Buying and selling
Right to Buy purchase
Buying your council or housing association home at a discount under Right to Buy, from the landlord's offer notice to completion.
Every cost on its own line: the law firm's legal fee, VAT, the searches and other third-party costs, and any property tax. Your quote opens as soon as you send the form.
Right to Buy discounts can be repayable if you sell within 5 years, and your former landlord can have first refusal for 10 years. Think about your plans for the next few years before you buy.
Right to Buy lets most secure council tenants in England, and some housing association tenants with a preserved right, buy their home at a discount on the market value. You usually need to have been a public sector tenant for at least 3 years, which do not have to be in a row. The discount depends on how long you have been a tenant and whether you live in a house or a flat, and it is capped at a maximum amount for your area.
This service covers the legal work once your landlord has accepted your application: checking the landlord's offer, the title or lease, your mortgage and the conditions that come with the discount. Right to Buy ended in Wales in January 2019, and Northern Ireland has its own scheme for Housing Executive tenants with different rules, so this page describes England.
The instant quote adds the Right to Buy admin fee to the usual purchase costs, and Keyfolio can then introduce you to a regulated law firm used to dealing with councils and housing associations.
What is involved
Right to Buy follows a set process with time limits on both sides:
- Application: you send the landlord the RTB1 form. The landlord must say yes or no within 4 weeks, or 8 weeks if it has been your landlord for less than 3 years.
- The offer notice: if your landlord agrees, it sends an offer setting out the price it thinks you should pay and how it was worked out, the discount, a description of the property, any known structural problems and, for flats, estimates of service charges for the first 5 years. This must arrive within 8 weeks for a freehold house or 12 weeks for a leasehold flat.
- Reviewing the offer: your conveyancer checks the offer, the title and, for a flat, the lease, including service charges and repair obligations. If the valuation seems too high, you can ask for an independent valuation by the district valuer within 3 months of receiving the offer.
- Accepting: you have 12 weeks from the offer to tell the landlord you want to go ahead.
- Mortgage: your conveyancer checks your mortgage offer and acts for your lender.
- Completion: the landlord's solicitors send the transfer or lease, you sign, and the purchase money is sent on completion.
- Registration: your conveyancer files any property tax return and registers you as the owner, along with the landlord's charge securing repayment of the discount.
What the legal fee covers
- Reviewing the landlord's offer notice and the discount calculation
- Checking the title, or the new lease for a flat
- Explaining service charge estimates and repair obligations for flats
- Explaining the discount repayment and resale conditions
- Acting for your mortgage lender
- Dealing with the landlord's solicitors and completing the purchase
- Working out and filing any property tax return
- Registering your ownership at HM Land Registry
Costs you may see on top
- The Right to Buy admin fee for working with the landlord on the discount and conditions
- A leasehold admin fee if you are buying a flat
- Searches and HM Land Registry fees
- A fee for acting for your mortgage lender
- A survey of the property's condition, which is separate from the landlord's valuation
- Identity checks and the bank charge for sending completion money
- Stamp Duty Land Tax, which follows special rules for Right to Buy and is worked out by your conveyancer
What to have ready
- Your landlord's acceptance of your application and the offer notice
- Your tenancy agreement and rent account details
- Your mortgage offer, or details of your mortgage application
- Details of anyone buying with you, such as a family member who has lived with you for the past 12 months
- Photo identification and proof of address for each buyer
- Any notices or service charge information you have received, if you live in a flat
How long it takes
Right to Buy has statutory time limits, so it often takes longer than an ordinary purchase. The landlord has up to 4 or 8 weeks to accept your application and then 8 or 12 weeks to send its offer, and you have 12 weeks to accept. After that, the legal work and mortgage often take several more weeks. Delays commonly come from valuation challenges, mortgage applications and, for flats, questions about the lease or service charges. If your landlord is late, you can serve delay notices, which in some cases reduce the price.
Things to watch for
- If you sell within 5 years, you usually have to repay some or all of the discount: all of it in the first year, then 80%, 60%, 40% and 20% in years two to five.
- If you sell within 10 years, you must usually offer the home first to your former landlord or another social landlord in the area, which has 8 weeks to decide.
- For a flat, read the service charge estimates for the first 5 years carefully and ask about planned major works. Repair bills for the block can be substantial.
- Maximum discounts were reduced for applications from 21 November 2024 and vary by area. Check the offer against the current cash cap for your area.
- A Social Housing Bill introduced in Parliament in 2026 proposes further changes, including a longer qualifying period and a longer repayment period. Your conveyancer will confirm which rules apply to your application.
Questions people ask
How much discount will I get?
For a house, the discount starts at 35% after 3 to 5 years as a public sector tenant and rises by 1% for each extra year; for a flat it starts at 50% and rises by 2% a year. The discount cannot be more than 70% of the value or the cash maximum for your area, whichever is lower, and for applications from 21 November 2024 those cash maximums range from £16,000 to £38,000. See GOV.UK for your area's figure.
Do I have to repay the discount if I sell?
If you sell within 5 years of buying, you will usually have to repay some or all of the discount: all of it in the first year, falling to 20% in the fifth year. The landlord registers a charge on your title to secure this. Transferring the home to a family member may not trigger repayment, but you must agree this with the landlord first.
Can I challenge the landlord's valuation?
Yes. If you think the market value in the offer is too high, write to the landlord within 3 months of receiving the offer and ask for an independent valuation. A district valuer from HM Revenue and Customs will visit and decide the value, and you then have 12 weeks to accept it or pull out.
Can I pull out after applying?
Yes. You can withdraw from a Right to Buy application at any time before completion and carry on renting as before. Once the purchase completes, you own the home and take on all the costs of repairs, insurance and, for a flat, service charges.
Who does the work
Your matter is handled by a law firm regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers or CILEx Regulation, or in Northern Ireland by a solicitor regulated by the Law Society of Northern Ireland. At the moment the law firms on our panel act for property in England and Wales, so for property in Northern Ireland we tell you whether a firm can act for you before we pass your details to anyone. The firm confirms who will work on your file, their experience and its terms before you instruct it. How we choose our firms.
Helpful guides
The other costs of your move
- Stamp duty calculator: stamp duty in England and Northern Ireland, Land Transaction Tax in Wales
- Moving costs calculator: the other costs of the move, from the survey to removals