§ Mr. LoveTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many tenants exercised the right-to-buy their property in(a) Enfield, (b) Greater London and (c) Great Britain in each of the last five years; and in each case what was the cost to public funds of the discounts. [92018]
§ Mr. RaynsfordThe table presents the latest information on the number of sales of council dwellings reported by local authorities in England. Not all authorities have provided full returns so the figures for Greater London and England are estimates to take account of missing returns.
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Sales of council dwellings Enfield Greater London England 1994–95 176 6,363 43,336 1995–96 110 4,641 31,512 1996–97 118 5,220 33,206 1997–98 172 7,123 41,329 1998–99 163 n/a n/a A typical right-to-buy sale results in a net loss of around £10,000 in "net present value" terms. This includes the loss of rent and the need to eventually replace rented housing sold under the scheme. The net loss is largely due to the discount to which a tenant is entitled. Our consultation paper "Secure tenants' right to buy" published on 28 July 1998 (in particular paragraphs 8–10) set this out in detail, together with our proposals to reduce the cost by changing the discount rules. These proposals were implemented on 11 February. A copy of the paper is in the Library of the House.