THE SNP GROUP at Moray Council have welcomed the ending of the automatic right to buy in Scotland from the start of this month.
Council and social tenants have retained a right to buy their property since the Thatcher government in 1980 passed the Tenants Rights Etc Act (Scotland).
Now sections of that Act have been repealed – meaning that tenants of social housing will no longer be able to buy properties at lower than market value from their landlords.
Leader of the SNP Opposition group at Moray Council, Councillor Gary Coull, welcomed the move, saying: “This change is long overdue.
“Across Moray and Scotland thousands of affordable family homes have been sold off. This has resulted in almost half a million social rented homes being lost across Scotland of which over six thousand have been in Moray.
“This change in itself won’t create any new homes in Moray but it will stop the ongoing erosion of the affordable housing stock we have.
“This, in addition to the Scottish Government’s recent significant increases in financial support and ambitious target to build at least fifty thousand new affordable homes, should provide a much needed boost to affordable housing in Moray.
“SNP councillors will continue to push that Moray fights to ensure it get its fair share of this funding so we can address the significant shortfalls particularly in rural areas.”