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More than 40% of all the council houses sold off under the Tories’ Right to Buy scheme are now being rented out by private landlords, it was revealed today.

The infamous policy, introduced under Margaret Thatcher, gives council tenants the right to buy their houses at a huge discount.

But analysis by trade publication Inside Housing found the number of so-called ‘right-to-buy-to-let’ homes had risen by 7% in just two years.

It means houses which were built to give the poorest in society a place to live are now being let out at significantly higher rents.

The average private rented sector rent is £88 per week in England, while private rents are £210.

In London, this gap grows from £108 for council rents to £359 for private rents.

(Image: Getty)

And it increasingly means housing benefit payments are ending up in the pockets of buy-to-let landlords.

The research surveyed two-thirds of of all English councils that still have council housing stock. Between the 111 councils, they had sold off a total of 180,260 homes since Right to Buy was introduced in 1980.

Of those, 72,454 are now registered with an “away address”, indicating the leaseholder was subletting the property.

Researchers found seven councils where more than 50% of those sold were now being privately rented, and one - Milton Keynes - where the figure was as high as 70.9%.

(Image: AFP)

John Bibby, chief executive of the Association of Retained Council Housing, said the figures were not surprising.

“We talk about the broken housing market and this is just another part of that,” he said.

“The government has promised a root-and- branch green paper on social housing and it will be interesting to see if that includes Right to Buy and its impact.

“So far there’s been no indication that government are moving away from the concept.”

Indeed, following last month’s Budget, Tory Philip Hammond confirmed the Government would be pushing ahead with plans to extend Right to Buy to Housing Association tenants. A pilot in the West Midlands is planned for next year.