Right to Buy provides council tenants to buy their council houses at discount.Under the consideration of certain factors, you are eligible to apply for right to buy. These are as follows;
- You live in a house rented by the government or a housing society and the property must be the only main residence of yours.
- You are a legal and secure tenant which means you have a legal contract between you and your landlord.
- It’s self-contained, therefore you don’t share any rooms or spaces such as the kitchen or the washroom with anyone that isn’t a part of your household.
- You have remained a rented tenant for more than 3 years from the council or private landlord. It does not have to be three consecutive years just 3 years overall.
- You don’t have any unpaid loans with the appropriate council or housing society.
Discount Rates
There is a limit to the discount that you can avail yourself through Right to Buy. This depends on the type of property you live in. If you reside in a house and you have been a tenant for about three to five years, you get a 35 percent discount.
After five years, for every additional year, you have remained a tenant, the discount rises by 1 percent, up to a maximum rate of 70%. The maximum discount in London is £112,300, In England, it is around £84,200, and in the North of Ireland, it is £24,000.
If you reside in a flat and you have remained a tenant for more than 3 to 5 years, you get a 50 percent discount. Similarly, it increases from 2 percent to up to 70 percent for every year as a tenant. (For instance, if an applicant has remained a tenant for around 8 years)
Procedure
You should take a look at your budget before deciding upon buying your government sector property. You should make sure that this is something you want to and can stick to for the long run. Apart from keeping up with loan repayments, on top of the basic utilities, you will also be responsible for any required repairs and upgrades around the house.
- Fill in a Right to Buy Application Form (RTB1). You can find this online or you can apply for a written copy from your landlord. Send it via licensed or registered shipping to your landlord for the sake of record keeping.
- Your landlord can respond within four weeks to let you know whether you apply for the right to buy or not. The landlord will have 8 weeks in case you have been a tenant for less in 3 years.
- If the property is a freehold, the landlord can give you a deal within eight weeks. If it is a leasehold the allowed time is 12 weeks. This offer describes the price they suggest you can pay.
- Once you get an offer from your landlord, you have 12 weeks to decide if you want to purchase the home. Your landlord will then give you a notice after this time is up if you have not responded to the proposal. You have 28 days to respond to it, or the landlord might drop your appeal. Do not fear, at any moment, you can step out of the deal and prefer to rent.
If you disagree with the bid from your landlord and believe that the value provided by the landlord is excessively high, you have to appeal to it within three months of receiving the offer. Then apply for an impartial appraisal. An HM Revenue and Customs district surveyor will then visit the property and determine it’s worth. You have 12 weeks to accept the cost or drop out of the deal.
To meet the expense of your house, you would still need to get a broker in order, coordinate a survey, and request a mortgage or loan. You may benefit from talking to our professional mortgage brokers at this stage, who will not only assist you securing the best mortgage deal for you but will give you free mortgage advice to procced with the application.
With a major discount, it’s not as straightforward as buying it and just being able to pass it off anytime you want and to whomever you want.
Selling Property Through Right to Buy
If you sell a property purchased through Right to Buy within the first 10 years of owning it, then you must initially offer it either to your former owners or to another mutual landlord in the city. This is also a clause in the documents provided to you while buying the property in the first place.
It should be sold at the full selling price negotiated by you and the landlord, if the landlord wishes to purchase the home. A district valuer will determine how much your land is worth if you can’t seem to agree or negotiate the price. The landlord will be granted a period of eight weeks to reply. If they don’t show up to you within the prescribed time, you will be at liberty to offer it to anyone else.
You can also opt for joint applications. In a joint application you share your tenancy with someone else. This is only allowed for family members. A family member who has lived with you for at least 12 months is eligible to apply for joint application with you. It is not compulsory that have shared a tenancy with you for the same time period. You can add up to three members of your family that comply with the criteria. Lastly, you can also buy an ex-council owned house. For instance, the house you are living in was sold to some other landlord e.g., a housing association by the council. You can buy that house; this is called Preserved Right to Buy.
