House sales add £3.6m to city council coffers

COUNCIL leaders have agreed to retain £3.6 million raised through the sale of 132 council homes last year.

- Phil Corrigan

Local authorities that sell housing stock through the Right to Buy (RTB) scheme are allowed keep the funds raised to invest in replacement homes, on a one-for-one basis.

Cabinet members at Stoke-on-Trent City Council approved the decision to retain the latest RTB receipts at their meeting on Tuesday. Last year’s sales bring the total amount of RTB receipts available to the council to £17.1 million.

There is a growing need for more social housing in Stoke-on-Trent, with the number of people on the council's housing waiting list increasing by 41 per cent last year to 3,138.

But a set of complex rules restrict how councils can spend RTB receipts and any money not spent within five years has to be returned to the Government - with penalty interest.