ABSTRACT
In Britain choice was more restricted than in continental countries because, by 1980, 72 per cent of all tenants rented from a local authority landlord – a near monopoly in the rented market – involving over 30 per cent of the total population. The 1980 Housing Act introduced the Right to Buy for virtually all secure council tenants (after three years’ tenancy) at discounts of up to 50 per cent depending on the length of tenancy. The long history of growth in home-ownership across the classes took a massive new turn as a result of the measure, and a new social division emerged between secure, satisfied owners, sitting on the bounty of a government-sponsored asset; and a large minority of tenants who generally aspired to ownership but could not achieve it. The 1988 Act was supposed to be the ‘jewel in the Conservatives’ crown’, the Act that decisively took away local authority power and gave it to the consumer.
