Right to Buy schemes are for tenants of council owned homes and some housing associations, devised in order to give them the legal right to purchase their home. The property is made available to be bought by its current tenant outright, at a heavily discounted price. These discounts vary depending on location: maximum in London is £108,000, maximum in the rest of England is £80,900 and a maximum of £24,000 discount in Northern Ireland. (Please note that if you sell the property within five years you will have to pay back the discount, and a share of profit). The minimum discount for a house is 32% under its market value, and 44% for a flat. Tenants of a house are eligible for an additional 1% added to the discount per additional year of occupancy - up to 60% - and an additional 2% per year of occupancy for flat tenants - up to 70% discount.
In order to apply for a Right to Buy scheme you MUST have been a council or public sector tenant for 2 years or more – the years of occupancy do not have to have been spent in the same property/same housing authority.
Your landlord must be the council, NHS trust, a housing association or other landlord in the public sector.
The home you are looking to purchase has to be used as your main home – it cannot be left empty.
The property must be self-contained – meaning you don’t share rooms such as the kitchen or bathroom with someone living elsewhere.
If your home was sold by the council to another public sector landlord while you were a tenant then you can still qualify under ‘Preserved Right to Buy’
Having more than one person on the application is accepted as long as they share the tenancy with you and you have lived together for a least the past 12 months.
Things that could jeopardise your Right to Buy are as follows:
- If you are bankrupt or have large debts, as you therefore do not have the means to purchase the property, however this is considered by some lenders
- If you are under threat of being evicted
- If there is a shortage of housing, which unfortunately is not something that can be controlled easily.
- If you have had credit issues it is still possible to purchase your right to buy property please also visit our bad credit section
If you would like to find out whether or not you are eligible to apply for a mortgage, or would just benefit from some more information regarding mortgages then contact us today.
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