Buying your council home

This is to help you to understand your rights and give you information if you are considering buying your home under the council's Right to Buy Scheme.

TOPICS COVERED ON THIS PAGE:

· Am I eligible?
· Do I get a discount?
· Exceptions
· Valuation
· Repairs – who will pay for them?
· Running costs
· Beware of Right to Buy scams
· How to apply
· Once you own your own home
· Useful contacts and further information

Am I eligible?

You may be able to buy your home if:

• You are a secure tenant
• Your tenancy started before 18 January 2005 you must have been a secure tenant of a public sector landlord for at least 2 years.
• Your tenancy started on/after 18 January 2005 you must have been a secure tenant of a public sector landlord for at least 5 years.
• Your property is your only or main home and it is self contained (a separate dwelling to any other household).
• If you are want to buy your property jointly with your spouse or members of your family they must have been living with you for 12 months prior to your application to buy. This property must be their only or main home.

You cannot buy your home if:

• A court has made a possession order against you for rent arrears.
• You are an un-discharged bankrupt or going to be made bankrupt.
• If you are a demoted or introductory tenant.
• If you have an injunction or anti-social behaviour order against you for nuisance.

Do I get a discount?

· If you buy your home under the Right to Buy scheme you will receive a discount on the market value of the property. This discount is capped at £16,000.

· If you sell your property within three years of buying it you might have to pay all or some of the discount back.

· If you sell your property within 10 years you must offer the property back to Reading Borough Council before putting it on the open market.

Exceptions

There are some types of properties that are not eligible for the Right to Buy scheme. The main exceptions are as follows:

· Homes let in connection with employment.
· Sheltered housing for older people, and some accommodation adapted for people with certain disabilities.
· Homes that are suitable for elderly people, for example ground floor flats and bungalows.
· Homes that are due to be demolished.
· Houses and flats that are on land that has been bought for development.
· Properties that are considered temporary accommodation
· Homes that have been let temporarily whilst repairs or improvements are carried out.

Valuation

When you apply to buy your home, our valuation team will visit your property to decide how much it is worth, based on current market prices. They also take into account:
· Location of the property
· Size
· Condition

It might be worth looking in the property section of the local paper for similar properties in your area and comparing your home to them. Once a valuation has been made, the council cannot change it. However if you feel the value is too high you could ask the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to re-value your property, but they might increase the value. Our Right to Buy officer can give you further advice on this.

Repairs – Who will pay for them?

If you live in a house, you will be responsible for the costs of maintenance and repairs of your home once you buy it. It is therefore important that you take advice on the condition of your home before you complete the purchase.

If you live in a flat or maisonette you will become a Leaseholder. You will be responsible for maintaining the inside of your property, and will have other costs for the outside of the building. Please see the next section below on running costs.

Running costs

There are a number of things you should consider before making a decision to buy your home.

· As a home owner you will be responsible for all the costs of maintaining your home, including major structural repairs, routine repairs and improvements to it.
· It is likely you will have to take out a mortgage to help pay for your home - you won't be entitled to housing benefit to help mortgage repayments.

In addition, if you buy a flat or maisonette you will be a leaseholder, which means you might have to pay the Landlord ground rent and service charges. Service Charges are your share of the costs of improvements to the structure of the building, general repairs and maintainenance, building services provided (like communal lighting and cleaning) and a charge towards the landlord's costs of managing/insuring the block.

Beware of Right to Buy scams

The Government is fully committed to Right to Buy and has no intention of stopping the scheme. If a person or company tells you that the scheme will be stopping soon and offers to help you buy your home they may be trying to persuade you to do something that benefits them rather than you. For example:

· They may charge you a to pay a lot of money for things that the Council will do for nothing

· they may offer you money up front in a deal under which the company ends up owning the property after three years. The is good for them as they can charge a higher rent than we can but it is not always good for you as the money you get is unlikely to be enough to buy another home - some tenants have found themselves homeless after agreeing to such deals

Don't take what they say to you at face value - ask our Right to Buy Officer for information or get independent advice before you commit to one of these companies.

How to apply

If you wish to exercise your right to buy you should contact the Right to Buy Officer (see "Contact Us" above). They will arrange a home visit, so that they can discuss the process with you and complete an application.
Once we have looked at your application we will let you know if you have the right to buy and send you a separate notice (known as the Section 125 Notice) telling you how much you have to pay and the terms and conditions of sale.

· If you wish to go ahead you should get advice from a solicitor - you will be responsible for paying their legal fees

· If you need a mortgage you should apply to a bank or building society. You will be responsible for paying their fees and charges

· It is advisable to have an independent survey carried out on the property - if you decide to do this you will be responsible for the costs

Once you own your own home

Where a property has been sold under the Right to Buy, the Council does not retain the title deeds. If you have bought your property with a mortgage or loan, the deeds will be retained by your lender.
If you have have an outstanding Reading Borough Council Mortgage your deeds are retained by the Council - if you need to access the deeds for any reason contact your Right to Buy Officer via the contact us link at the right of this page.
Your title deeds are important documents. If you hold the deeds to your property yourself, you must ensure that they are kept in a secure place.

Downloads

PDF

Some of the following documents are in pdf format. You can download and install a free PDF reader to enable you to read and print them. Click here to download Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Reader from the Adobe website.

File	Type	Size	Download Time
Your right to buy your home	PDF	249 KB	56Kbps Modem: 1 Minute Broadband : 5 Seconds

External Links

Reading Borough Council does not necessarily endorse or recommend any of the links or services below. Please note: when you follow these links you will leave this site.

Link	Description
Communities and Local Government	Right to Buy