Part 4: Social Housing in England Chapter 2: Vacant Higher Value Local Authority Housing
Chapter 2 enables the Secretary of State to require local housing authorities to make a payment to the Secretary of State calculated by reference to the market value of the higher value vacant housing owned by the authority. The requirement only applies to local authorities which are required to keep a Housing Revenue Account ("HRA"). The HRA is a record of revenue expenditure and income relating to an authority’s own housing stock and there are currently 165 such local authorities in England.
	The provisions also place a duty on local housing authorities to consider selling such housing and enable the Secretary of State to enter into an agreement with a local authority to reduce the amount of the payment, with the retained money being used to enable the provision of new housing.
	The provisions are intended to encourage the more efficient use by local authorities of their housing stock through the sale of their higher value housing so that the value locked up in higher value properties can be released to support an increase in home ownership and the supply of more housing.