| 释义 |
council housing
Residential accommodation provided for renting by local authorities (primarily by district and London borough councils, who, as housing authorities, have a general statutory duty to meet housing needs in their areas). Authorities may build new properties and acquire existing ones for the purpose. The allocation and management of housing stock is in general within their sole discretion, but statute does impose certain priorities (e.g. towards homeless persons) and the Housing Act 1980 (now repealed) gave their tenants a measure of security of tenure. There are also financial restraints, such as restrictions on the proportion of capital receipts available for house building, imposed by central government. Certain tenants of council housing have the right to purchase the freehold of a council house or a long lease of a council flat at a discount (the “Right to Buy”). The Housing Act 1988 introduced measures under which council housing can be transferred to the private rented sector if tenants so desire. A new regulatory framework for social housing was introduced by the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, which gave local authority tenants more say in how their homes are managed, changed the way housing services are provided (including creating a level playing field for members of the armed forces applying for local authority housing), and reformed the Right to Buy Scheme. The Housing and Planning Act 2016 contains further provisions on social housing, including extending the Right to Buy to housing association tenants, abolishing secure tenancies for most new tenancies, and requiring the sale of certain local authority assets. See also Homes and Communities Agency; Homes England; Regulator of Social Housing. |