Cheapest Rochdale council house sold for just £14K under Right to Buy policy

Former council houses on Hill Top Drive, Kirkholt (stock photo)

The cheapest former council house in the Rochdale borough sold under the Right to Buy policy cost just £14,160, new data from the BBC Shared Data Unit has revealed.

Right to Buy, which offers large discounts to council tenants who buy their home, has been one of the most divisive housing policies of the past 40 years.

Since its inception, more than 2.6 million former council tenants in Great Britain have bought homes under the policy, according to research by The Chartered Institute of Housing

Supporters say it has given millions of people the chance to get on the housing ladder and secure their families’ financial future. Opponents blame the policy for distorting the housing market and for a huge reduction in the amount of social housing stock.

The cheaper-than-chips house sold 14 years later for an impressive profit of £84,950.

The data available is for 314 ex-council houses purchased by Rochdale tenants under the scheme between February 1993 and April 2015 and sold between March 2002 and March 2018.

The house sold for the least amount of money sold for £11,000 in 2004 after being bought for an undisclosed sum in July 1995, whilst the most expensive sold for £356,630 in 2017, again after being bought for an undisclosed sum in April 2012.

The priciest house bought under right to buy was £116,000 in January 2011, later selling for £140,000 in July 2017 – a profit of £10 per day.

One house was owned for just 90 days before being sold, whilst the longest was owned 21 years and eight months.

The largest profit was £116,000 on a house originally purchased for £44,000 in 2004 (profit can only be calculated on properties where the purchase price was not undisclosed).

One house, bought for £29,700 in March 2008, sold for just £17,224 in June 2014, a loss of £12,476 (real terms £18,171), a loss of £5 per day.

Rochdale Borough Council and Rochdale Boroughwide Housing have been approached for comment.

**This article was amended 17 April 2019 as the data supplied by BBC Shared Data Unit from HM Land Registry was incorrect. The headline and opening paragraph originally stated that the house was sold for £14.16.