Acquisitions of existing or planned properties

We pro-actively seek opportunities in the market on an ongoing basis. The majority of these properties will be located within the borough and will be used to provide council homes for social rent, and to secure housing for homeless households needing temporary accommodation.

This approach helps to mitigate the costs of placing people in costly private rented accommodation. We will not purchase properties unless value for money can be clearly demonstrated. As many of these properties are single dwellings or flats, we have not included these in the borough map.

Our acquisitions to date have included:

‘buy-back’ properties where the owner had purchased the home using the 'Right to Buy' process and is obligated to offer the Council the opportunity to purchase the home back into Council stock.
properties from third parties, including street properties where value for money is guaranteed
conversions of a number of under-used or poor-quality council assets to provide council homes

Finally, we are also pursuing discussions with developers whereby the Council can buy off plan and/or partner on developments. This will accelerate the delivery of much-needed homes for social rent and temporary accommodation.

We always welcome discussions on further opportunities for partnerships where we can:

add value
use grant funding or ‘Right to Buy’ receipts
or maximise social rented council homes

Since November 2018, 117 new social rented and 30 temporary accommodation homes have been created in the borough through acquisitions.

For further information please contact: buybacks@lewisham.gov.uk or visit: selling your home.

Published on: 21/01/2020