How to Apply to Buy Your Council Home Through Right to Buy in England

The current qualifying period is still 3 years

As of 9 September 2026, the existing Right to Buy eligibility rules continue to apply in England. You can normally apply if:

• the property is your only or main home;
• it is self-contained;
• you are a secure tenant; and
• you have had a public sector landlord for at least 3 years.

The 3 years do not have to be consecutive and do not all need to have been spent in your current council home. Qualifying periods with councils, housing associations and certain other public sector landlords can count.

The government has announced reforms that would increase the qualifying period to 10 years and substantially change Right to Buy discounts. However, on the verification date the Social Housing Bill was still before Parliament and had not become law. Do not apply the proposed 10-year rule to a current claim unless and until the relevant legislation comes into force.

Joint applications can include tenants and some family members

You can make a joint Right to Buy application with another person who shares your tenancy.

You can also apply with up to 3 family members who are not tenants if they have lived with you for the previous 12 months and meet the scheme requirements. A spouse or civil partner can be included under the applicable rules.

If applicants have different qualifying tenancy histories, the longest qualifying public sector tenancy can be used when calculating the discount.

Not every council tenancy or property qualifies

Some homes are excluded from Right to Buy even where the tenancy is secure. Official guidance identifies exclusions including certain sheltered housing and homes particularly suitable for elderly or disabled people.

A claim can also be prevented where the property is due to be demolished, where specified bankruptcy or debt restrictions apply, or where a court has made an outstanding possession order requiring you to leave the property.

If your home used to belong to a council but was transferred to another landlord while you were living there, you may have a Preserved Right to Buy. Ask your current landlord whether that applies.

Prepare your tenancy history before filling in RTB1

The formal application is the RTB1 notice. You should prepare:

• the full address and postcode of the property;
• the name of your landlord;
• the full names of everyone named on the tenancy;
• which tenants want to buy;
• details of family members joining the purchase;
• previous public sector tenancy addresses and dates;
• details of relevant armed forces accommodation where it counts towards qualifying tenancy; and
• details of improvements you have made to the home.

Give complete tenancy-history information because it affects both eligibility and your discount.

Application methods depend on your landlord

GOV.UK provides the official RTB1 form, but the application is sent to your landlord, not to a central national Right to Buy office.

Some local authorities now accept or require applications through their own online portals. Others accept the RTB1 form directly. Check your council's current instructions before sending it.

There is no government application fee for submitting RTB1.

The application date fixes important valuation and discount information

The date the landlord receives a valid RTB1 is important. Official guidance calls this the relevant date or relevant time.

It is used for the Right to Buy valuation and discount calculation. If the open-market value of the property changes while the application is being processed, the Right to Buy valuation is normally tied to the relevant application date rather than a later market movement.

You should receive an RTB2 notice within 4 or 8 weeks

Your landlord must send a formal RTB2 notice saying whether your Right to Buy claim is accepted.

The statutory deadline is normally:

• 4 weeks after receiving RTB1; or
• 8 weeks if you have been a tenant of your current landlord for less than 3 years.

If the claim is refused, the landlord must explain why.

Your discount depends on tenancy length, property type and location

Under the rules applying to current applications, houses and flats start with different percentage discounts.

For a house, the percentage discount is 35% after 3 to 5 qualifying years, then rises by 1 percentage point for every additional year, up to 70%.

For a flat, the percentage discount is 50% after 3 to 5 qualifying years, then rises by 2 percentage points for each additional year, reaching 70% after 15 qualifying years.

The actual discount cannot exceed the applicable regional cash cap and can also be reduced by the cost-floor rule or a previous Right to Buy discount.

Current cash caps range from £16,000 to £38,000

For applications made on or after 21 November 2024, the maximum cash discount depends on location. The statutory regional limits are:

• North East: £22,000;
• North West: £26,000;
• Yorkshire and the Humber: £24,000;
• East Midlands: £24,000;
• West Midlands: £26,000;
• East of England: £34,000, except Watford where the cap is £16,000;
• South East: £38,000, except Reading, West Berkshire, Hart, Oxford, Vale of White Horse, Tonbridge and Malling, Epsom and Ewell, and Reigate and Banstead where the cap is £16,000;
• South West: £30,000; and
• London: £16,000, except Barking and Dagenham and Havering where the cap is £38,000.

The maximum discount is also limited to 70% of the property's value under the current percentage rules.

Recent council spending can limit the sale discount

For current applications made since 21 November 2024, the cost-floor period is 30 years.

This rule can reduce your discount so that the sale price does not fall below qualifying expenditure by the landlord on buying, building, repairing or maintaining the property during the relevant period.

If the qualifying costs are high enough, you may receive no discount even though you otherwise qualify for Right to Buy.

The landlord's offer explains the price and purchase terms

Once the landlord has confirmed your Right to Buy, it must issue a Section 125 notice.

The deadline is normally:

• 8 weeks after the RTB2 notice for a freehold property; or
• 12 weeks for a leasehold property.

The offer must explain the market valuation, purchase price, discount and how it was calculated. It also describes the property and land included in the sale.

If you are buying a flat or maisonette, the offer also provides estimates of relevant service charges for the first 5 years. It should also disclose known structural problems such as subsidence.

Request an independent district valuer within 3 months

If you believe the landlord's market valuation is too high, write to the landlord within 3 months after receiving the Section 125 notice and ask for an independent valuation.

A district valuer from HMRC's Valuation Office Agency will determine the value independently.

Do not assume that challenging the valuation can only reduce the price. The district valuer determines the correct open-market value, and that determination replaces the landlord's valuation for the Right to Buy process.

You normally have 12 weeks to decide

You normally have 12 weeks after receiving the Section 125 offer to tell your landlord whether you still want to buy.

If you do not respond, your landlord can issue a reminder giving you another 28 days. If you still fail to respond, the application can be cancelled.

You can withdraw from the purchase and remain a tenant at any time before completion, although your solicitor, mortgage provider or other advisers may charge for work already done.

RTB6 and RTB8 can protect you against qualifying delays

Where the landlord misses a statutory Right to Buy deadline, you can use the official delay procedure.

First submit form RTB6, the Initial Notice of Delay. The landlord then has one month to move the case forward or issue a valid counter-notice.

If it does not respond appropriately within that month, you can submit form RTB8, the Operative Notice of Delay. Qualifying rent paid while the delay continues may then be deducted from the eventual purchase price.

Buying creates legal and ongoing housing costs

There is no government fee for making the Right to Buy application itself, but completing the purchase can involve significant costs. These can include:

• a mortgage deposit and mortgage fees;
• solicitor or licensed conveyancer fees;
• property searches;
• a survey;
• Land Registry fees;
• Stamp Duty Land Tax where applicable;
• buildings insurance; and
• repairs and maintenance after purchase.

Leaseholders can also face service charges and major-works bills. The Section 125 notice should include estimates for relevant service charges during the first 5 years.

If housing costs are currently difficult to meet, you can separately check the rules for Housing Benefit through your local council, although buying the property changes your housing status and can affect benefit entitlement.

Early resale can require repayment of the discount

If you sell a Right to Buy property within 5 years of purchasing it, you will normally have to repay some or all of the discount.

The repayment percentage falls over the 5-year period: normally 100% in the first year, 80% in the second, 60% in the third, 40% in the fourth and 20% in the fifth. The amount is linked to the property's value when you sell, subject to the statutory rules.

If you sell within 10 years of purchasing under Right to Buy, you must normally first offer the property back to your former landlord or another specified social landlord at full market value before putting it on the open market.

This procedure applies only to England

This procedure covers the statutory Right to Buy scheme in England.

Scotland ended the Right to Buy for social housing tenants in 2016. Wales ended Right to Buy in 2019. Northern Ireland operates a separate House Sales Scheme and its own eligibility and purchasing rules.

Do not use the England RTB1 process for a tenancy in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Avoid delays and incorrect discount calculations

• Do not assume the government's proposed 10-year qualifying rule already applies; as of 9 September 2026, the current statutory minimum remains 3 qualifying years.
• Include every relevant previous public sector tenancy because missing periods can reduce your calculated discount.
• List improvements you paid for so qualifying improvements can be disregarded when the market valuation is calculated.
• Check whether your council requires an online application rather than assuming every landlord uses the same submission method.
• Do not use the old pre-November-2024 London and England-wide discount caps for a new 2026 application.
• Read leasehold service-charge estimates carefully before deciding whether a flat remains affordable after purchase.
• If you disagree with the valuation, do not miss the 3-month deadline for requesting an independent valuation.
• Do not ignore the 12-week response period after the Section 125 offer.
• If your landlord misses statutory deadlines, consider the RTB6 and RTB8 delay procedure rather than allowing the delay to continue without action.