Right to Buy

You can make a joint application with:

1. Someone who shares your tenancy
2. Up to 3 family members who’ve lived with you for the past 12 months (even if they don’t share your tenancy - we will need proof of residency).

If your home used to be owned by the council, but it was sold to another landlord (like a housing association) while you were living in it, you may still have the Right to Buy. This is called ‘Preserved Right to Buy’. Ask your landlord if this applies to you.

Homes suitable for occupation by the elderly

Your landlord may refuse to let you buy on the grounds that your home is particularly suitable for occupation by elderly people (under paragraph 11 of Schedule 5 to the Housing Act 1985). If so, you can ask a Residential Property Tribunal to decide if your landlord is right. But you must ask them within 56 days after the landlord has refused to sell your home. If you don’t ask in time, you lose this right of appeal.

What the law says:

You do not have the Right to Buy if your home:

1. Is particularly suitable for occupation by elderly persons, taking into account its location, size, design, heating system and other features;
2. Was let to you for occupation by a person aged 60 or over, whether they were the tenant or not; and
3. Was first let (to you or someone else) before 1 January 1990.
4. When considering if your home is ‘particularly suitable’, your landlord must ignore features that you have provided (for example, a central heating system).

Homes due to be demolished

If your landlord intends to demolish your home, they may serve on you an initial demolition notice, valid for up to 7 years.

Such a notice suspends their obligation to complete a Right to Buy purchase. If you have already applied for the Right to Buy, you can still complete your purchase if demolition does not in fact take place. You can also make a new application while an initial demolition notice is in force, but your landlord does not have to complete the sale under those circumstances.

However, if your landlord serves a final demolition notice, then any existing Right to Buy claims are ended and no new applications can be made. Your landlord can only serve such a notice if all other premises which are to be demolished within the relevant area have been acquired or are subject to binding agreements to acquire. This is to prevent tenants from being disadvantaged by unresolved compulsory purchase issues. A final demolition notice will be valid for 2 years, and can be extended on application to the Secretary of State.

If you have established a valid claim to exercise the Right to Buy before either an initial demolition notice or a final demolition notice is served, you have 3 months in which to claim compensation for expenditure connected with the conveyancing process, such as legal or survey fees.

If your landlord subsequently decides not to demolish the property, they must serve a revocation notice on you as soon as is reasonably practicable. If it appears to the Secretary of State that a landlord has no intention of demolishing properties they may serve a notice revoking the initial or final demolition notice which has been served on you.

Right to buy - Other exceptions

1. Sheltered housing for the elderly, the physically disabled, the mentally ill or the mentally disabled. Special rules must be met in these cases. ‘Sheltered housing’ normally means that the property is one of a group of such dwellings, that a warden service is provided, and that there is a common room nearby. ‘Housing for the disabled’ means a property that is one of a group and has features that are substantially different from those of ordinary dwellings and with special facilities that are provided nearby.
2. Houses and flats on land which has been bought for development, and which are being used as temporary housing before the land is developed.
3. The tenancies of employees who have to live in homes owned by their employers so that they can be near their work.
4. The tenancies of employees whose home is inside the boundaries of a school, a social service home, another type of operational building or a cemetery.
5. The tenancies of members of a police force whose homes have been provided free from rent and rates.
6. The tenancies of fire authority employees who have to live near to the station they work in and whose homes have been provided by the employer.
7. Temporary lettings (of up to 3 years) of homes usually let to the employees mentioned above.
8. Some homes which are let as part of business or agricultural premises (for example public houses, farms, shops).
9. Homes which the landlord has leased from someone else and which have to be given up empty when the owner wants them.
10. Almshouses.
11. Homes which are let by a charitable registered social landlord, a charitable housing trust or association, by certain co-operative housing associations, or by a housing association or other registered social landlord which has not received grants from public funds.
12. Tenancies given to students so they can follow certain full-time courses at a university or college. This rule does not apply if the tenancy continues for more than 6 months after the tenant stops attending the course.
13. The tenancies of people moving into the area from another district to take up a job and given a home temporarily while they look for a permanent home. This rule does not apply if tenants are still living there after one year.
14. Tenancies for homeless people secured under section 193 of the Housing Act 1996.
15. The tenancies of people who used to be squatters but have now been given a licence to occupy a home.
16. Long fixed-term leases (of over 21 years).
17. Temporary lettings to people who were not secure tenants in their previous homes which are being improved or repaired.

Buying your home is probably the biggest financial decision you will ever make, so take time to consider whether it is the right choice for you.

For example, you may need to get a loan or mortgage to enable you to exercise the Right to Buy. You will also become responsible for all the costs of maintaining your home, including routine repairs, major structural repairs, and improvements to it. If you become a leaseholder by buying your flat, you should be aware that you will have to pay service charges each year, and also meet the costs of major repairs and refurbishment which can be substantial.

As a tenant, you may be able to claim housing benefit to help with your rent. As an owner-occupier, you will not receive any housing benefit to help with your mortgage costs. You may be entitled to income support to assist with housing costs, but this is not usually payable for 39 weeks after you first claim it.

If you are elderly and own your home, its value may be taken into account in assessing whether you are eligible for financial help with the costs of residential care.

If you need advice on any aspect of the Right to Buy scheme, contact your landlord first. If you are approached by a person or company offering to help you buy your council home, check out what’s in it for them and talk to your landlord before signing up to any deal.

As well as discounts under Right to Buy, there are many costs involved in owning your own home that you should understand: buying your home is a major financial commitment. Apart from paying for it, you will also have to maintain it. If you buy a flat on a long lease, you will also have to pay service charges

Paying your home loan

Unless you are going to buy your home with cash, you will need a loan called a mortgage. There are various kinds of mortgage which banks, building societies or financial advisors can explain.

The amount you would need to borrow would depend on the full market value of your home, less any discount you may be entitled to under Right to Buy, less any cash you can put towards the purchase.  Your home would be at risk if you did not keep up repayments on your mortgage, and we would not have to give you another tenancy if you lost your home in this way.

If you lost your income through unemployment, you would not normally receive Income Support for the first nine months. The Income Support you would be entitled to claim would only be for the mortgage interest payments and may not cover the full amount.

Other regular costs of home ownership

Council tax and water charges

You may pay water charges as part of your rent, and perhaps your council tax as well. But if you buy your home, you will have to pay these separately, straight to the water services company and to the council. So, to compare the weekly costs of buying with those of renting, you must deduct your landlord’s charges for water and council tax from your rent.

Insurance

You will need to consider taking out insurance cover for your home and mortgage. There are four main types:

1. Buildings insurance. This is essential. It is needed to cover the full cost of rebuilding your home if it were to be destroyed by fire or some other incident. In the case of flats, this insurance is often arranged for the whole block by the landlord, in which case the landlord will expect you to contribute towards the cost of the insurance. If you need a mortgage to help buy your home, the lender will insist that you have buildings insurance.
2. Contents insurance. As well as buildings insurance, you should insure the contents of your home against theft and other risks.
3. Life assurance. This is needed to pay off your mortgage if you die before the end of the mortgage period. It means that your family is not left with the heavy burden of mortgage debt.
4. Mortgage payment protection insurance. You need to think seriously about how you would meet your mortgage repayments if you lost your income, say through unemployment or ill-health. Mortgage payment protection insurance may give you the security that you need

There are various insurance policies which offer cover against these risks. The terms, level of cover, and costs vary. You should therefore shop around for policies that best suit your needs.

Repairs and Maintenance

If your home is a house and you buy it, you will be responsible for the costs of all repairs and maintenance, regardless of the condition of the property when you bought it. If you are buying a flat on a long lease, you will have to pay the landlord’s service charges. It is your responsibility to get advice on the condition of your home before you complete the purchase. It is therefore important that you have a survey done.

One off cost of buying your home

Legal Fees

You should employ a solicitor or a licensed conveyancer to look after the legal side of buying your home. Your landlord or a Citizens Advice Bureau can advise on local firms, and your local public library should have a list of the solicitors in your area and the type of work they do. Before employing anyone, always ask how much their advice will cost.

Survey

You should have a survey of your home done. This can cost between £250 and £600, or more if your home has any special problems. You should consider one of these surveys:

1. An RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) Home Buyers’ Survey and Valuation. This is a report and valuation in a standardised format, to tell the buyer of all significant defects, but not minor ones. It is likely to be adequate for most properties and provides a guide to value. It is likely to cost around £250-£600.
2. A Building Survey. This involves a detailed examination of all the visible parts of the property. It is a good idea to have such a survey done if the property is old, or obviously in need of repair, or if you are considering making alterations. The cost of this may start at about £400, but it could be considerably more and may not be available if your home is a flat.

You can get more information about both of these from RICS. Your lender may be able to arrange for its valuer to carry out the survey, which could save you paying for a separate valuation.

You should get a survey done after you receive your section 125 notice (the notice that has to be sent to you by your landlord if you apply to buy your home). You should ask how much it will cost before you ask anyone to go ahead with the survey.

Some types of houses have been officially designated as ‘defective’ under Part 16 of the Housing Act 1985. Your landlord is legally obliged to tell you if this designation applies to your home.

Mortgage and Valuation Fees

If you take out a mortgage loan, you may have to pay for the cost of arranging it. You will also have to pay a valuation fee which can start at about £250 but may be substantially more.

Land Registry Fees

When a sale is completed, you must pay the Land Registry to register you as the new owner.

Stamp Duty

You may have to pay Stamp Duty, which is a tax that people pay when they become homeowners. Stamp Duty is worked out as a percentage of the price you pay for a property.

Discounts

You may be eligible for a discount, you can find out the current discounted figures here

If you have bought your home under the Right to Buy, you can sell it whenever you like. But if you wish to sell within the discount repayment period specified below you will usually have to repay some or all of the discount.

If you sell within the first year of purchase, the whole discount will have to be repaid. Four fifths must be repaid if you sell in the second year, three fifths in the third year, two fifths in the fourth year and one fifth in the fifth year. After 5 years, you can sell without repaying any discount.

In addition, the amount of discount to be repaid if you sell within 5 years of purchase will be a percentage of the resale value of the property, disregarding the value of any improvements. For example, if your home was valued at £100,000 at the time you bought it from your landlord, and you received a discount of £20,000, that means that your discount was 20 per cent.

If your home is valued at £150,000 when you wish to sell it, and you want to sell within the second year of purchase, you will have to repay £150,000 x 20 per cent discount x 4/5 i.e. £24,000.

Certain sales or transfers are exempt from the requirement to repay discount, e.g. transfers between certain family members. In addition, if you would face hardship by having to repay discount, and your circumstances justify it, your landlord can decide not to ask you to pay some or all of what you owe.

If in advance of your purchase, or within the discount repayment period, you enter into an agreement to transfer your property to a third party in the future, then this will trigger repayment of your discount. Discount repayment is triggered from the date that you enter into the agreement.

So, for example, if you enter into such an agreement before you have bought the property or during the first year after buying, you will have to repay the full amount of discount you received.

What is the Redditch Buy Back programme?

We’re committed to increasing the amount of council housing in Redditch; therefore, we are buying back properties that were sold through the national Right to Buy scheme.

Benefits of selling to us

We’ll pay the full market value.

We are chain free (you don't have to wait for a buyer to sell first) and offer a quick purchase. No estate agent fees, which equals more money left in your pocket. More security than selling on the open market. You will be helping us to provide housing for households in housing need and tackle the affordable housing shortage in the Borough.

What we are looking for in your property

We are looking for properties that: Have been previously sold by Redditch council under the Right to Buy. Have 2 - 4 bedrooms, our preference is 3 - 4 bedroomed homes. Are being sold with vacant possession and the purchase must not lead to any existing tenants being made homeless.

The initial costs of any refurbishment work required to bring the property up to the council’s lettable standards are minimal. The council holds the freehold already or the freehold comes with the sale. We will assess properties based on the housing need data from our housing register and we will consider whether they provide good value for money.

Purchases will be subject to sufficient capital grant being available.

Fill the form below. It is used to decide:

1. whether you have the Right to Buy; and
2. how much discount you will get.

When you have filled in the form, return it to your landlord.

If Redditch Borough Council is your landlord, please return the form to:

Right to Buy
c/o Housing and Performance Database Team
Town Hall
Walter Stranz Square
Redditch
B98 8AH

Please Note. Before sending any applications to us, they first need to obtain a Mortgage Agreement in Principle from a registered Mortgage Broker & attach that to the form of the RTB application form (we won’t be processing any without that or a legal letter/copy of a passbook or statement etc. showing proof of funding).

Because the form is an important legal document, it is a good idea to use recorded delivery or to deliver it by hand and get a receipt, otherwise you may be unable to prove that your landlord has received the form.

You should keep a copy of the completed form for yourself.

The RTB1 form can be downloaded from Own Your Own Home GOV.UK website 

(Be wary of other people offering you forms, especially if they ask you to pay them for them).

Having received your claim form, your landlord must send you a notice (Form RTB2) telling you whether or not you have the Right to Buy.

You should get this within 4 weeks of the date on which your landlord received your RTB1 form (or within 8 weeks if you have been a tenant of your landlord for less than 5 years).

If your landlord says that you don’t have the Right to Buy your home, they must explain why. 

If your landlord has agreed to sell your home to you, they must send you a separate offer notice (known as the Section 125 Notice) which tells you the price you have to pay and the terms and conditions of the sale.

They must send this within a further 8 weeks after you have received your RTB2 form if your home is a house and you are buying a freehold, or within 12 weeks if your home is a flat or maisonette.

If you are buying a house on leasehold terms, the time limit is also 12 weeks.

The Section 125 Notice is an important document, and you should read it very carefully. It will tell you five main things:

1. It will describe the property which you have the Right to Buy.
2. It will tell you the price the landlord thinks you should pay for it. To calculate this, your landlord must first work out how much your home was worth at the date on which you submitted your application form, and then take off your discount. If you have made improvements, these are not allowed to put the price up. If your discount is reduced by the cash limit or the cost floor, the notice must say so.
3. It will give estimates of the service charges or improvement costs you will have to pay during the first 5 years after you buy your home, if it is a flat or maisonette.
4. It will describe any structural defects that the landlord knows about.
5. It will contain the terms and conditions that your landlord thinks should be attached to the sale. These may be set out either in the form of a draft of the legal document for you to sign, or as part of the notice, or on a separate sheet.

When you receive your Section 125 notice, you may feel that what your landlord thinks is the full market value of your home is too high.

If so, you have a right to obtain an independent valuation from the District Valuer.

Before doing so, you have to tell the landlord, within 3 months of receiving the Section 125 notice, that you want a ‘determination of value’ under Section 128 of the Housing Act 1985.

You then have 4 weeks to put your case to the District Valuer. they will also need to inspect your home.

The District Valuers valuation will be the one that counts. Even if it is higher than the landlord’s valuation, you will still have to accept it or withdraw your application to buy your home.

If you want to question anything else in the Section 125 notice (the size of your discount, the effect of the cost floor, service charges, conditions of sale, your home’s boundaries etc), you should contact your landlord.

If you and your landlord disagree about something, you have the right to go to the county court for a ruling.

This can be expensive, and you should get legal advice first.

Before you finally decide to buy, you should get an independent survey from a qualified surveyor.

When you apply for a mortgage, the bank or building society will have a survey done, but this is only to value your home.

It may not uncover any structural problems that may exist.

Before deciding whether to buy, you should get legal advice, particularly if you have worries about the terms of the sale.

If you don’t know a solicitor or a licensed conveyancer, you might ask your landlord, or your bank or building society to suggest one.

Your local reference library should also have a list of the solicitors in your area, and details about the type of work they do.

You should always ask how much it will cost before you employ a solicitor or licensed conveyancer.

You will see that you have a lot of choices at this stage. The information contained in your Section 125 notice may not be straightforward and easy to understand. You will now have to decide if you want to:

1. buy your home outright for the full Right to Buy price, less any discount for which you are eligible.
2. forget about buying, withdraw your application, and carry-on paying rent.

When you have decided, you must tell your landlord in writing. You must let him know your decision within 12 weeks of receiving your Section 125 notice.

If you have asked to have your house valued by the District Valuer, you must tell your landlord what you want to do within 12 weeks of getting that valuation.

If you do not let your landlord know what you intend to do in time, the landlord will send you a reminder.

If you do not reply within 28 days, your landlord will think you don’t want to buy, and your application will not be dealt with any further.

If for any reason you are not able to decide within the time limit what you want to do, you can ask the landlord to wait a bit longer for your reply.

If you are unable to decide for a good reason (for example, if you were in hospital and you could not return the form in time), you should tell your landlord and your time limit will then be extended automatically.

You don’t have to buy your home just because you have told your landlord you want to.

You can still change your mind. But if you do not tell your landlord what you want to do, your landlord will think you don’t want to buy, and you will have to start again.

If the value of your home has gone up in the meantime, then you will have to pay the higher price.

If you need a mortgage, this is when you should talk to a bank or building society.

If you are happy with your landlord’s terms for selling your home to you, and you have arranged to raise the money, you are ready to go ahead and buy.

You should tell your landlord that you are ready and ask your solicitor for advice on the legal documents and making your payment. It may take a few months before you become the owner of your home.

You can take the time you reasonably need to get a mortgage or legal advice. You can also take your time to discuss the terms of the sale with your landlord.

You should aim to let your landlord know as soon as you are ready to go ahead and buy.

If your landlord does not hear from you for a long time, you may get a Prior warning notice. This will ask you to complete within 8 weeks of the date of the Prior Notice.

You may also get a Final Notice to complete which asks you to complete within 9 weeks of the date of the Final Warning notice or the application will be cancelled by our Legal Team.

Alternatively, write and tell your landlord that you disagree with the terms of the sale. If you don’t, your landlord may send you a second notice asking you to complete your purchase. If you then don’t complete, your application will not be taken any further.

Your landlord cannot send you a warning notice until at least 3 months after they send your Section 125 notice.

It will help things to go smoothly if, throughout the process, you or your solicitor keep the landlord informed on your circumstances, such as how you are progressing with raising the money or on any other issues that may delay the purchase.