Right to Buy (England)

Description

Lets most secure council tenants in England buy their home at a discount once they've had a public sector landlord for 3 years. Houses start at a 35% discount (rising 1% for each year beyond 5), flats at 50% (rising 2% a year beyond 5), but the total is capped at whichever is lower of 70% of the property's value or a regional cash maximum — and since 21 November 2024 those caps are far smaller than they used to be, ranging from £16,000 in London to £38,000 in the South East. Discounts are also reduced by what your landlord has spent building or maintaining the home in the last 30 years, and you normally repay some or all of the discount if you sell within 5 years.

Eligibility summary

• Available in: England.
• Open to individuals — not restricted to businesses.

Notes

Regional maximum discounts for applications made on or after 21 November 2024: North East £22,000; North West £26,000; Yorkshire and the Humber £24,000; East Midlands £24,000; West Midlands £26,000; Eastern £34,000 (£16,000 in Watford); South East £38,000 (£16,000 in Reading, West Berkshire, Hart, Oxford, Vale of White Horse, Tonbridge and Malling, Epsom and Ewell, and Reigate and Banstead); South West £30,000; London £16,000 (£38,000 in Barking and Dagenham and Havering). The London figure is counterintuitive but correct as published — caps are deliberately lowest in the highest-value areas. Applications made before 21 November 2024 still use the old £136,400 (London) / £102,400 (elsewhere) caps. Reforms announced on 28 April 2026 — raising the qualifying period to 10 years, restructuring discounts to 5%–15%, and exempting new-build social homes for 35 years — sit in the Social Housing Bill and are NOT yet in force; do not quote them as current, and do not predict a commencement date. Scotland abolished Right to Buy in 2016, Wales in 2019, and Northern Ireland's housing-association equivalent closed in 2022 (the NIHE House Sales Scheme, covered separately, still runs).

Requirement

A secure tenancy with a public sector landlord (council or, for Preserved Right to Buy, a housing association that took over your council home) for at least 3 years — the 3 years do not have to be consecutive.