Right to Buy Scheme

Can I let my Right to Buy property?

A buyer has to live in the home as their main residence for a minimum of five years before they can sell it without having to repay the initial Right to Buy discount, or begin to rent it out.
You’ll also need permission from the mortgage lender to rent that property out.

Are there options if I’m refused by the council?

There generally needs to be a good reason why they refuse. It could be your current position around income; the property may not be suitable or there’s an issue with your credit history. These will all have to be in order for you to apply again.

What does preserved Right to Buy mean?

Preserved Right to Buy is where your current home was transferred from the council to another landlord, like a housing association. Preserved Right to Buy basically means that you’re eligible to buy the home in the same way as if you were still a council tenant. You will still be able to buy your home at a discount.

What does Right to Acquire mean?

Right to Acquire works in the same way as Right to Buy, but with some important differences. It’s where you buy from a housing association, and they may sell a tenant an alternative property to the one they live in.

The discount offered is also less generous than with Right to Buy, but it still offers the option of buying a property at a lower price.

How do I apply for Right to Buy ?

We covered that off a little bit earlier. My advice is to speak to a broker, which is always a good idea. Contact the Right to Buy landlord and find out all the information about the scheme.

Involving a broker early on means you’re aware of all the costs involved, the monthly commitments and all those things that will influence your decision to move forward.

Can the council refuse my Right to Buy application?

Yes, they can. It’s usually due to something in your background. You could have a pending bankruptcy petition or you may have made arrangements with creditors – things concerned with your credit history.

If you’ve got a court order suspending your Right to Buy because of antisocial behaviour, that will also stop your application.

There may also be something connected with the property itself. Perhaps it can only be used as sheltered housing, which wouldn’t come under the Right to Buy scheme. There may even be a demolition notice attached to that property. They can refuse the application in this kind of circumstance.

What happens if there are delays?

Generally Right to Buy involves quite tight timeframes on how everything should be dealt with. If there are delays, the landlord really needs to move the case on within a month of a counter notice. A counter notice will say that you’ve already applied and you’re trying to speed things up.

If you don’t get another response within a month, there is a form online called an Operated Notice of Delay Form, which you then send to the landlord. Once you’ve sent that, the landlord may have to refund your rent and they can even be asked to provide more discount.

It doesn’t happen that often, but if there are delays through the Right to Buy scheme, there are things in place to make sure that it doesn’t run on indefinitely.

On the mortgage side, if you’ve gone direct to a bank or building society, it’s a case of chasing them. If it’s through a broker like myself, we will do all that chasing for you.

How can a mortgage broker help? Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Buying a house in any way can be quite a stressful process. And the fact that you’ve got a two stage process here with Right to Buy – with the landlord initially, and then the mortgage side – can make it even more complicated.

A broker can’t do an awful lot with the Right to Buy because that’s obviously a separate process, but we can take all the hassle away on the mortgage side. You will need to provide certain documents and things like that, but otherwise we do all the chasing and keep you up to date, allowing you to carry on with your everyday life.

Also, if we’ve put an application in, with interest rates varying quite a bit at the moment, we can keep an eye on those for you. Between the application going in and you completing, if better interest rates became available we would switch over to that better rate for you.

There’s no cost for doing so, and it means that you’re guaranteed to be on the right rate at the start of your mortgage.

The whole idea with a broker is that we hold your hand right through the process, so when you get into the property it’s all done. We’d have discussed protection and anything else you need around it. We help with solicitors and estate agents – we’re there to do everything as much as you need us to.

If you need anything at all, we’re always there to help. We always advise you to spend time finding out as much as you can initially, so there are no big surprises at any point – that’s the advice I have for anyone looking at doing this.

YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE.

There may be a fee for mortgage advice. The actual amount you pay will depend on your circumstances. The fee is up to 1% but a typical fee is 0.3% of the amount borrowed.