Council extends its home purchase scheme to landlords

A Scottish council says it will, for the first time, consider buying homes from private landlords and allow the tenant to remain in the property as a council tenant.

This will, the council says, help prevent homelessness and increase the council’s housing stock.

The scheme might appeal to landlords in the area after the Scottish Government announced this week that it was imposing a rent freeze on private and social homes – and introducing a moratorium on evictions over the winter

Landlords who are thinking of selling

The move is being made by North Lanarkshire Council who point out that the benefits of their open market purchase scheme to landlords who are thinking of selling include:

• No estate agency fees
• No home reports being required
• No chain of sellers
• No viewers.

The scheme, which has delivered nearly 600 additional council homes for rent since April 2018, is supported by the Scottish Government.

It allows the council to purchase properties that are for sale on the open market – many of which, they say, were former council houses previously purchased under the Right to Buy scheme.

Enables the council to buy homes from private landlords

The latest extension enables the council to buy homes from private landlords to help prevent homelessness.

In certain circumstances the council will also purchase properties from owners in blocks of flats, where all the other flats are already owned by the council and allow the tenant to remain in their home as tenants.

Councillor Heather Brannan-McVey, the convener of housing said: “This scheme has been really successful in recent years and by expanding it to private landlords, we hope to be able to attract additional sellers and provide more homes for council tenants to rent in our communities.

“The housing market has been difficult over the last few years with the pandemic and cost of living crisis affecting sellers, but we hope that by extending our scheme, we can purchase and deliver more homes in areas where there is demand for that type and size of property.”

‘Lots of benefits to potential sellers’

She added: “There are lots of benefits to potential sellers that can make it much easier for them to sell their home.

“It also gives us the opportunity to bring empty properties back into use that have been lying empty or derelict.

“The opportunity for sellers in mixed tenure blocks of flats to sell to the council and stay in their home also allows us to progress with common refurbishment works which will benefit all tenants in the block.”

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