§ Mr. BatisteTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is satisfied with the response time of the Leeds metropolitan district council to applications by council tenants under the right-to-buy legislation; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. TrippierI have become increasingly concerned in recent months that Leeds city council, in common with many other local authorities throughout the country, have been unable to deal with the very large volume of right-to-buy applications within the statutory timescales laid down by the Housing Act 1985. Because of my concern over such delays, several measures were introduced in the Housing Act 1988 to help prospective purchasers. Future applicants may be compensated for undue delays by having their rent held by their landlord as an advance payment on the purchase price. Assistance has also been given to authorities by enabling them to use the proceeds of sales to defray their administrative costs.
I am encouraged to learn that Leeds city council has recently increased the number of staff working on right-to-buy sales and have improved the system for dealing with applications. Efforts are being made to clear the large backlog of cases. Once this has been achieved the council is confident that normal response times will be met.