Example housing dissertation topic 6:

‘The right to buy’ – A history.

It is often forgotten that council tenants’ right to buy their home significantly pre-dated the Conservative administration of Margaret Thatcher. In fact, the right to buy was enshrined within legislation in the late 1940s though seldom promoted by Labour-controlled councils. For instance, it was only with the return of a Conservative council in Derby in 1968 (an authority that had been Labour since 1926), that the right to buy was actively promoted. Focusing on the two authorities of Derby and Portsmouth, this dissertation charts the political motivation of the councils, and the levels of ‘right to buy’ uptake in the two cities from 1940 to the present day. In so doing, it expands existing knowledge of the Thatcher years and makes an original contribution to understanding to this aspect of housing policy.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Cook, J.A. (1985) Policy implementation in housing: A study of the experience of Portsmouth and Derby, 1945-74. Doctoral thesis, University of Nottingham.
• Goodlad, R. and Atkinson, R. (2004). ‘Sacred cows, rational debates and the politics of the right to buy after devolution’. Housing Studies, vol. 19(3), pp. 447-463.
• Tunstall, R. (2003). ”Mixed tenure’ policy in the UK: Privatisation, pluralism or euphemism?’ Housing, Theory and Society, vol. 20(3), pp. 153-159.