Council House - Right to Buy Scheme
The Right To Buy Scheme is considered by many to be one of the greatest opportunities open to council tenants to get on the property ladder. Despite this, the Right to Buy Scheme is little understood and it is this lack of understanding that prevents many tenants from exercising this right and getting their first foothold on the property ladder. So far, nearly 1.6 million individuals have exercised their right to buy and this figure suggests that, although not widely understood, the right to buy scheme is gaining momentum across the UK.Right to Buy (RTB) means you may be entitled to buy your council home at a discount to the full market value. Your discount is based on the number of years you have spent as a public sector tenant.
Right to buy schemes operate purely for council tenants who have been tenants in the council property for at least 2 years. Once the tenant has met the minimum length of time, which is currently set at 2 years in their council property for tenancies that began before 18 January 2005, they are able to purchase the property at a price that is lower than market value. If the tenancy began on or after 18 January 2005 (or after 12 October 2004 in Northern Ireland) then the minimum length of time is 5 years.
Almost any council tenant is entitled to exercise their right to buy, provided that they are in a suitably secure financial position in order to be able to obtain a mortgage. There are some potential exceptions which include those who have been housed in their property as a condition of their employment, or those allocated housing that has been provided especially for disabled or elderly residents.
In order to exercise the right to buy, the tenant must be renting their property from: a local authority, a housing action trust, a non-charitable housing association or, if they are in Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. Right to Buy (RTB) means you may be entitled to buy your council home at a discount to the full market value.
Once you have claimed the Right to Buy the council will not usually carry out general maintenance other than that for which it has a statutory obligation: for example, to keep a property wind and watertight, and to adequately maintain services, ie. heating, sanitary and electrical installations.
One of the sociological benefits of the right to buy scheme is that it encourages more affluent council tenants to stay in the area that they have lived in for some time, thus diversifying the residential mix and preventing a ghetto-style issue arising in certain council property areas. This right to buy scheme has resulted in much more stable and varied communities, which has a positive knock-on effect on all properties in the locality.
Right to buy allows council tenants to purchase their property, a council tenant can purchase a property at a discount, and the right to buy scheme rewards long-term council tenants and encourages them to stay in the area.
If you deal with us we are responsible for repairing and maintaining the communal areas, the structure of the building and the outside of your home. Although we are responsible for arranging and carrying out this repair and maintenance work, you will be asked to contribute to the cost through your service charge. We will surely help you with enquiries about Council House Sales, processing transactions from receipt of application to settlement with your solicitor and publishing our performance results.
