Domestic Property (Hansard, 26 July 1990)

§ Miss Hoey
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how the money realised from any sales of domestic properties by his Department is treated.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
Property receipts are credited to defence votes.

§ Miss Hoey
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many homes have been sold by his Department since the beginning of 1989 and in the last three months; and what criteria is used in deciding to whom the properties will be disposed.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
From 1 December 1988—the closest date to the beginning of 1989 for which figures are available—to 30 July 1990, 2,894 homes were sold by the Ministry of Defence, 725 of them during the last three months of that period. These figures include both married quarters and Ministry of Defence civilian houses. Surplus married quarters that are suitable for immediate individual sale are normally offered for sale to service personnel through the services discount scheme; quarters not suitable for sale in this way, for example, dwellings designated in law as "defective", flats in England and Wales, and properties with utilities below adoption standard are normally offered for sale in bulk by tender on the open market. Surplus Ministry of Defence civilian houses are normally offered for sale to the sitting tenant at the appropriate discount; vacant properties and those whose tenants do not wish to purchase are offered for sale on the open market.

§ Miss Hoey
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what policy guidelines exist for his Department in dealing with empty properties.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
Not all empty properties are surplus to requirements. Properties are empty on occasion because they are undergoing or awaiting major maintenance work, already allocated to families due to move in shortly or held for planned troop deployments. It is our policy to dispose of all properties surplus to long-term requirements. Those that are surplus to current requirements but for which a long-term need has been identified are normally offered for short-term leasing to local authorities or housing associations when security considerations allow.

§ Miss Hoey
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps are taken to make available properties disposed of by his Department to housing associations or local authorities.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
Properties suitable for bulk disposal are normally offered for sale by tender on the open market; housing associations and local authorities are free to bid for them. On occasion we have sold524W properties to them direct. In addition, we are discussing with the Housing Corporation the establishment of a scheme to make MOD properties available to housing associations for subsequent sale or lease to service personnel.