The town’s Conservatives also backed the motion, which the Labour-led council ultimately rejected, with one councillor saying: “Whatever you may think about it, when it comes to Right to Buy and Thatcher and years gone past, we don’t care. I think it’s a bit perverse, the issue you have highlighted.”
The politicians discussed the example of 8 Frobisher Drive, a Yo-yo Home revealed by Big Issue. Swindon’s council sold this under Right to Buy in March 2015 for £30,000. In April 2021, the council bought it back for £150,000 – the former tenant making a profit of £120,000 at the expense of taxpayers.
On another home we discovered, an ex-tenant made £195,950 profit in six years at the cost of the council’s finances.
Swindon’s financial woes are such that it has been given exceptional financial support by the government, and has put two industrial estates up for sale for £16m – forgoing £1.1m in annual rent to service short-term debt.
Our investigation covered the past five years – Butcher’s motion would have compelled the council to reveal losses across the past decade.
Tory councillor Dale Heenan said: “We should not be refurbishing it, allowing Right to Buy, and then buying back those properties from the new owners. This seems a perfectly reasonable request for a report to set out the facts, and see where we go from there.”
But Labour said the council had been part of lobbying for national reform on the Right to Buy and was “proud” to be part of reforms including reduced discounts. Cabinet member for housing Janine Howarth said the example of 8 Frobisher Drive, under the new reduced discounts brought in by Starmer’s government, would only have resulted in profits of £18,000, rather than £120,000.
“We do not buy back without an independent survey and valuation, and we do not always buy back. We have a fiscal responsibility to our tenants to spend their money wisely as none of this comes from council tax money but tenants money,” Howarth said.
“The information is always available to councillors if they want it, and I suggest they ask for it if they need it, rather than bring a motion such as this wasting officers’ time, and for that reason we will not be supporting this motion.”
Politicians across the country have reacted to our reporting on Yo-yo Homes. In Manchester, Andy Burnham’s deputy Paul Dennett said Labour needed to “urgently” bring in promised reforms extending the amount of time in which councils can reclaim discounts. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said his party would allow councils to end Right to Buy, while Your Party co-founder Zarah Sultana said what we exposed was “indefensible”.
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