Hopes of affordable housing boost in Highland with new scheme

Highland Council are trialling a new scheme where homeowners can sell their homes directly to them.

The local authority are trying out the new open market scheme in the hope that it will improve its housing stock to meet the need for additional affordable housing and provide new homes for families, young and old in communities across the Highlands.

It's open to both those who own former Council and private homes, but will be subject to a survey from the Council.

They say they can't pay more than the valuation price, but the scheme can provide a quick sale and no home report costs.

Quick sale can be advantage of scheme

Housing and Property Committee Chair Laurie Fraser outlined how quick the process can be.

He said: "They don't need to advertise it and they don't have to have a home report, because we'll do our own survey before we offer to purchase.

"We've already bought two or three of them back in Nairn, possibly just did that to see how the system would work.

"We've actually just bought one in Nairn and it was done within three days, so it's a very quick turnaround if someone wants to sell them back to the Council."

The Nairn Councillor also explained how there will be a limit on the number of Council houses they can buy back.

He added: "I don't know if it will bolster it that much because you've got to bear in mind if you're paying £100,000-£150,000 for a house, the money has to come from somewhere.

"There will be a limit of some kind to the number of houses we can purchase as there's not an endless supply of money.

"I'm really pleased we're buying back Council houses, because there is a desperate need for houses.

"Some housing estates in Nairn are virtually all Airbnb, it's not good for communities.

"You have lots of houses, but no one lives there."

Anyone interested in finding out more can contact the Council by e-mailing housing.development@highland.gov.uk