Right To Buy - Right To Buy Rules After 2005

Right To Buy Rules After 2005

The Right to Buy rules were changed in 2005. Five years' tenancy is now required for new tenants to qualify, and properties purchased after January 2005 can no longer immediately be placed on the open market should the owner decide to sell. Such owners must now approach their previous landlord (council or housing association) and offer them "first right of refusal". If the previous landlord is no longer in existence, for example in cases where the former landlord was a registered social landlord which has ceased business, then the property has to first be offered to the local housing authority.

The time in which a Right to Buy conveyance should take place has been reduced from 12 months to 3 months. The Financial Services Authority now governs and regulates most types of mortgage-selling.

The Financial Services Authority's governance of Right to Buy purchases was partly to solve the widespread problem of Right to Buy mis selling from brokers and solicitors alike. Each had their own agenda and many were actively charging excessive fees which were then taken out of their client's discount. Fortunately, the above actions that have been taken coupled with the end of the boom period seem to have brought this problem under control.

In 2009 the Localis think tank suggested, as part of a review of principles for social housing reform, that the right to buy should be extended into equity slivers, which could be part earned through being a good tenant.