New bill targets domestic abusers and overhauls right to buy in England
A new bill would let social landlords evict domestic abuse perpetrators and raise the right-to-buy wait from three years to 10 in England.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
The bill aims to protect domestic abuse survivors in social housing and slow the loss of council and housing association homes through right to buy. It also removes some older housing rules the government says no longer make sense.
This bill is like changing the rules for who gets to stay in a house when someone has been hurt at home. Instead of making the victim leave, the law would let the bad person be removed first.
It also changes a buying rule for social homes. People would have to live in one for 10 years before they can buy it, instead of only three. That is meant to keep more public homes available.
Think of social housing like a shared box of important tools. If too many tools get taken away and not replaced, there are fewer left for everyone else. The government says these changes would help keep more homes in the box and protect people who need safety.
Analysis
What the bill does
The government-backed bill would change two big parts of social housing policy in England. First, it would let landlords and courts remove a domestic abuse perpetrator from a social home without forcing the victim to leave first. The article says that under the current rules, landlords can only evict the perpetrator after the victim has already moved out, and in joint tenancies the victim often has to end the tenancy entirely.
The bill would also let courts transfer a joint tenancy into the victim’s sole name, or require the landlord to find suitable alternative accommodation where that is appropriate. It is meant to close a loophole that can allow abusive tenants to leave their victims homeless during eviction proceedings.
Right to buy changes
The second major change is to right to buy. Tenants of social housing would have to wait 10 years instead of three before qualifying to buy their home from a council or housing association. The government says newly built social homes would be protected for 35 years, and rural homes that are hard to replace would be exempt.
Councils would also get a stronger first refusal to buy back homes that have already been sold, with the aim of helping public landlords recover stock lost through right to buy. The government says the bill also strips out older, unimplemented provisions from the 2016 Housing and Planning Act, including measures on selling high-value homes, fixed-term tenancies and higher rents for higher-income tenants.
Political context
The bill returned to parliament after being announced in King Charles’s speech on 13 May. The government says it is part of a broader effort to address the long decline in social housing. Domestic abuse campaigners welcomed the move, calling it an important step forward. In the Guardian, Keir Starmer argued that too much social housing had been sold off without replacement and that the government wants a larger push to build affordable homes.
Key points
- Social landlords could evict domestic abuse perpetrators without forcing the victim out first.
- Courts could transfer a joint tenancy to the victim’s name or require alternative accommodation.
- Right-to-buy eligibility would rise from three years to 10 years in England.
- Newly built social homes would be protected for 35 years, with some rural homes exempt.
- The government says the bill is meant to strengthen social housing and protect tenants from abuse.
