Issue - meetings

A report advising of the need to spend Right to Buy receipts for 2023/24 to enable the acquisition of affordable homes and proposing that Cabinet delegates authority to the Director of Housing and Communities, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Landlord Services to purchase houses in accordance with the Right to Buy budget.

Cabinet:

1)     NOTED the need to spend Right to Buy receipts for the 2023/24 spending requirement, to enable the acquisition of affordable homes;

2)     DELEGATED authority to the Director for Housing and Communities in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Landlord Services to purchase homes in accordance with the budget for spending Right to Buy receipts to meet the 2023-24 spending requirement.

The Director for Housing and Communities (Deputy Chief Executive) introduced the report, the purpose of which was to advise of the need to spend Right to Buy receipts for 2023/24, to enable the acquisition of affordable homes and propose that Cabinet delegates authority to the Director of Housing and Communities, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Landlord Services to purchase houses in accordance with the Right to Buy budget.

The Director for Housing and Communities (Deputy Chief Executive) advised Cabinet a report would be provided at the start of the next financial year detailing the amount available to spend for the year, the number of homes that could support to purchase and the proposed locations that this could take place.

The Leader of the Council thanked officers for their work on the report and confirmed that Cabinet would be included in the decisions made on the purchase of properties with the Right to Buy receipts.

Cabinet:

1)     NOTED the need to spend Right to Buy receipts for the 2023/24 spending requirement, to enable the acquisition of affordable homes.

2)     DELEGATED authority to the Director for Housing and Communities in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Landlord Services to purchase homes in accordance with the budget for spending Right to Buy receipts to meet the 2023-24 spending requirement.

Reasons for recommendations

Delivering new council homes with RTB receipts will help to meet the corporate priority of providing high quality council homes and landlord services.

The Government imposes deadlines for spending RTB receipts. A certain amount of funds has to be spent each financial year in order to avoid receipts being sent back to the Treasury with an interest penalty.

Cabinet approval was obtained in December 2022 to purchase 8 new houses from a developer in Old Dalby. Expenditure on this scheme would have ensured that the RTB spend target for this financial year was achieved. Unfortunately, there have been delays due to the developer having issues with planning permission and construction. This means 6 of these homes will not be ready until the end of December 2023. There is a concern that if there are further delays in delivery, alternative purchases and associated Cabinet approvals will need to be made. As the Cabinet approval process takes time, there is a risk that the deadline for spend by the end of March 2024 may not be achieved.

Delegating authority to spend RTB receipts to the Director of Housing and Communities in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Landlord Services will save time and ensure that receipts are spent within deadlines.

The homes will be acquired according to the Housing Development Plan 2022-26 which was approved by Cabinet in July 2022. All new homes will be purchased in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Landlord Services, and in accordance with the budget for spending RTB receipts.