Right to Buy Guidance Circular A guide for social landlords

Part 1 - Changes to Right to Buy as a result of the 2010 Act

6. Sections 61 to 84A of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (as amended) and the associated secondary legislation, set out the statutory basis for the RTB and the procedures which landlords and applicants should follow. This part of the guidance sets out the details of the most recent RTB reforms. The main changes introduced by the 2010 Act are:

• Section 140 amends sections 61(2), (10) and (11) of the 1987 Act to add to the list of persons who provide qualifying accommodation for the purposes of calculating RTB entitlement and discount, and to ensure that in certain circumstances the RTB entitlement of tenants who experience a break in occupation is protected.
• Section 141 inserts a new section 61ZA into the 1987 Act so that tenants taking up a Scottish secure tenancy ( SST) for the first time or returning to the social rented sector after a break after 1 March 2011 will not have the RTB over any property they let from a social landlord, except in certain limited circumstances.
• Section 142 amends the pressured area provisions in sections 61B and 61C of the 1987 Act to remove Scottish Ministers' role in relation to designation of pressured areas. Instead, local authorities are given the power to designate pressured areas as well as to revoke and amend any such designation. Further amendments are made to extend the maximum designation period from 5 to 10 years and to allow designations to be made generally in relation to all houses in the area or in relation to particular types of house only. Scottish Ministers are given a power to issue statutory guidance which local authorities will be required to have regard to before making, amending or revoking any pressured area designation.
• Section 143 inserts a new section 61F into the 1987 Act to provide that the RTB does not apply to new supply social housing, except in certain limited circumstances.
• Section 144 inserts a new section 69A into the 1987 Act which applies to police houses. It allows local authority landlords to refuse RTB applications from tenants to purchase police houses (which are houses held by the local authority landlord for the purposes of a police force) where the tenant would otherwise have the RTB but the purchase would impact negatively on police operations and resources. The landlord is required to have regard to certain specified matters when deciding whether or not to refuse the application.

7. The above sections are now in force. In addition, three further sections make changes to statistical requirements, but had yet to be commenced when this circular was issued:

• Section 145 requires the Scottish Government, after the end of each financial year, to collect and publish information in respect of each local authority, during that financial year, on the number of houses sold under RTB; receipts derived from these sales; how much new debt has been incurred in respect of local authority housing stock and; how much debt in respect of local authority housing stock has been repaid.
• Section 146 requires the Scottish Government, after the end of each financial year, to collect and publish information in respect of each local authority, during that financial year, on the number of tenants with a RTB on preserved terms ( i.e. pre Housing (Scotland) Act 2001) and the number of tenants with a modernised RTB ( i.e. as amended by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001).
• Section 147 requires the Scottish Government, after the end of each financial year, to collect and publish information in respect of each registered social landlord, during that financial year, on the number of houses sold under RTB and the receipts derived from these sales.