Right to Buy tenants who want the current rules must apply before the Social Housing Bill becomes law
Tenants who want their application judged under today's rules must send the RTB1 form to their landlord before the Bill becomes law. After that, they will need 10 years as a tenant, and discounts will be a percentage of the home's value.
Council tenants in England who are thinking about buying their home under the Right to Buy need to get a Notice claiming the Right to Buy, the RTB1 form, to their landlord before the Social Housing Bill receives Royal Assent if they want it considered under the current rules. That is the main advice in a factsheet for tenants published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on Tuesday.
The ministry says the date of Royal Assent is not yet known, but the Bill is approaching its final stages. It began in the House of Lords in May and completed its Commons committee stage on 3 November. None of the changes below apply until it becomes law.
Eligibility
The minimum time as a secure tenant will go up from 3 years to 10. As now, the years do not have to be in a row or with the same landlord. A tenant with 8 years when the rules change would need 2 more.
Some homes will be taken out of the scheme altogether:
- newly built social homes, until 35 years after they were completed, so a home finished in 2027 could not be bought until 2062
- homes in a National Park, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or an area designated as rural
- council homes let at market rent
Tenants who already own a home, in the UK or abroad, will not be able to buy. Nor will anyone who has used the Right to Buy before. In both cases there are exceptions for people who had to leave a home because of domestic abuse, and for repeat use the exceptions also cover the breakdown of a marriage or civil partnership. Tenants unsure whether their home is in a designated rural area are told to check with their council or landlord.
Discounts
Since November 2024 the maximum cash discount has been between £16,000 and £38,000, depending on the area. Under the Bill, the discount for houses and flats alike starts at 5% of the property's value once a tenant reaches 10 years, and rises by 1% for each extra year. It is capped at 15% of the value or the local cash cap, whichever is lower. The factsheet's example is a tenant of 12 years, who would get 7% or the cash cap if that is lower.
Selling on afterwards
The period in which anyone who resells must pay back the discount will rise from 5 years to 10. Selling within the first year means repaying the whole discount, between one and two years means repaying 90%, and the amount falls by 10% for each further year, with nothing to repay after 10 years.
The former landlord's right of first refusal, which currently lasts 10 years from the sale, will become indefinite. Every time the home is resold, the landlord must be offered it first, although it does not have to buy.
Longer processing times
Councils will get more time to deal with applications. The deadline for the RTB2 notice confirming the right to buy goes from 4 weeks to 8, or from 8 to 12 where the applicant had a tenancy with another public sector landlord. For the section 125 notice setting out the landlord's offer, it goes from 8 weeks to 12 for houses and from 12 to 16 for flats and leasehold houses. Councils will also be able to pause the timescales for up to 6 months while they investigate suspected fraud.
Housing association tenants using the Right to Acquire will see matching changes, although their discounts stay at £9,000 to £16,000 depending on location.
