Whose Right to Buy Is It Anyway?
Is the scheme that allows council tenants to buy their own homes open to fraud and abuse?
File on 4 Investigates · BBC Radio 4
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Show Notes
Around 2.5m council tenants across the UK have bought their homes since Right to Buy started in 1980. The scheme is now being extended to more than a million housing association tenants in England with the first homes expected to be sold in pilot areas next month. The popularity of right to buy has risen sharply since greater discounts were introduced four years ago, but so too have cases of fraud as people seek to exploit discounts of up to nearly £104,000.
Simon Cox goes on the trail of the fraudsters and the companies seeking to make big bucks out of right to buy. He discovers people trying to buy homes they're not entitled to and criminals attempting to launder drugs money.
He investigates companies who offer tenants help to buy their home in order to get their hands on valuable properties.
He also hears concerns from experts that many housing associations do not have the resources and skills to prevent fraud which could potentially result in the loss of millions of pounds worth of much needed homes
Reporter: Simon Cox Producer: Paul Grant.