Perth and Kinross Council will soon have spent £53 million buying back former council housing

dailyrecord.co.uk:

By the end of March, Perth and Kinross Council will have spent around £53 million since 2012 buying back former council homes.Over the past year alone, PKC has doubled its target and bought back around 100 properties in a bid to meet high demand for social housing.The council's Housing chief told elected members the team had performed "exceptionally well" in its Buy Back programme.In 1980 the Conservative UK Government - led by Margaret Thatcher - introduced the Right to Buy scheme which gave council tenants the right to buy their own home.

A total of 494,580 council and housing association homes were sold in Scotland under the Right to Buy until the scheme was stopped in 2016.Since 2012 PKC has been buying back property and making former council homes available again for social rent.Perth and Kinross Council's Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee was updated on the local authority's strategic financial plan for its recent Housing Revenue Account.Conservative councillor Angus Forbes asked how the council was performing in terms of increasing its housing stock, saying that he himself was "a fan of newbuilds".The council's strategic lead for Housing and Communities Elaine Ritchie said: "Where we are doing exceptionally well, is through our Buy Back programme."Our target was 40 this year and we've just reached 95 so we're doing exceptionally well there."She told the committee buy backs were quicker than newbuilds.Ms Ritchie explained: "Just because of the time lag with newbuilds and the pressure, we've got with housing it's quicker through our Buy Back programme."The report - put before the committee - revealed that by March 31, 2025 PKC will have bought back 433 houses at a cost of around £53 million including upgrades