Conference notes:

1. that the policy of Right to Buy has been generally successful in boosting home ownership, increasing social mobility, providing individuals with new freedoms and choices, and helping create mixed communities.
2. the progress made by the previous Executive to safeguard and increase the quality of social housing stock.
3. the reformulation of the Right to Buy into a more suitable instrument of local housing policy by Liberal Democrats in Government in the Housing (Scotland)
   Act 2001 which reduced the discount, increased the qualifying period and introduced the option of Pressurised Area Status.
4. the review of the Right to Buy legislation carried out in terms of the Act by the Scottish Executive.

Conference recognises -

1. that local councils are best placed to assess and meet varied local housing needs for local people.
2. the growing challenge of providing enough quality affordable housing.
3. the need to end the disincentive to councils and housing associations to build new properties for social rent and to increase the supply of housing for rent.

Consequently conference calls on the Scottish Government to

1. Abolish the Right to Buy (RTB) for new build properties in the council and Registered Social Landlord sector.
2. Provide more powers to local councils to mould RTB policy to fit their local needs, including decisions on abolishing RTB altogether, varying the level of discount on purchases, changing qualification periods, applying Pressurised Area Status to a specific geographic areas and housing types or introducing RTB for new builds.
3. Ensure tenants with an existing right should only lose their right after at least 5 years notice and with full explanation of the implications.
4. Empower the Scottish Government, in exceptional circumstances, to call in for review a decision by a Council to abolish RTB within 3 months if the Council has acted outside guidance or against the local housing strategy.
5. Re-affirm that Councils will continue to have a right to sell houses to their tenants as they did before right to buy legislation was introduced.