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Buying your home

About Right to Buy

Right to Buy (RTB) is a government scheme, which gives qualifying council tenants a chance to buy their homes.

To qualify:

  • you must be a secure tenant in the property you wish to buy
  • you must have spent at least three years as a public sector tenant
  • the property must be your only or main home
  • you must not have breached your suspended possession order
  • your home must not be due for demolition (a notice would have been served on you).

Find more information on qualifying for the Right to Buy scheme

How to apply

If you think you are eligible, you can apply through your tenant services account in My Account.

Apply for Right to Buy

Don’t have an online account?

Creating an account is easy and only takes a couple of minutes. All you need to get started is an email address, to use as a login. We will then send you details on how to activate your account.

Register to My Account

You will need to activate your tenant services account the first time you log in.

Buying with family members

You can buy your home with family members or a spouse/civil partner, even if they are not joint tenants, as long as:

  • it is their only or principal home
  • they have lived there for a minimum of 12 months before applying. Family members cannot apply for the Right to Buy or buy the property without the main tenant(s).

Joint tenants

In a joint tenancy usually both tenants must apply to buy.

If you do not want to apply, you must agree to the sale by filling in the appropriate part of the application form.

You should also consider getting legal advice, as when you end your tenancy you will lose rights to the property.

What happens next

Once we have received your Right to Buy application, we follow a five step process to complete the process.

Step 1. Assessing your application

This can take up to 28 days. We will notify you by letter of the decision to either accept or deny your application.

Step 2. Valuation of your home

If your application to purchase your home is accepted, the next step is to get your property valued. We will arrange an appointment with you to have an office visit your home to inspect and calculate the value of your property.

Once your property has been inspected, we’ll:

  • calculate the discount you're entitled to
  • determine the final purchase price
  • send you a formal offer called the Landlord's Offer Notice, also known as the Section 125 notice.

Step 3. Get an offer

We’ll send you the offer notice within xx weeks. It is important that you read this document carefully and contact us if anything is unclear.  

You will have 12 weeks to inform us if you accept our offer or not. If we don’t hear from you, we’ll withdraw your application.

Step 4. Offer acceptance

If you decide to accept our offer, your application will be passed to our Legal Services Department who will deal directly with your solicitor to finalise the sale. 

At this point, it is important that start looking into the funding or mortgage arrangements if you have not done so already.

Step 5. Completion

Once the documentation is approved and the mortgage arrangements are in place, a completion date will be set to finalise the sale.

Costs

Your discount entitlement is based on how many years you have been a secure tenant.

  • Three to five years as a secure tenant gives you a 50% discount if your property is a flat or maisonette and 35% when your property is a house.
  • Six years or more as a secure tenant gives you an extra 2% discount per full year for flats or maisonettes and an extra 1% discount per full year for houses.

The discount is capped at 70% or the maximum cash discount - whichever is lower.

The current maximum discount for London is £127,900 and £96,000 for the rest of the country for Right to Buy applications received on or after 6 April 2023.

This new maximum discount will not apply to applications received before 6 April 2023.

Use the Right to Buy Discount Calculator to find out how much discount you qualify for.

Can You Afford It?

Before you think about buying your property it is a good idea to think about the costs involved. There are other one-off costs besides paying for the value of your property, including:

  • stamp duty
  • surveys
  • solicitors fees.