Councils have lost millions buying back these Right to Buy homes

Star Road, in Isleworth, is the sort of semi-suburban street found all over the southern outskirts of London. It twists and turns, a mix of semi-detached houses, terraces and new build flats. There’s a primary school at the end. Somewhere on this street, though, somebody got rich, and the council paid the bill.

In 2016, they bought their council property under Right to Buy for the discounted price of £272,662. Hounslow Council had no choice, under law, but to sell it. The now ex-tenant then doubled their money by turning it into a Yo-yo Home .

When they came to sell it six years later, in 2023, there was a willing buyer: Hounslow Council. They were willing to pay the market value, and crucially – because the seller had waited more than five years – they could not ask for any of the d