Right to Buy

As a tenant of the Council you may wish to buy your home.

Your tenancy agreement gives you the legal right to buy your home from the Council. To be able to exercise this right:

You must have been a secure tenant with us or other public sector landlord (a council or housing association), or have lived in armed forces housing for a certain time. How long you will need to have been a tenant before exercising your right makes a difference. If you became a tenant before 18 January 2005 the specific time is two years. If you became a tenant on or after 18 January 2005 the specific time is 5 years.
You must not live in a certain type of property such as specialist housing for the elderly or disabled people sheltered housing.

You will be able to buy your home at less than its true market value and generally the longer you have been a qualifying tenant the bigger your discount will be. If you live in a house you will get between 32% and 60% discount from the market value, and if you live in a flat you will get between 44% and 70% discount. Both of these discount rates are however subject to a maximum ceiling discount allowed of £24,000.

If you sell your home at a future date you may need to repay some or all of your discount. If you exercised your right to buy before 18 January 2005 the specific time is three years but if you applied on or after that date the specific time is five years. In addition if you applied on or after 18 January 2005 you will have to give the council the first option on your house if you wish to sell it within 10 years after your purchase.

Further information is provided in the DCLG booklet - select the related link to view this information and in the Right to Buy document giving details required to be given by law to all of the Council's secure tenants. In order to ensure applications are processed efficiently the Council has produced a Service Charter containing details of the standards of service you can expect to receive.