Council House Sales (Hansard, 10 May 1983)

§ Mr. Stanley

Following consultations with the local authority associations, my right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for the Environment and the Secretary of State for Wales have decided to use their powers under section 2(5) of the Housing Act 1980 to extend the right to buy, with certain exceptions, to non-part V dwellings. The Housing (Extension of the Right to Buy) Order 1983 was laid before the House yesterday, and will come into effect on 31 May.

The order will extend the right to buy to all non-part V dwellings let to secure tenants of local authorities in England and Wales apart from tenants of the following dwellings:

(a) dwellings let before 3 October 1980 to an employee of a local authority or other listed body on terms which provided for the tenancy to terminate on the cessation of the employment;
(b) dwellings let to a member of the family of such an employee who became the tenant on or after the employee's death;
(c) dwellings held by a local authority under the terms of any trust.

Though the overwhelming majority of council houses and flats are held under the main housing powers of local authorities in part V of the Housing Act 1957, a small minority are held under other legislation. Where these dwellings are let to secure tenants as defined in the Housing Act 1980 these tenancies are for all practical purposes indistinguishable from secure tenancies in pan V housing where the right to buy already exists. The order will enable all non-part V secure tenants of local authorities to exercise the right to buy apart from those occupying dwellings let before 3 October 1980 for employment reasons to employees of the local authority or other listed body—such as a development corporation or county council—and those occupying dwellings held by the local authority under the terms of a charitable trust.