§ 50. Mr. Robert B. Jonesasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he plans any measures to help the tenants of charitable housing associations to become home owners.
§ Mr. GowFollowing my undertaking during the Second Reading debate on the Housing and Building Control Bill and in Committee to consider how to respond to representations from the tenants of charitable housing associations about the right to buy, we are proposing to introduce a scheme which will enable a tenant of a charitable housing association in England and Wales whose dwelling had been provided with housing association grant, and whose landlord had declined to sell voluntarily, to select a dwelling on the open market within certain price limits which he could purchase, either outright or on shared-ownership terms, with a discount funded out of housing association grant. As under the right to buy, the discount would be based on the tenant's length of tenancy, and the value of cost-floor of his existing charitable dwelling. Shared-ownership, with a minimum initial share of 50 per cent., would be available only to those who could not afford outright purchase, and the discount would be reduced in proportion to the share of the dwelling being purchased. Discounts would be repayable if the tenant sold his property within five years. on the same basis as for right to buy sales.
This scheme will require some amendment to my right hon. Friend's powers to pay housing association grant, and the necessary amendments will be tabled during the passage of the Housing and Building Control Bill. expect the scheme to come into operation shortly after the Bill receives Royal Assent.