How to buy your home
Find out about the Government’s Right to Buy and Right to Acquire schemes which could help you buy your home at a discounted price.
Take a look at the steps involved when buying your home using the Government's Right to Buy scheme.
Right to Acquire scheme
If you have had a social housing tenancy for at least three years, you may be able to buy your home through the Right to Acquire scheme.
Homes that are available to buy through the Right to Acquire scheme must be:
- built after 1 April 1997
- bought after 1 April 1997
or
- transferred to a housing association after 1 April 1997.
Some homes may not be available to buy due to their design or location.
To find out if you’re able to apply to the Right to Acquire scheme, please phone our home ownership team on 0300 500 8000.
Discounts
You get a discount on your home of between £9,000 and £16,000 depending on where you live. We’ll let you know the discount for your area when you apply. Your discount may be less if you’ve used the Right to Acquire or Right to Buy schemes before.
Find your local discount on the government’s website.
Find out more
Government website: www.gov.uk/right-to-acquire-buying-housing-association-home
Government home ownership website: www.ownyourhome.gov.uk/scheme/right-to-acquire
Right to Buy scheme
The Right to Buy scheme allows you to buy your home at a discount, depending on your individual tenancy and the type of property you live in. To find out if you’re able to make an application through the Right to Buy scheme, please phone our home ownership team on 0300 500 8000.
Discounts
If you’re buying a house, you can get a 35% discount – plus 1% for each year over five years that you’ve had a public sector landlord.
If you’re buying a flat, you can get a 50% discount – plus 2% for each year over five years that you’ve had a public sector landlord.
The maximum discount is £102,400 (£136,400 in London) or 70% of the property value, whichever is less.
Please know that your discount may be less if you’ve used the Right to Buy scheme before.
Find out more
The Government has a dedicated Right to Buy scheme website with lots of helpful information. It also offers free and impartial advice on:
- buying your home
- the application process
- getting a mortgage
- finding a solicitor
- arranging a survey.
How to apply
Once you enquire in step 1, we'll check that you’re eligible to buy your home and that your home is available to be bought through the Right to Acquire or Right to Buy schemes.
If Right to Acquire or Right to Buy are suitable for you, we will send you an application form through email. This must be printed, filled in, and signed.
If you can't print our an application form, please contact our Home Ownership team via the enquiry form. They will be happy to send you one in the post.
Selling your home
After you’ve bought your home through either the Right to Acquire or Right to Buy scheme, you’re free to sell it at any time.
If you do decide to sell your home within the first 10 years, part of the legal requirements are to ask us to buy it back before you advertise on the open market. As part of this process, we can arrange a valuation to set the price.
Paying back your discount
You’ll have to pay back some or all of your discount if you sell your Right to Buy home within 5 years of buying it.
You’ll have to pay back all of the discount if you sell within the first year. After that, the total amount you pay back reduces to:
- 80% of the discount in the second year
- 60% of the discount in the third year
- 40% of the discount in the fourth year
- 20% of the discount in the fifth year
The amount you pay back depends on the value of your home when you sell it.
For example, say bought your home which was worth £100,000 and got a 40% discount (£40,000). You then sold your home after 18 months for £120,000.
40% of £120,000 is £48,000. As you’re in the second year, you would repay 80% of £48,000 (£38,400).
Right to Shared Ownership
The Right to Shared Ownership, is a scheme which gives social tenants, who are living in new rented homes delivered by the Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26, the chance to buys a stake in their home, and purchase further shares when they can afford to do so.
The Right to Shared Ownership will apply to all new rented homes delivered through the Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26, with a few exceptions.
Residents living in one of those homes may be eligible for the scheme, as long as they are:
- a social tenant who has been in social housing for three years
- have lived in a qualifying home for a year.
The following types of property are not included in the scheme:
- local authority homes
- homes in designated protected areas and rural exemption sites
- specialist homes for older, disabled, and vulnerable people
- alms houses
- homes where the landlord is a co-operative housing association
- homes where the landlord or freeholder is a Community Land Trust.
Find out more
The Government has helpful guidance on The Right to Shared Ownership.
If your property was delivered by the Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26, you can contact the team for more information.
Voluntary right to buy
In June 2022, the Government announced potential changes to the Right to Buy scheme, to help housing association tenants to purchase their home.
The Government has not published further details or outlined any timescales for these changes. However, as soon as they do we'll let you know.
For more information on home ownership schemes and the Voluntary Right to Buy Pilot, take a look here.