About 5000 tenants of a Scottish council COULD have their right to buy suspended under proposals to designate parts of the Highlands as “pressured areas”.

New tenants in a number of areas including Inverness, Skye and Lochalsh will have their right to buy put on hold for a period of up to five years if the Highland council is successful in its application to the Scottish executive for pressured area status.

Rising levels of homelessness have prompted the application.

Homelessness in the region doubled over the two-year period between 2001/2 and 2003/4 according to a report commissioned by the Highland council and published last November (HT 19 November 2004, page 12).

The council’s request is currently being considered by Highland council area committees before it is considered by the executive in May.

No council in Scotland has yet secured the status – provision for which is made in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 – but chair of the council’s housing and social work committee Margaret Davidson, said the Scottish executive had encouraged the council to apply and it was “determined to do it”.

She said: “Homelessness is chronic in the Highlands. Right to buy is hugely popular but there is considerable pressure on housing.”

Not all tenants would have their right to buy suspended if the application is accepted – tenants who have the right to buy and have lived in the same home since 30 September 2002 would be exempted.

Other councils including South Ayrshire are also said to be considering the same course of action.

Source

Housing Today