Right to Buy scheme criticised

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) has criticised the Right to Buy scheme - under which council housing tenants can buy their homes at a discount - which it said "frequently reduces the supply of affordable rented homes in a locality", and called for it to be replaced.

The Rics study concluded that the housing market has not delivered enough homes at affordable prices, and has recommended doubling the current target of 100,000 new homes on publicly owned land, and said builders should be made to start work within three years of acquiring planning permission.

It welcomed the government's Help to Buy scheme - which lends people up to 20% of the value of a new-build home - but called for further action to increase the supply of properties.

It also said the Government "must carefully review the introduction of their welfare reform measures and... be vigilant that the unintended consequences do not outweigh any benefits".

In particular, the under-occupancy penalty on housing benefit claimants in social housing deemed to have surplus bedrooms should not apply where the tenants are unlikely to find alternative suitable accommodation in the area, it said.

There had been a "near disappearance of government-funded research on housing since 2010", the Rics study added.

It called for the creation of an independent committee to advise politicians from all parties on housing supply, and a new body bringing together private-sector and academic research on housing.