Right To Buy: Buying Your Council Home: Overview - GOV.UK

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  1. Home
  2. Housing and local services
  3. Council housing and housing associations
Right to Buy: buying your council home Skip contents

Contents

  1. Overview
  2. Discounts
  3. Applying
  4. Your landlord's offer
  5. Appeals
  6. Delays
  7. Selling your home
  8. Help and advice
Overview

Right to Buy allows most council tenants to buy their council home at a discount.

You can apply to buy your council home if:

  • it’s your only or main home
  • it’s self-contained
  • you’re a secure tenant
  • you’ve had a public sector landlord (for example, a council, housing association or NHS trust) for 3 years - it does not have to be 3 years in a row

There are different rules for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Joint applications

You can make a joint application with:

  • someone who shares your tenancy
  • up to 3 family members who’ve lived with you for the past 12 months (even if they do not share your tenancy)

Ex-council homes

If your home used to be owned by the council, but they sold it to another landlord (like a housing association) while you were living in it, you may have the Right to Buy. This is called ‘Preserved Right to Buy’.

Ask your landlord if this applies to you.

Next:Discounts View a printable version of the whole guide
  • Affordable home ownership schemes
  • Selling a home
  • Council housing
  • Housing association homes
  • Council housing and housing associations

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Tag » When Did The Right To Buy Scheme Start