Right to Buy solicitors

If you are taking up the option of the right to buy your council home, appointing a specialist Right to Buy solicitor for your conveyancing can offer peace of mind.

Instructing a specialist Right to Buy lawyer means you are dealing with someone with experience in completing property transactions where a council, rather than a private owner, is the property vendor.

Right to Buy conveyancing solicitors

If you are considering purchasing a property under the Right to Buy scheme, we can offer a free, no obligation conveyancing quote. Our article titled ‘What is a conveyancing quote’ gives advice on what to look out for when comparing conveyancing quotes.

Our specialist property lawyers have extensive experience in dealing with these types of property transactions and can offer conveyancing advice along the way.

What is Right to Buy?

The Right to Buy scheme was created in the 1980’s to allow some council tenants to take their first step onto the home ownership ladder, making home ownership for those on a lower income, a reality. Subject to satisfying certain conditions the scheme allows council tenants to buy their rented property at a discounted rate. Through property ownership, those who thought they had no choices, suddenly find they are able to choose where they live, with the free movement offered by home ownership, rather than their location being dictated by the availability of a council house.

The scheme no longer runs in Wales, but remains in force in England, and since the creation of Housing Associations, an alternative scheme in England, known as Right to Acquire, has been created for their tenants.

Can I buy my council house: do I qualify for Right to Buy?

If you qualify for the Right to Buy scheme the right belongs to all joint tenants and can be exercised by as many joint tenants as you agree between yourselves so long as at least one of you lives at the property as your principal or only home.

You can you also share the right to buy, subject to the landlord’s consent with up to 3 family members who are not a joint tenant but who also occupy the property as their principal or only home. This may include your spouse/civil partner, or parents, grandparents, children, siblings, uncles and aunts, and nephews and nieces (over the age of 18) and who have lived with you in your home for the last 12 months. Relations of half-blood are included and a stepchild can be treated as your child.

Not all properties qualify under the scheme. Such properties include (but not limited to):

• some sheltered or adapted properties
• homes that are due to be demolished within 2 years
• homes that are not self-contained
• some homes provided as part of your job

As a tenant you must also fit qualifying criteria:

• you must have been a council or Housing Association tenant for at least 3 years. This does not have to be continuous or in the same property. Time spent in armed forces accommodation also qualifies
• you must be a secure or flexible tenant
• the property you are purchasing under the scheme must be your main and only home

Your right to buy may be lost or suspended for various reasons for example, but no limited to:

• if your landlord applies to court to either evict you from your home or demote your tenancy
• if you are an undischarged bankrupt/pending bankruptcy petition/have an outstanding arrangement with your creditors

Right to Buy discounts

For the Right to Buy scheme, your landlord will assess the market value of your home and work out the discount you are entitled to.

The discount you will get will depend on:

• how long you’ve been a council or Housing Association tenant
• if the property is a house or flat
• whether your landlord has spent money building or refurbishing your home in the last 15 years

The maximum discounts available increases every April in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

If you sell your home within 5 years of purchasing under the scheme, you will have to repay a proportion of the discount received. In addition, if you sell your home within 10 years, you may be required to offer the property back to the council before you can sell it on the open market.

Preserved Right to Buy

Where the Council has sold a property to a new landlord (i.e. to a private registered provider of social housing), for example, a Housing Association, then subject to certain criteria, if you were a secure (or flexible tenant) of the Council when the transfer took place you may still be able to buy through the Right to Buy scheme – known as Preserved Right to Buy.

This right can also apply if you move to another property owned by the new landlord but it is lost if your tenancy is terminated or if you move to another property owned by a different landlord e.g. a different Housing Association or if you move into privately rented property.

Largely the Preserved Right to Buy scheme works in the same as the Right to Buy scheme.

Right to Buy reform plans

Right to Buy schemes are on the Government’s agenda for reform with the aim being to protect social housing stock. Given the types of matters under review, the criteria for qualification may become more strict, giving less opportunity to take advantage of the Right to Buy benefit. Some of the items under review include, but are not limited to:

• increasing the eligibility requirement from 3 to 5 years or more
• increasing the time period within which the Council can require the discount to be repaid