The Conservative party under Margaret Thatcher had promised in their manifesto for the general election of 1979 to give council house tenants the 'legal right to buy their homes'.

[2] Gerald Kaufman, then in the Labour Party Shadow Cabinet and a former Environment Minister himself, said the Act would "not provide a single new home and [would] deprive many homeless people or families living in tower blocks from getting suitable accommodation".

[notes 1][4] The Act allowed tenants who had lived in their homes for at least three years to buy at 33% discount of the market price and 44% for a flat.

The Housing Act 1980 introduced the concept known as a 'secure tenancy' which restricted local authorities power to recover possession from their tenants.

If the tenant was to sell the home they bought under the Act within five years of purchasing it they would have to share the capital gain between themselves and the local authority.

[8] Tony Belton, a Labour councillor in South West London claimed that, "Speculators have made millions out of exploiting public assets.