Families bid to sell back homes

Growing numbers of Black Country residents are attempting to sell back their former council-owned homes as they struggle to keep up with mortgage payments.

Housing chiefs in Sandwell are now drawing up a new £1 million policy to cope with the growing demand for social housing, which would allow them to buy back some homes from residents.

Many of those affected by increasing mortgage costs are former long-serving tenants who bought their own council houses through the right-to-buy initiative.

Under current rules, the council is not allowed to buy any extra housing stock from private sellers but a new policy could be in place by October, with an initial minimum £1 million earmarked to buy back ex-council stock.

Sandwell housing chief Councillor Mahboob Hussain said the authority would become one of the first in the region to bring in the policy change.

"We are considering bringing a policy forward of up to a £1m investment going into buying some of these ex-council houses and bringing them back into the ownership of the council," he said.

"At this time, if these people do come back to us asking us to buy back their house we have to say we are not interested.

"We are trying to change that policy."

He said the numbers of people struggling with mortgages was expected to grow so the council had to try and help in any way to prevent people losing their homes.

"If someone becomes homeless in the borough then it is the council's responsibility to provide a home for them," he said.

"So if the mortgage repayments are missed and someone loses their home, they become our responsibility, so if we can prevent that from happening then I think it is the right thing to do.

"We recognise at this time there is demand for social housing and for those reasons the authority has worked closely not just with the housing associations but the private sector and we have done various things to look at how we can help."