Your Guide to the Right to Buy - Selling your property

For Right to Buy applications made before 18th January 2005:

If you sell your property within 3 years of your purchase you may be required to repay all or part of the discount you were allowed in the original Right to Buy sale. The amount will normally be required to pay will reduce by one third on each anniversary of your purchase, until after 3 complete years there will be nothing to repay.

For Right to Buy applications made on or after 18th January 2005:

The discount repayment period will be increased to 5 years. The amount repayable will depend on other factors such as:

• The re-sale value of the property
• The percentage discount allowed in the original sale
• The value of any improvements you have carried out

For Right to Buy applications made on or after 18th January 2005 the percentage discount allowed at the time of the original sale will be applied to the re-sale value of the property after making an allowance for any improvements you have made. The amount repayable will then depend upon the number of years that have elapsed since the original sale (reducing by one fifth for each complete year). This means that the discount repayable will increase or decrease in proportion to any increase/decrease in property value.

Deferred Sale Agreements

If you make an agreement on or after the 18th January 2005, to sell the property to another party, discount will be repayable in the following circumstances, even if the sale takes place after the end of the discount repayment period.

• The agreement is made before an application is made for the Right to Buy
• The agreement is made before the end of the discount repayment period

Discount repayments do not apply to the exempted disposals listed below.

First Right of Refusal

If you have applied for the Right to Buy on or after 18th January 2005 you will have a clause inserted in the conveyance of the freehold or the grant of the lease which will generally give the Council the "Right to First Refusal" in the event of you reselling the property within 10 years of the original sale. The exemptions to this rule (exempted disposals) are as follows:

• A sale releasing one of the original purchasers from ownership of the property
• The sale is to the spouse or former spouse of an original joint purchaser
• The sale is to a family member of a joint purchaser who has lived in the property for at least 12 months following the original Right to Buy sale.
• The sale has been ordered under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 of the Inheritance Act 1975
• The sale is enforced by a compulsory purchase order
• Ownership of the property has been transferred under a will or intestacy

If the Council does not wish to re-purchase your property, we will notify you of that decision within 4 weeks of your offer. Alternatively, we may nominate another social landlord in the area (such as a Housing Association) to consider purchasing the property from you. 

Your guide to the Right to Buy
Who can buy?
Who cannot buy?
What can you buy?
Can I share the right to buy with anyone else?
What can I buy?
How much discount will I get?
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Request for application form and information pack