50% | |
| Rugby | 62 | 20 | 0 | 32.26% | |
| Fareham | 456 | 141 | 0 | 30.92% | |
| Oldham | 13 | 4 | 0 | 30.77% | |
| Mid Suffolk | 40 | 12 | 1 | 30.00% | |
| Wealden | 197 | 57 | 4 | 28.93% | |
| Harrogate | 195 | 56 | 2 | 28.72% | |
| Darlington UA | 77 | 22 | 28.57% | ||
| Wokingham UA | 187 | 51 | 27.27% | ||
| Sutton | 1502 | 400 | 12 | 26.63% | |
| New Forest | 132 | 35 | 10 | 26.52% | |
| Barnsley | 363 | 94 | 1 | 25.90% | |
| Tower Hamlets | 9538 | 2541 | 82 | 26.64% | |
| South Holland | 71 | 17 | 1 | 23.94% | |
| East Devon | 184 | 41 | 13 | 22.28% | |
| Central Bedfordshire | 345 | 72 | 12 | 20.87% | |
| Tandridge | 629 | 107 | 36 | 17.01% | |
| Babergh | 103 | 13 | 1 | 12.62% | |
| TOTALS | 180260 | 72454 | 3186 | 40.19% |
Click here to read the full analysis
Milton Keynes is the ‘right to buy to let’ capital, with 70.9% of flats sold through Right to Buy now in the PRS.
Another six councils – Bolsover, Brighton & Hove, Canterbury, Cheshire West and Chester, Stevenage, and Nuneaton & Bedworth – have leasehold subletting levels of more than 50%.
The average private rented sector rent is £88 per week in England, while private rents are £210. In London, this gap grows from £108 for council rents to £359 for private rents.
The data comes as Welsh Assembly members voted through a bill to abolish the Right to Buy in Wales on Tuesday.
Data provided by eight of the 11 stock-retaining councils in Wales, not included in the figures above, shows that 42.3% of flats sold under the Right to Buy are currently sublet, with Swansea the worst affected.
Scotland scrapped the Right to Buy in July 2016. In England however, the government still plans to extend the policy to housing association tenants, with a pilot planned for next year.