As reports reveal a 400% increase in right-to-buy fraud in London, Green Assembly Member Darren Johnson speaks out against the policy calling it a “disaster for London” and for the Mayor to “lobby for it to be scrapped”.
An investigation by the BBC London ‘Inside Out’ programme has raised concerns that fast rising prices in London “are making the right-to-buy scheme increasingly vulnerable to exploitation”. The Audit Commission annual report (October 2014) reported a 400% increase in right-to-buy fraud in London. The government is currently offering discounts of £100,000 to attract even more buyers in London.
Green Assembly Member Darren Johnson, photograph courtesy of Kaihsu Tai.
This follows figures being released last year which showed the sale of council homes has grown faster than the building of new ones in many areas of London. For example, 415 council homes were sold under Right to Buy in Southwark in the previous two years, but only 42 replacement homes had been started in the same period. Councils are required to use the receipts from Right to Buy sales to build new homes within three years.
Darren commented, “Right to Buy is a disaster for London. A lot of council homes sold today will be in the hands of private landlords tomorrow. Across London, almost five thousand council homes have been lost in the past two years, with fewer than one in six replacement homes started using the receipts.
“Fewer low rent homes will drive more low paid people out of London. The Mayor of London should lobby for it to be scrapped, and for councils to be allowed to borrow to invest in building many more.”