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Right to Buy - Changes due to the 2024 Autumn Budget
Right to Buy enables social housing tenants to buy their homes with the benefit of a discount. You can check the eligibility criteria at Eligibility - Own Your Home - Own Your Home
Currently the maximum discount on offer is £102,400.00 across England and £136,400.00 in London boroughs. Please note, the maximum discount is the current maximum and not the amount of discount you will automatically receive. The discount is calculated by the length of time you have lived in social housing, any improvements you have made to the property and any improvements the local authority/social housing landlord have done. The discount would then be the lower of 70% of the property value, or the amount listed above, whichever is the lower value. We cannot comment on or confirm the amount of discount you will receive.
In the October 2024 budget, the government announced changes to the discounts available. From 21st November 2024, when the government legislation is intended to come into force, the discounts will be capped depending on the location of the property. In Yorkshire and Humber the maximum discount is intended to be £24,000.00. Again, the is the maximum discount you could get, and would be calculated in the same manner as set out above.
With such substantial changes to the discounts, if you are intending to purchase your social housing home and are eligible to do so we would encourage you to submit an RTB1 notice (right to buy application form) to your social housing landlord before 21st November. Any applications received before 21st November from eligible tenants will receive the current, higher discount rate.
This means you do not need to be able to complete the purchase by 21st November or have instructed us to assist but you do need to have sent the RTB1 form and it needs to have been received. Once the form is received, the Local Authority will have 4 weeks (8 weeks if you have been with your current landlord for less than 3 years) in which to confirm your right to buy eligibility. This is done by them sending you an RTB2. Once confirmed, the local authority will arrange a surveyor to attend the property to confirm a valuation and then they will calculate the discount.
The local authority will need to send you an offer within 8 weeks for a freehold and 12 weeks for a leasehold from the issue date of the RTB2. This can be after the 21st November and you can still benefit from the current discount rates subject to your RTB1 notice being sent before 21st November.
Once you have your offer, you can call one of our Residential Property experts at any of our offices (York, Selby, Malton or Pickering) who will be happy to assist you with the purchase of your home.
