COUNCIL tenants who want to buy their homes will be offered extra help from the start of next month.

Up to £75,000 could be shaved off the price of council homes, depending on their value, under a review of the government's Right to Buy scheme to be introduced on April 2.

This would mean a 120 per cent increase from the maximum £34,000 council house prices can currently be reduced by and the council’s housing portfolio holder, Maggie McEwen, said she expected a rise in interest from potential buyers.

“There have already been a number of people asking about it and the news only came out a few days ago,” she said. “I do believe that the increase from £34,000 to £75,000 will now result in significant interest from our tenants.”

She said that if the idea took off, the council could be faced with less income to put towards maintaining its homes in the future, as money from selling houses cannot be used for general upkeep.

But Kate Hammond, 28, a council tenant in Copperfield, Chigwell, said: “I’ve got no interest in it myself.

“(The government) should not be focussing too much on selling them off, but filling the houses with the people who need them.”

Geoff Boughton, 67, of the Epping Forest Tenants and Leaseholders’ Federation, said the increase was not enough to keep up with the boom in house prices in the area in recent years.

“Every year, there’s a rise in house prices around here and (the discount) hasn’t gone up in all that time,” he added. “Even with the rise, it still won’t be enough. “There will still be some people who can manage it, but most people won’t be able to.”

As part of the new government deal, councils will be able to keep their profits from selling off their housing and must replace each house sold with a newly-built one.

Cllr McEwen said the council was also pushing ahead with its plans to build at least 120 new homes on its old garage blocks and was also working with social landlords to provide more affordable housing.

“We will have enough to replace the new home we have sold,” she added. “We’re also producing the local plan at the moment, which will include social housing.”

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