Sandwell Council homes to be bought-back in housing crisis battle

Around 20 ex-tenants have approached the council in the last year under the legislation's 'right of first refusal' clause, which states a homeowner who looks to sell their home within 10 years must first offer it to the previous landlord.

And now the council's cabinet has passed a measure to speed up the process by allowing officers to negotiate purchases.

The authority has been facing a housing crisis and in November revealed four hundred new homes a year will be built.

New council houses are being built and empty properties brought back into use.

Acquiring properties through the 'buy back' option is another way the council is looking to replenish its stock.

Council leader Darren Cooper has suggested recovered properties could be immediately let to the previous owner.

He said: "People at this moment in time are struggling financially. This option could give them the opportunity to at least keep the home they are currently living in.

"They have worked hard to buy that home in the first place. If they cannot make their payments our obligation would be to re-home them.

"We could discharge that function by keeping them in the home they are accustomed to but also buy back the properties into the council's stock for future use."

Councillor Ian Jones, cabinet member for jobs and economy, said the option would be considered at a later date.

He said: "We would have to look at that option on an individual basis depending on if we have a statutory duty to the individuals in each case. It maybe there is no obligation on our part.

"The difficulty we have got is we can't buy-back on a blanket basis as we haven't got the money.

"We would be buying back properties at their market value when we only got a proportion of the discounted price in the first place."

Councillor Jones said around 300 properties had been bought off the council under 'right to buy' in the last year.

He added many people did not realise they could enquire about selling back to the council and the number doing so may increase.

The homeowner can sell their home on the open market if the council doesn't agree to buy it within eight weeks.

A report to the cabinet said each case would be considered individually to determine the potential value for money of each property.