The future of the House Sales Scheme
With Scotland and Wales having phased out the ‘Right to Buy’ scheme, and the British Government currently considering phasing out the model in England, the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Communities Committee is currently examining the future of the House Sales Scheme, the region’s version of Right to Buy.
This scheme allows Housing Executive tenants to purchase their homes at a discount, a policy that has been both praised for facilitating homeownership and criticised for depleting the stock of social housing.
A briefing paper prepared by the Assembly’s Research and Information Service in November 2024 – An overview of the ‘Right to Buy’ in other jurisdictions – provides a comparative analysis of Right to Buy policies in other jurisdictions, including Scotland, Wales and, England, and the Tenant Purchase Scheme in the Republic of Ireland.
Right to Buy has been a defining feature of UK housing policy since its introduction under the Margaret Thatcher government in 1980. While initially presented as a tool for increasing homeownership, the long-term impacts have been mixed.
The policy led to a significant reduction in social housing stock, exacerbating housing shortages. Over time, governments in Scotland and Wales abolished Right to Buy altogether, while England continues to operate the scheme, albeit with proposed reforms to address its unintended consequences.
The Scottish Government ended Right to Buy in 2016, citing the need to protect social housing stock. Before its abolition, nearly half a million council and housing association homes had been sold. A similar trajectory followed in Wales, where Right to Buy was phased out in 2019.
Both nations introduced transitional arrangements, allowing tenants a final opportunity to purchase their homes before the scheme was fully withdrawn. The key rationale was that preserving social housing stock was more beneficial in the long term than offering purchase discounts that often resulted in homes entering the private rental sector.
Unlike Scotland and Wales, Northern Ireland has maintained its statutory House Sales Scheme, though it has undergone modifications. The scheme still applies to Housing Executive tenants, while registered housing associations now operate discretionary Right to Buy schemes following the 2020 Housing (Amendment) Act.
This change was largely driven by the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) reclassification of registered housing associations as public sector bodies, which had implications for public borrowing and financial reporting.
While the House Sales Scheme provides lower-income tenants with a pathway to homeownership, it simultaneously contributes to the depletion of social housing stock at a time when waiting lists for public housing are growing.
The report indicates that a “significant number” of properties sold through the scheme have transitioned into the private rental sector, where rents are substantially higher than social housing rates. This dynamic undermines the original intent of the policy and places additional pressure on housing benefits and public finances.
With Scotland and Wales having already abolished Right to Buy, and the UK Government currently considering reforms in England, the report says that Northern Ireland is at a key point of consideration on the future of its social housing policy, further asserting that a balanced approach, learning from both the successes and failures of other jurisdictions, will be crucial in shaping a sustainable housing policy for the future.
