Tenant handbook - Right to Buy

Contact the Home Ownership Team on 01707 357 004 for an application form.

The date we receive your application is called the relevant date. This is the date we will use to work out the value of your home and your discount entitlement.

If the value of your property changes while your application is being processed, for the purposes of the Right to Buy, the value will remain the same as it was on the relevant date.

You can cancel your application at any time.

We will not charge you for this but your solicitor and mortgage provider may charge you for any services they have provided.

Calculating the sale price

The price you will pay for your home is based on:

• The market valuation of your property which we will arrange to be carried out free of charge.
• How long you have been a tenant in your current home and any previous public sector tenancies you have claimed that can be confirmed.
• The cost to the council of buying or building your property – if any work was done in the last 30 years the cost of this may reduce your discount.
• Previous Right to Buy purchases – you are only entitled to one Right to Buy discount in total so previous discounts given will be subtracted from any discount you may currently be entitled to receive.

If there is a delay

If you delay the Right to Buy application process the council can serve a formal notice where:

• You have not responded to the formal offer letter within the 12-week notice period.
• You have not taken steps to complete the purchase within a reasonable time (the reasonable time period cannot be less than three months after the formal offer letter is sent to you).

If you do not meet the timescales set out in the formal notice, we can end your Right to Buy application.

If we delay your Right to Buy application, you can:

• Send an Initial Notice of Delay which requires us to resolve the delay within a given time – this cannot be less than a calendar month.
• Send an Operative Notice of Delay – you can only do this if after the Initial Notice of Delay we have not rectified the delay within the response period allowed or served a counter-notice.

You may be entitled to a reduced purchase price if a valid Operative Notice of Delay is received by the council.

You can ask us to provide you with the delay forms or you can download them at gov.uk.

The notice is only effective once we have received it so you may wish to send it by recorded delivery or hand deliver it to us and get a receipt.

You can only use these notices while a delay is occurring.

Once the delay has ended you cannot serve delay notices.