§ Sir Anthony Royleasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if, in view of the fact that Lichfield Court, Richmond, has been offered to the Freshwater Property Group at not more than the £1.8 million which the residents' association was prepared to pay, he will bring forward legislation to provide for priority for residents to purchase their own flats in such blocks when they first come on the market, thereby satisfying their natural wish to do so.
§ Mr. ArmstrongI understand that the residents of Lichfield Court are negotiating to purchase the property from the Freshwater Property Group and that the United Housing Association Trust, which has experience in this field, has offered to help them in the negotiations.
I have great sympathy with groups of tenants who find themselves faced with having their homes sold over their heads, and, as already announced, a study is being made of how private tenants might in certain circumstances be given the right to purchase their homes on a co-operative basis.