ARCH has learned that stock retained councils will not be
required to make high-value asset (HVA) payments in 2017/18. This
comes as news following the announcement of an expanded pilot for
the voluntary Right to Buy for housing association tenants.
In his Autumn Statement on 23 November, the Chancellor announced
that following the initial pilot of the voluntary Right to Buy for
tenants with five housing associations, the government will launch
an expanded regional pilot in 2017-18.
This pilot will be funded by the Exchequer to the tune of
£250million over four years from 2017-18 to 2020-21. More
information on the timing will follow once the detail has been
developed with the housing association sector.
As we know, the government intend to fund the extension of Right
to Buy to housing association tenants by introducing a HVA levy on
stock retained councils under provisions in the Housing and
Planning Act.
DCLG officials have told ARCH that the government remain
committed to delivering the manifesto commitment to extend the
Right to Buy to housing association tenants and are considering how
the legislation on HVA will be implemented under the framework set
out in the Act.
However, Ministers have been clear that they want a smooth
process for introduction and want to give authorities fair notice
of what their payments will be. We've been advised that for this
reason, local authorities will not be required to make HVA payments
in 2017/18.
We'll keep our members updated with the latest
developments.