Decision details

To consider the report of the Cabinet Member for Housing Operations seeking approval to invest accumulated Right to Buy monies.

(i)  To agree to the principle of the investment of Right to Buy monies as set out in this report and makes a recommendation to Council that it approves the expenditure of up to £13.085m of the Right to Buy receipts collected between 2019/20 and 2023/24 on an extension to the pilot programme of property investment under the temporary flexibilities granted by Government during the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years.

(ii)  To make a recommendation to Council that it grants delegated powers to the Director of Housing after consultation with and the Executive Director of Enabling Services, Executive Director of Growth and Prosperity, the Director of Legal and Governance and the Cabinet Member for Housing, to agree and approve the detail of the additional property investment in line with the details set out in this paper.

1.  On 29 October 2024, Cabinet approved the expenditure of up to £5m of Right to Buy Receipts on a pilot programme of property acquisitions.  This paper follows on from that approval, going to Cabinet first and then on to Council, seeking approval to spend up to a remaining sum of£13.085m of the Right to Buy monies accumulated between 2019/20 and 2023/24 (£13.085m being £18.086m the total sum accumulated up to 2023/24, minus the £5m approved by Cabinet on 29 October 2024). 

2.  To utilise the Council’s pooled Right to Buy Receipts, taking advantage of the temporary flexibilities granted by Government, to invest in additional properties to help alleviate housing need in Southampton.

3.  To allow sufficient delegated authority to enable property investments to be secured efficiently and mitigate the risk of delays beyond the spend deadline which would trigger payment of Right to Buy monies with interest to government.

4.  These property investments have the potential to deliver estimated savings of £1.45m per annum, based on the investment in up to a further 53 properties saving £27,375 per annum each. 

5.  This proposal would help to reduce the annual expenditure on emergency accommodation, increase the Council’s affordable housing stock, improve the quality of service provided and move towards delivering services within the confines of the cash limited budget.  This would be achieved by for every property purchased using RTB receipts then a unit of our existing Council stock will be used for temporary accommodation.

The Council could decide not to spend its pooled Right to Buy Receipts.  Any Right to Buy Receipts not utilised need to be paid to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) with interest within the annual deadlines set out.  Given that the Council has an extensive housing waiting list and unprecedented demand for emergency homeless families’ accommodation, this would be a missed opportunity to meet a small proportion of that need.