If you live in Scotland and are thinking about buying your
council house or flat it might be worth looking into it now.
Recent changes in legislation are limiting the opportunities of
those wishing to buy their home and rumours predict that
the Right to Buy scheme could be abolished in the very
near future.
Introduced in the 1980s the Righ
t to Buy scheme achieved its goal and was successful in
offering tens of thousands of council tenants the
opportunity of owning their own home. In a survey carried
out by the charity Shelter Scotland, out of the 1013 members of
the public interviewed, 66% said that Scotland had benefited
from the scheme by increasing the number of home owners.
The popular scheme seemed to be going very well hitting an all
time peak of over 240,000 new home owners under the
scheme in 1982. However in 2001 the maximum discount was reduced
to £15,000 and the period of tenancy increased from 2 to 5 years
thus slowing down the upward trend of Right to Buy in
Scotland. Then in 2002 warning signs came about that there
was a housing crisis and shortage of affordable homes for
tenants and the Right to Buy scheme was held
responsible.
So what is going to happen to the Right to Buy? Will it
disappear for ever and will council tenants no longer be
offered the possibility of buying their own homes in the
future or will the government come up with a suitable
alternative?
If you are interested in buying your council property and
are not sure whether you have the Right to Buy it might be worth
looking into it now.
A useful website about right to buy is http://falkirk.
right-to-buy-mortgage.info It explains the Scotland Right to
Buy rules in detail and offers all the information you need.