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Who Can Buy a Council Property?

All tenants living in a council property who meet certain criteria have the Right to Buy their home. Below you will find information for council tenants about whether they are eligible to buy their property.
 
 

Who can apply?

You may not be able to buy if you
  • have been a tenant for less than two or five years (depending on the start date of your current tenancy)
  • have been taken to court for non-payment of rent
  • are buying a ground floor flat or bungalow
  • have a non-secure tenancy agreement
  • are bankrupt or have a bankruptcy petition against you
  • have a Right to Buy suspension order against you
  • have been served with a demolition notice 
 

Have you been a tenant for less than two or five years?

 
You can use tenancies from us, other district or county councils, certain public bodies and the Armed forces, when calculating your qualifying years.
 
On 18th January 2005 new rules were introduced by the Government regarding the amount of years you must have been a tenant to be accepted onto the Right to Buy.
 
If your current tenancy started before 18th January 2005, the two years rule applies and you have the correct amount of years to be accepted.
 
If your current tenancy started after 18th January 2005, and you moved straight from a previous qualifying property into this property without a break, the two years rule applies again and you have the correct amount of years to be accepted. 
If however, you had a break in your tenancies the five years rule apply. This means that your previous tenancies and your current tenancy must add up to five years in total to be accepted. 
 
If your current tenancy started after 18th January 2005, and this is your first tenancy then you will need to wait until you have a total of five years tenancy.
 

Have you been taken to court for non-payment of rent?

 
If you have been taken to court for non-payment of rent and you were given a court order to keep to, you must have kept to this. If you have not kept to this you will have a default on your rent account and this will mean you are unable to buy your property.
 
This is because when you are in default of a court order you are not a secure tenant and you have to be a secure tenant to be able to buy.
 

Are you buying a ground floor flat or bungalow?

 
When buying a ground floor flat or bungalow the Government put a rule in place to stop some of these being bought through Right to Buy. You are unable to buy these properties if you were 60 or over when you moved into the property. This is to stop all these properties being sold and the local Council not having any left for people who need them.
 
You will be denied the Right to Buy but you can appeal against this decision. There are organisations that can provide you with help and advice.
 

Have you got a non-secure tenancy agreement?

 
To be accepted onto the Right to Buy you must have a secure tenancy. If you have got a temporary tenancy or an interim tenancy etc, you will be unable to buy.
 

Are you bankrupt or have you got a bankruptcy petition against you?

 
You are unable to buy any property if you are bankrupt or have a bankruptcy petition against you. This is because you will be unable to get credit for a mortgage, therefore, you will be unable buy your property. If you do buy your property it will be taken off you to pay any debt against you.
 

Is there a Right to Buy suspension order against you?

 
If you have been reported for anti-social behaviour your Area Housing Office can take you to court and the judge can serve you with a Right to Buy suspension order. This means that you will be unable to buy until this is removed. To have this order removed you will have to apply to the court.
 

Is your property due to be demolished?

 
You are unable to buy your council home if you have been served a final demolition notice. If you have only been served an initial notice then you can still make an application but we do not have to complete the sale. If you want any more information about this then you can contact the Home Ownership Team.

Who can be included on your application?

 
At least one tenant of the property must be included in the application. Any tenant at the property who isn’t included on the application will lose their right to the tenancy if the purchase goes ahead.
 
You may include family members on your right to buy application so long as they 
  • have lived with you continuously for the past 12 months or are married to you
  • live in the property as their only or main home
  • are 18 years old or over.

Tenancies with other public bodies

 
If you were a secure tenant with any of the following bodies then we can use these years towards your qualifying years.
  • Local authorities in Scotland and Northern Ireland
  • Registered housing associations (including charitable and co-operative ones)
  • Fire or police authorities
  • Internal drainage boards
  • London regional transport
  • Parish Councils
  • Passenger transport executives
  • Agriculture and food research Council
  • Area electricity boards
  • British airports authority
  • British broadcasting corporation
  • British coal corporation
  • British gas corporation
  • British railways board
  • British steel corporation
  • British waterways board
  • Central electricity generating board
  • Church commissioners
  • Civil aviation authority
  • Coal authority
  • Electricity Council
  • English sports Council
  • Government departments (including NHS properties)
  • Historic buildings and monuments commission for England
  • Lake District special planning board
  • Lee Valley regional park authority
  • London residuary body
  • Medical research Council
  • Metropolitan county residuary body
  • Nation bus company
  • National rivers authority
  • Natural environment research Council
  • Nature conservancy Council for England
  • New towns
  • Peak Park joint planning board
  • Post Office
  • Science and engineering research Council
  • Sports Council
  • Trinity House (in its capacity as a lighthouse authority only)
  • UK atomic energy authority
  • UK sports Council
  • Water authorities
 
There are also some other public bodies in Wales and Northern Ireland, which are not on this list. For more information about these please contact the Home Ownership Team.
 

The next step

 
If you would like to apply to buy your home, the next step is to begin the right to buy process.