The government could restrict subletting of properties bought under right to buy, in a bid to curb abuse of the policy.
Sector insiders believe restricting subletting of right-to-buy homes or adjustments to the policy's financial regulations could be imminent, and that the government is testing the water before taking action on these issues.

Independent housing consultant Marianne Hood said the tools to constrict right to buy already exist and simply need enforcing.

"We can make sure abuse of the system doesn't happen by using the framework introduced by the Conservatives, which allowed the secretary of state to determine the operation of right to buy," she explained.

But to scrap the policy completely would require new legislation and would be a vote-loser for a government keen to get low-income families onto the housing ladder.

Tim Holden, development director of Warden Housing Association in Middlesex, said: "Introducing a threshold might be more appropriate than selective suspension, which throws up the issue of discrimination on the grounds of where a person lives."

The government investigation follows growing ministerial disquiet over abuses of the policy. The idea of reducing the discount on right-to-buy properties was raised at a private meeting attended by deputy prime minister John Prescott before October's urban summit. Criticism of the policy, which ministers are understood to feel has been exploited to the government's cost, has been on the increase.

Prescott has voiced frustration that people have bought homes they cannot afford to maintain which have to be bought back with public money for stock clearance when they fall into disrepair. And housing minister Lord Rooker has said the system is open to "too many abuses" (HT 25 July, page 8).

But David Davies, shadow secretary of state for local government and the regions, said Prescott was "pursuing ideological vendettas".

Last month the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister commissioned research into the exploitation of right to buy, fuelling speculation that the policy is to be phased out.

The prime minister's official spokesman said this week: "No policy is set in stone." The government was looking at ways to counter abuses of the system, he confirmed.

Source

Housing Today