Manifesto: Labour to let new council homes at social rent for 35 years
- UK ministers moved from manifesto promise to policy, confirming new council and housing-association social homes in England will be shielded from Right to Buy for 35 years. (gov.uk) - The package also stretches tenant eligibility from 3 years to 10 and cuts discounts to 5%-15% of value, replacing far larger post-2012 terms. (gov.uk) - It matters because England has sold far more council homes than it replaced, and Labour is trying to rebuild stock while funding a £39 billion programme. (gov.uk)
Council housing is the domain here — and the stakes are simple. If the state pays to build a social home, does that home stay in the social stock, or does it get sold off a few years l(gov.uk)will be exempt from Right to Buy for 35 years, alongside tighter discount rules and a much longer wait before tenants can buy. (gov.uk)e-consultation-on-reforming-the-right-to-buy)) ### What actually changed? The big shift is that the manifesto idea is no longer just a political pledge. The(gov.uk)councils are not losing freshly built homes before they have had time to earn back the investment and use them for the purpose they were funded for. (gov.uk) ### Is this about rent or about sales? Basically, it is mostly about sales. “Social rent” describes the lower-rent tenure these homes are let at, but the 35-year rule is a(gov.uk)ffordability by keeping those homes in the rented social sector for much longer. (gov.uk) ### Why did Labour do this? Because the old system kept shrinking the stock. Between April 2012 and March 2024, England saw more than 124,000 council R(gov.uk)ortage if new supply leaks back out almost as soon as it arrives. (gov.uk) ### What else is changing? The 35-year exemption sits inside a broader Right to Buy reset. The minimum public-sector tenancy period is rising from 3 years to 10. Discounts now start at 5% of the property value and rise by 1 percentage po(gov.uk)evels and extended cost-floor protections. (gov.uk) ### Does this cover all of the UK? No — England only. The consultation and response are for England, and that matters because Right to Buy already ended in Scotland in 2016 and Wales in 2019. So this is really an English housing-policy story, even if the political framing comes from a UK-wide Labour manifesto. (gov.uk) ### How does this fit Labour’s wider housing plan? It plugs into a much bigger attempt to restart social housebuilding. The government has set out a 10-year, £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme for 2026 to 2036, and says it wants the biggest increase in supply in a generation. The logic is straightforward — if councils and ho(gov.uk)tay in the system. (gov.uk) ### So does this guarantee more council homes? Not by itself. The protection helps, but delivery still depend(gov.uk)ing. The government has also put in a 10-year rent policy from April 2026 to give landlords more certainty, which tells you ministers know the exemption alone is not enough. (gov.uk) ### What is the real bottom line? The manifesto line turned out to be shorthand for a bigger structural change. Labour is not just promising cheape(gov.uk)programme lands, that could finally mean social housing stock grows instead of running in place. (gov.uk)
