If you rent your home from the council or a housing association, the Right to Buy scheme may allow you to buy it at a discount on its market value. It is a real opportunity, but the process runs to a strict statutory timetable and involves paperwork that is unfamiliar to most people. The Right to Buy solicitors at BWS Law act for tenants across Loughborough, Leicestershire, and the wider East Midlands, taking care of the legal side of the purchase from the day your landlord’s offer arrives to the day the property is registered in your name.
The Right to Buy is a government scheme in England that gives eligible council tenants the right to purchase the home they rent at a discount. Some housing association tenants can also buy their homes, either under the Preserved Right to Buy, where the property was transferred from council ownership, or under the separate Right to Acquire scheme, which works in a similar way but with a smaller discount. Houses are usually sold freehold, while flats and maisonettes are sold on a long lease.
Whether you qualify, how large your discount will be, and how long you must own the property before you can sell without repaying some of that discount are all set by the government. Those rules have changed significantly in recent years, and further reforms are currently going through Parliament, so it is important to take advice on the position that applies at the time you apply. We keep fully up to date with the scheme and will explain exactly where you stand.
The Right to Buy solicitors at BWS Law guide tenants through every stage of the purchase. Some of the main areas our work covers include the following:
Once your landlord has confirmed that you are entitled to buy, it will send a formal offer notice setting out the price it is asking, the discount you will receive, and any conditions attached to the sale. This document is the foundation of the whole transaction, so it needs to be looked at carefully.
When we review your offer notice, we will:
If you are buying a flat or maisonette, you will be granted a long lease rather than the freehold, and your relationship with the council or housing association will continue as your landlord. The offer notice will also include estimates of the service charges and repair costs you can expect. Those estimates matter, because they limit what you can be charged for certain works during the early years of the lease.
Our Right to Buy solicitors will read the lease in full and explain its terms to you in plain English, including your repairing obligations, the service charge provisions, and any restrictions on altering or subletting the property. We will also check that the lease will be acceptable to your mortgage lender, and to future buyers when the time comes to sell.
Many Right to Buy purchases are funded with a mortgage, and a number of lenders will treat the discount as your deposit. If you are buying together with family members who live with you, ownership can be shared between you.
In this area, our Right to Buy solicitors will:
The discount you receive comes with conditions. If you sell within a set period after buying, you will normally have to repay some or all of it, and your landlord will register a charge against the property to secure that obligation. For a further period, you may also have to offer the property back to your former landlord before selling it on the open market.
We explain these conditions clearly before you commit, make sure the landlord’s charge is registered correctly and sits behind your mortgage, and advise you on how the rules will affect any plans to sell, remortgage, or pass the property on in the future.
Unlike a normal house purchase, the Right to Buy process does not involve an exchange of contracts, and the landlord can serve notices requiring you to complete or treat your application as withdrawn if matters stall. Keeping the transaction moving is therefore central to our Right to Buy solicitors’ role.
We carry out the necessary searches, deal with the transfer or lease, coordinate completion with your landlord and lender, submit any Stamp Duty Land Tax return, and register you as the owner at HM Land Registry, so that the property is properly and securely yours.
Buying your council or housing association home is a big step, and it deserves a solicitor who knows the scheme well rather than one who is learning it as they go. Here is what you can expect from the Right to Buy solicitors at BWS Law.
We deal regularly with local authority and housing association legal teams and understand their procedures, timetables, and standard documents. That familiarity means fewer surprises, quicker answers to enquiries, and a purchase that reaches completion without avoidable delay.
Our office is on Church Gate in the centre of Loughborough, and you are welcome to call in and go through your offer notice or your questions face to face. You will deal with the same person throughout, and you can reach them by phone or email whenever you need to.
We will give you a full quote for the legal work at the outset, and we will keep to it. There are no hidden extras and no surprises on the final bill, so you can budget for your purchase with confidence.
Whether you have just received your offer notice or are still deciding whether to apply, our Right to Buy solicitors are happy to talk it through with you.
Call us on 01509 270288 or send us an enquiry, and one of our team will get back to you.
