Right to Buy Scheme UK: Discounts & Conveyancing

At a glance

• England only: Right to Buy was abolished in Scotland in 2016 and in Wales on 26 January 2019. It does not apply in those nations.
• Current qualifying period: At least three years as a public sector tenant (need not be continuous or in the same property), under section 119 of and Schedule 4 to the Housing Act 1985. The Social Housing Bill proposes raising this to ten years — not yet law as of August 2026.
• Maximum discount caps (from 21 November 2024): Reduced to pre-2012 levels. The cap varies by council area — roughly £16,000 to £38,000 depending on location — a major cut from the previous maximums of £136,400 in London and £102,400 outside London. Always check GOV.UK for the current cap in your postcode.
• Discount clawback: If you sell within five years, section 155 of the Housing Act 1985 requires you to repay part or all of the discount. The Social Housing Bill proposes extending this repayment window to ten years, but current law still sets it at five.
• Cost floor: Extended from generally 15 years to 30 years on 21 November 2024 (section 131, Housing Act 1985) — costs the landlord has spent on the property in the last 30 years can reduce or eliminate your discount.
• Statutory basis: Housing Act 1985, Part V, principally sections 118 (the right), 119 and Schedule 4 (qualifying period), 129 (discount), 131 (cost floor), 155 and 155A (discount repayment) and 156A (landlord's right of first refusal).

This guide covers England. Right to Buy does not operate in Wales or Scotland. The scheme is undergoing significant reform — figures and rules cited are as at August 2026. Check GOV.UK before relying on any specific figure.

This guide provides general information only. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for advice tailored to your specific circumstances.

What is the Right to Buy scheme?

Right to Buy is a statutory scheme rooted in Part V of the Housing Act 1985 that gives qualifying secure tenants of English local authorities the legal right to purchase their home at a price below its open market value. Section 118 creates the right itself; the discount reflects how long you have been a public sector tenant and the type of property involved (house or flat), subject to a statutory cash cap.

The scheme has operated in broadly recognisable form since the early 1980s, but its terms have been amended several times. The most significant recent changes came into effect on 21 November 2024, when the government substantially reduced the maximum cash discount caps (reversing increases introduced in 2012) and extended the cost floor protection period from generally 15 years to 30 years. Further reforms — including a proposed increase to the qualifying period and an extended clawback window — are contained in the Social Housing Bill, introduced to the House of Lords on 14 May 2026. As at August 2026, the Bill had completed its committee and report stages in the Lords, with third reading scheduled for early September 2026; it still needed to complete its passage through the House of Commons and receive Royal Assent before any of its Right to Buy changes take effect.

England only — Wales and Scotland

Right to Buy was abolished in Scotland in 2016 and in Wales on 26 January 2019, following the Abolition of the Right to Buy and Associated Rights (Wales) Act 2018. Social tenants in those nations cannot use this scheme to buy their home. In Northern Ireland, Right to Buy for housing association tenants was abolished in 2022; the separate House Sales Scheme for Housing Executive tenants continues there under different rules.

Everything below is England-specific.

Who qualifies?

To exercise the Right to Buy you must meet all of the following conditions:

1. You are a secure tenant of a local authority (or you hold a Preserved Right to Buy, explained below). Most council tenants with an indefinite tenancy are secure tenants — check your tenancy agreement if unsure.
2. The property is your only or main home. You must be using it as your primary residence, not as a second property or investment.
3. You have at least three years as a public sector tenant, calculated under section 119 of and Schedule 4 to the Housing Act 1985. This does not need to be three consecutive years, and it does not need to be in the same property or with the same landlord. Time spent as a tenant of councils, housing associations, NHS trusts, the armed forces housing authority and certain other public bodies can usually be aggregated. The longer your qualifying period, the larger the discount you can claim (up to the cap).
4. The property is not excluded. Some properties cannot be bought — see below.
5. You do not have any bankruptcy or court-imposed debt orders outstanding that would affect your ability to purchase.

Important: the proposed ten-year qualifying period

The government has confirmed its intention to increase the minimum qualifying period from three years to ten years. This change is included in the Social Housing Bill introduced to the House of Lords on 14 May 2026. As at August 2026, the Bill had passed its Lords committee and report stages and was due to have its third reading in the Lords in early September 2026 — but it had not yet been considered by the House of Commons and had not received Royal Assent. Until it does, and until the relevant provision is commenced, the three-year threshold remains the legal requirement. Check GOV.UK for the current position before applying.

Who else can be included in the application?

You can apply jointly with anyone already named on the tenancy. You can also include up to three family members who have lived in the property as their only or main home for the previous twelve months — even if they are not named on the tenancy. Including additional qualifying applicants can make it easier to secure mortgage borrowing for the purchase.

Excluded properties

Not all social housing can be bought under Right to Buy. Common exclusions include:

• Sheltered housing — properties specifically designed and managed for elderly or disabled people are usually excluded.
• Job-tied accommodation — homes provided as part of certain employment arrangements.
• Properties scheduled for demolition — if the landlord has approved demolition plans, the property may be exempt.
• Rural exceptions — some properties in designated rural areas can only be resold to local people; the landlord may also have a pre-emption right on resale.
• Newly built social homes — from 21 November 2024, homes that are newly built by a social landlord are protected from Right to Buy for 35 years from the date of completion. If your property was newly built, check with your landlord whether this exemption applies.

If your landlord refuses your Right to Buy application, they must explain the reason in writing in the RTB2 notice. Refusals can sometimes be challenged.

Discount: how it is calculated

The two elements of your discount

Your discount under the current rules has two components working together: a percentage, set under section 129 of the Housing Act 1985, and a cash cap.

Percentage discount (current rules under section 129, Housing Act 1985):

For houses, the discount starts at 35% of the market value after three years of qualifying tenancy and increases by one percentage point for each additional complete year, up to a maximum of 70%.

For flats and maisonettes, the discount starts at 50% after three years and increases by two percentage points per additional year, also up to a maximum of 70%.

Cash cap (from 21 November 2024):

Regardless of the percentage that the formula produces, your discount cannot exceed the applicable cash cap for your area. From 21 November 2024, this cap was reduced sharply to pre-2012 levels. Caps vary by local authority area — reported figures since the change include £16,000 in Lambeth and £24,000 in Sheffield, illustrating the roughly £16,000-to-£38,000 regional range. The cap is set by statutory instrument (The Housing (Right to Buy) (Limits on Discount) (England) Order 2024); the applicable figure for your area is confirmed in the Section 125 offer notice from your landlord. Always check GOV.UK for the current cap before relying on any figure.

In practice, for most applicants the cash cap will bite well before the percentage limit is reached. A property valued at £250,000 and a 40% discount would theoretically produce a £100,000 reduction — but the cap limits the actual discount to the applicable maximum for the area, which may be as low as £16,000.

Proposed changes to discount percentages

The government has also proposed reforming the percentage structure so that discounts start at 5% (at the new ten-year minimum qualifying period) and rise by 1% per year up to a maximum of 15% — applying the same percentage formula to both houses and flats — under the Social Housing Bill. As at August 2026, these changes had not become law and depended on the Bill completing its remaining Lords stages and its full passage through the House of Commons. Check GOV.UK for the discount rules that currently apply to your application.

The cost floor rule

Even where a percentage discount is available, the cost floor rule under section 131 of the Housing Act 1985 can reduce or eliminate it entirely. The cost floor is the amount the landlord has spent building, acquiring, repairing, or maintaining the property over a set period. If those costs exceed the market value of the property, no discount is payable; if they exceed what the discounted price would be, the discount is adjusted upward so that the sale price is not pushed below the cost floor.

From 21 November 2024, under the Housing (Right to Buy) (Cost Floor) (England) Determination 2024, the cost floor period was extended from generally 15 years to 30 years. This means relevant landlord expenditure incurred in the preceding 30 years counts toward the cost floor. (If your RTB1 application was received by your landlord before 21 November 2024, the earlier period of 15 years, or 10 years for properties built or acquired before 2 April 2012, continues to apply to that application.)

The cost floor protects landlords against being required to sell recently built or recently improved homes at a loss and is one reason newer social housing is rarely cheaper to buy under Right to Buy than you might expect.

Improvements you carried out yourself

Under section 127 of the Housing Act 1985, any improvements you have made to the property at your own expense are disregarded when the market valuation is done. This can make a meaningful difference to the effective discount on homes where tenants have invested substantially, and your landlord must state in the Section 125 notice which improvements, if any, have been disregarded.

The Right to Buy process: step by step

Step 1 — Check eligibility and get a valuation estimate

Before submitting your application, confirm you meet the eligibility conditions above and get an informal sense of the property's current market value. The formal valuation is done by the landlord, but having your own independent estimate helps you assess whether the discounted price is likely to be affordable and whether a mortgage is realistic.

Step 2 — Submit the RTB1 notice

You apply by submitting the RTB1 notice (Notice Claiming the Right to Buy) to your landlord. The form is available on GOV.UK. The RTB1 must include the address of the property and be signed by all applicants. Keep a copy and send it so that receipt is provable (for example, by recorded delivery or hand delivery with acknowledgement).

The date the landlord receives the RTB1 is important: it fixes the date for the market valuation and, for applications received before 21 November 2024, determines which cost floor period applies.

Step 3 — Receive the RTB2 notice

Within four weeks of receiving a valid RTB1, your landlord must respond with an RTB2 notice either admitting or denying your right to buy. This extends to eight weeks if any part of your qualifying period was spent as a tenant of a different landlord, since the landlord needs time to verify that tenancy history. If they deny your right to buy, the RTB2 must give detailed reasons. If you do not respond to a subsequent landlord notice at any stage, the landlord can serve a Default Notice giving you a further 28 days to reply before treating the claim as withdrawn. You can challenge a refusal — your landlord should explain the process in the notice, and you can also seek independent legal advice.

Step 4 — Wait for the Section 125 offer notice

Once the landlord admits your Right to Buy, they instruct a valuer and prepare a formal offer, typically within eight weeks of the RTB2 for a freehold house or twelve weeks for a leasehold flat. The Section 125 notice sets out:

• The market value of the property at the RTB1 date
• The discount you are entitled to and the discounted purchase price
• Any improvements disregarded from the valuation under section 127
• The terms of the proposed sale, including any clawback restrictions
• Known structural defects affecting the property
• For flats: estimated service charges for the first five years after purchase

This is one of the most important documents in the process. Read it carefully — it locks in the financial terms of your purchase. You have twelve weeks from receipt of the Section 125 notice to tell the landlord whether you want to proceed. If you disagree with the landlord's valuation, you can apply to the Valuation Office Agency for an independent determination within three months of receiving the notice.

Step 5 — Arrange finance and instruct a conveyancer

Not every mortgage lender offers Right to Buy products, so speak to a broker experienced in the scheme. The discounted purchase price is treated as the sale price for mortgage purposes, but lenders will also assess the underlying market value and the clawback restrictions registered against the title.

Instruct a solicitor or licensed conveyancer with Right to Buy experience. The legal work differs from a standard purchase in several important ways:

• The conveyancer must check that the Section 125 notice is valid and that the discount has been calculated correctly.
• They will review the clawback restriction that will be registered on the title at HM Land Registry — this runs with the land and must be understood before completion.
• They will raise enquiries with the landlord about the title, any service charge provisions (critical for leasehold flats), and the terms of the transfer deed or lease.
• For leasehold flats, they will examine the lease terms carefully, including the length of the lease being granted, ground rent provisions, and the landlord's obligations on maintenance and repair.

Step 6 — Complete and register

On completion, your conveyancer will:

• Transfer the balance of the purchase price to the landlord
• Execute the transfer deed (for freehold houses) or counterpart lease (for leasehold flats)
• Register your ownership at HM Land Registry
• Ensure the clawback restriction is noted on the title, giving future buyers (and their lenders) notice of the discount repayment obligation

From this point you are the legal owner. The clawback restriction remains on the title for the applicable repayment window.

Discount repayment on early sale

If you sell the property within five years of completing your Right to Buy purchase, section 155 of the Housing Act 1985 requires you to repay part or all of the discount. The amount is calculated under section 155A by reference to the market value at the time of resale (not the original purchase price), reduced by the applicable percentage:

| Year of sale | Proportion of discount repayable | |---|---| | Year 1 (within 12 months of completion) | 100% | | Year 2 | 80% | | Year 3 | 60% | | Year 4 | 40% | | Year 5 | 20% | | After year 5 | Nil |

Because the repayment is calculated on current market value rather than the original discounted purchase price, sellers who sell in a rising market can find the repayment obligation is larger in absolute terms than expected. Improvements you carry out after completion are disregarded from this repayment calculation under section 155C.

Proposed extension to ten years

The Social Housing Bill proposes extending the repayment window from five years to ten years. As at August 2026, this had not become law — the Bill still needed to complete its remaining Lords stages and its passage through the House of Commons. Check the current position on GOV.UK before making any decision about selling.

Right of first refusal

Under section 156A of the Housing Act 1985, if you sell within ten years of your Right to Buy completion, you must first offer the property back to your former landlord at the current open market value before selling to any other buyer. The landlord then has a period to decide whether to exercise that right. This applies even after the clawback repayment window has closed.

The Social Housing Bill proposes extending the right of first refusal so that it applies in perpetuity — removing the ten-year cut-off. As at August 2026, that change had not become law.

Rural area restrictions

If your property is in a designated rural area, additional resale restrictions may apply — for example, you may only be able to sell to a person who lives or works locally. The Section 125 notice will state if your property is subject to any rural resale restriction.

Leasehold flats: additional considerations

If you are buying a flat under Right to Buy, you will receive a long lease rather than a freehold title. This raises several conveyancing issues that your solicitor should check carefully:

• Lease length: Under Schedule 6, Part III to the Housing Act 1985, a Right to Buy lease must generally be for a term of not less than 125 years. Where the building already contains an earlier Right to Buy lease granted since 8 August 1980, your lease may instead be granted to expire alongside that earlier lease. Confirm the exact term granted with your conveyancer.
• Service charges: The Section 125 notice must include estimated service charges for the first five years. Your solicitor should examine what these actually cover and whether the estimates are realistic. Be aware that service charges are not capped after the five-year protected period — leasehold flat ownership under Right to Buy can carry significant ongoing maintenance costs.
• Major works: If the landlord is planning major works to the building, this can affect both the cost floor and your future service charge obligations. Ask your conveyancer to raise enquiries on this point.
• Ground rent: Any ground rent provisions in the lease should comply with the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022, which prohibits landlords from charging more than a peppercorn ground rent on most new long residential leases granted on or after 30 June 2022. Confirm the terms with your conveyancer.

Housing association tenants: Preserved Right to Buy and Right to Acquire

If your home was previously owned by a local authority and transferred to a housing association, you may have a Preserved Right to Buy. This gives you broadly the same rights as a secure council tenant, including access to the same discount structure, because your tenancy preserves the Right to Buy status it had before the transfer. Not all housing association tenants have this — it depends on the specific transfer arrangements.

If you do not have a Preserved Right to Buy, you may instead have a Right to Acquire. This is a separate scheme for housing association tenants whose homes were built or funded with public money after a particular date. Key differences from Right to Buy:

• The discount under Right to Acquire is a fixed regional amount, currently ranging from £9,000 to £16,000 depending on location (check GOV.UK for current figures).
• The discount is not percentage-based and is generally considerably smaller than a Right to Buy discount.
• Right to Acquire also requires at least three years as a public sector tenant.
• Not all housing association properties are eligible — newly built homes and properties in certain rural areas are commonly excluded.

Your housing association should be able to tell you which (if either) of these schemes applies to your tenancy.

Getting a mortgage for a Right to Buy purchase

Right to Buy mortgages are available from a range of lenders, but not all mainstream lenders offer them. The key points to understand:

• The discounted price is the purchase price for mortgage purposes — lenders lend against the discounted figure, not the market value. Some lenders will not treat the discount as a deposit even though it reduces the amount borrowed relative to the market value.
• Lenders will factor in the clawback restriction. The restriction registered on the title affects the resaleability of the property and therefore the lender's security. Some lenders treat Right to Buy purchases differently from open-market purchases for this reason.
• A broker who understands the scheme is worthwhile. Not all mortgage products are available for Right to Buy, and the best rate on a mainstream product may not be available for this transaction type.
• Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) may apply. The discounted purchase price is used for SDLT calculations. At lower discounted prices many purchases will fall within zero-rate thresholds, but you should confirm the position with your conveyancer.

Practical checklist before you apply

1. Confirm you are a secure tenant and that the property is your only or main home.
2. Add up your full qualifying period — include time with all public sector landlords, even across different properties. Ask each former landlord for written confirmation of tenancy dates if needed.
3. Check whether your property is excluded — ask your current landlord before you submit the RTB1.
4. Get an independent valuation estimate — so you can assess the likely discounted price before receiving the formal Section 125 offer notice.
5. Research mortgage options before applying — speak to a broker experienced in Right to Buy to understand what you are likely to be able to borrow and at what rate.
6. Read the Section 125 notice carefully when it arrives — including the clawback restriction terms and, for flats, the service charge estimates.
7. Instruct a conveyancer experienced in Right to Buy — the transaction has enough specific features that general conveyancing experience alone may not be sufficient.
8. Check GOV.UK for the current discount cap in your area before making financial plans — caps can change by statutory instrument.

Last reviewed: August 2026. This guide provides general information only and is not legal advice. Rules and figures are subject to change — always verify current figures on GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk before relying on them.