Housing Act 1980

The Housing Act 1980 was an Act of Parliament passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom that gave five million council house tenants in England and Wales the Right to Buy their house from their local authority. The Act came into force on the 3 October 1980 and is seen as a defining policy of Thatcherism. In Scotland the Right to Buy was provided by the Tenants' Rights, Etc. (Scotland) Act 1980 and for Northern Ireland it was left to the Housing Executive.

Since the Housing and Town Planning Act 1919 the number of council houses had steadily risen for over fifty years and council tenants could only buy their home with the permission of their local authority. The Conservative party under Margaret Thatcher had promised in their manifesto for the general election of 1979 to give council house tenants the 'legal right to buy their homes'.

The Housing Act 1980 came under Michael Heseltine's remit as he was Environment Secretary at the time. On proposing the bill to Parliament in 1979 Heseltine said it "lays the foundations for one of the most important social revolutions of this century".Gerald Kaufman, then in the Labour Party Shadow Cabinet and a former Environment Minister himself, said the Act would "not provide a single new home and [would] deprive many homeless people or families living in tower blocks from getting suitable accommodation".

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