COUNCIL house tenants who want to buy their homes may face a #5000 price increase under new regulations proposed by the Government, a Scottish local authority has claimed.
The City of Edinburgh Council said prospective purchasers would still get a very good deal despite the change in the ''cost floor rule'' but the authority would get a more realistic return on the money it put into home improvements.
Speaking just 48 hours before the end of a Scottish Office consultation exercise, housing convener Councillor Brian Weddell said Edinburgh had lost out on cash which could have been ploughed back into housing.
In February, Housing Minister Calum MacDonald, issuing a consultation paper on proposed changes to the Right-to-Buy Scheme, said some aspects of the present scheme did not represent value for money for the taxpayer. They also led to an understandable reluctance by councils to invest in their housing stock.
The cost floor rule is designed to ensure the discount tenants receive when they buy their council home is no more than the local authority has spent improving the property - excluding repairs and maintenance - in the previous five years.
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