Housing association tenants begin to buy their homes

The Right to Buy scheme has now been extended to housing association tenants.

It is being piloted in five areas across England and will be rolled out to the rest of the country later this year. It gives tenants the opportunity to buy their home with a discount of £103,900 in London and £77,900 elsewhere.

Right to Buy has been available to council house tenants since 1980 and has enabled 2 million families to buy their homes. The government says that opening the scheme to housing association tenants could benefit a further 1.3 million tenants.

The move follows a voluntary agreement between the government and the National Housing Federation to extend Right to Buy. Under the agreement, every home sold will be replaced nationally with a new affordable home.

The pilot schemes got underway on 25 January, enabling tenants in the five pilot areas to apply to buy their home. Communities Secretary Greg Clark said: “The pilot will help inform the design and implementation of the main scheme before it is rolled out across the country following the passage of the landmark Housing and Planning Bill.”

The pilots are being delivered by:
• L&Q – Croydon LBC, Enfield LBC, Greenwich LBC, Haringey LBC, Lambeth LBC, Lewisham LBC, Newham LBC, Southwark LBC
• Riverside – Liverpool CC, Halton BC, Knowsley MBC, Sefton MBC, St Helens MBC, Wirral MBC
• Saffron Housing – South Norfolk DC
• Sovereign – Cherwell DC, West Oxfordshire DC, Vale of White Horse DC, South Oxfordshire DC
• Thames Valley Housing Association – Guildford BC, Hart DC, Runnymede BC, Rushmoor BC, Woking BC.

It’s expected that Right to Buy will be available throughout the rest of the country by the end of the year.

Please contact us if you would like more information about the legal aspects of buying or selling a home.