HC Deb 24 May 1989 vol 153 cc589-90W
37. Mr. John Greenway

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what arrangements he proposes to recommend to local authorities and housing associations to ensure that the initial benefit of a reduced price available to the purchaser of a house under the low-cost housing scheme can be passed on to subsequent purchasers.

Mr. Trippier

My noble Friend the Minister for Housing, Environment and Countryside recently announced that we have in mind a scheme where housing associations will have a pre-emptive right to buy back a shared ownership property at full market value when the owner sells

  1. (i) where the house is in a rural area where replacement of a shared ownership dwelling may be difficult; or
  2. (ii) where a private landowner has contributed a site on condition that it be retained for low-cost housing.

This repurchase arrangement enables the association to resell with the benefit of a reduced price, without restricting the right of the shared owner to become the full owner of his home.