Melville Housing Association has celebrated the completion of its final home sale under the now abolished Right to Buy scheme.

Ms Margaret Scott and her son Daniel, who have lived in their house in Penicuik’s Cuiken Terrace for over 22 years, became the 414th (and last) tenants of Melville Housing to buy their home under the scheme which officially closed to new applicants in Scotland at midnight on 31 July 2016.

Since taking over from Scottish Homes in 1995, Melville has lost more than one in five of its original 2,023 properties through Right to Buy. Efforts to reverse this steady erosion of stock numbers began in 2004 when Melville started building new homes and the number of properties currently owned by Midlothian’s largest Registered Social Landlord now sits at just under 2,000.

“On a personal level I’m pleased for Margaret and Daniel and on behalf of everyone at Melville I wish them all the best for the future,” said Melville Housing chief executive, Andrew Noble. “Right to Buy has been a good scheme for tenants keen to own their own homes, however speaking professionally I’m delighted that in Scotland at least, it has now come to an end.

“There is a chronic shortage of good quality, affordable housing across Scotland and for associations like ours Right to Buy has meant the loss of many valuable properties, often at a fraction of their true value. With its passing we now have a real opportunity to start redressing the balance.”