Tenants re-selling their council homes on the Isle of Wight made more than £2.6 million profit.
One former tenant, who bought their home under the right to buy scheme, re-sold it just 56 days later, making an additional £10,500.
£6.4 billion in profit across UK
The right to buy scheme allows tenants to buy their homes at a discount however, the BBC Shared Data Unit revealed yesterday, tenants who sold on their properties made £6.4 billion in profit across the UK.
The data analysed 26 out of 80 right to buy homes on the Island and revealed that 24 made a profit.
The Isle of Wight Council does not own any housing, and the former district councils transferred all their stock to housing associations in 1990.
Managed by housing associations
All social housing on the Island is owned and managed by housing associations, mainly Sovereign Housing Association, formerly Spectrum, Southern Housing Group, and Vectis Housing Association.
A spokesperson for the Isle of Wight Council said:
“We operate a joint housing register with the three associations mentioned above as a partnership and currently there are 2,347 applicants as of yesterday.”
Discounted homes
The former tenants were allowed to buy their homes at a discount.
However, those who sold within five years of purchasing — including the tenant who bought and sold their home within two months in May 2003 — would have had to repay the discount on a sliding scale depending how long they kept their home.
The discounts they repaid were not recorded within the data revealed by the BBC.
One Island house resold for £56,000 less than the discount original price while another had a real terms price loss of £185.
Higher daily profit
The highest profit per day on the Isle of Wight was for a house that sold for an extra £60,000 five months after its first sale — the tenant made a daily profit of £373.
The Island had a higher profit per day (£59) compared to neighbouring authorities Portsmouth (£30) and Southampton (£34).
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may be been made by OnTheWight. Ed
Image: digallagher under CC BY 2.0
