Tenants of local authority houses could buy their homes pre 1979,is this correct?

Question

Tenants of local authority houses could buy their homes pre 1979,is this correct?

Answer 1

what is a local authority home?

or is this a UK thing?

Answer 2

Do you mean buy it only before 1979  or only buy a council house  if it was built before 1979??    I bought my council house  at a discount in 1996.  The house was built in mid 1960's.  probably you are right...  you could not buy new council or  housing association places under the right to buy scheme  only older pre 1979 built ones.   But the buying still goes on,  but relatively few now  as the ddiscount structure has been much altered,   I think I got about 55% discount on mine,,,

Answer 3

Yes and in some cases, this is still true under the 'Right-To-Buy' scheme. Because a lot of local authority stock is being either demolished, redeveloped or sold to housing associations, it is often cheaper just to sell the property to tenants and make a quick profit. This isn't happening everywhere, but it is in certain parts of Manchester, for example, right now. I think the tenant has to have lived there for 3, or maybe 5 years to qualify for the scheme. The advantage for the councils is that they can sell at above the market value (and in turn, make a profit) and not have to negotiate with housing associates. The advantage for the tenant is that they can buy a property in an area where prices are likely to rise anyway due to housing association intervention and development.

Answer 4

Yes, but it was badly mismanaged. Generally properties were sold below market and seemed a bargain, however a 'council flat is still a 'council flat' whoever owns it. Rarely were full estates sold, many poor tenants could not afford even a discounted price, often this group contained problem families that remained on the estate etc etc Also some Councils sold flats at a discount in buildings that badly needed renovation of the 'common parts', entrances, stairwells, lifts, roofs,roadways etc. They kept the freehold selling only the leasehold to the tenants and then proceeded to charge hugh costs for common part repairs and maintenance when they had held back on these repairs for years etc.