§ Mr. McQuarrie asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many council houses in Scotland have not been sold to the tenant applicants due to the delay by local authorities in processing the sale; and if he will list these in the Official Report setting out the figures for each local authority, Scottish Special Housing Association and co-ownership associations.
§ Mr. Rifkind:Council house sales in Scotland are going well and most authorities are processing applications within the statutory time limits: only in a small number of cases has default action had to be contemplated. It is not possible to determine a standard timetable for the sale of a council house; the main reason for this is that the effect of the various statutory time limits set out in the Tenants' Rights Etc. (Scotland) Act 1980 is to produce different total limits for the period between the date of application and the date of application and the date of acceptance of the offer to sell according to the circumstances of each individual case. In the absence of such a standard timetable, it is not possible to determine whether there has been delay in the completion of each sale.
Tenants of co-ownership housing associations in Scotland do not have a statutory right to buy.