Reforms underway for ‘Right to Buy’ and how this impacts you 

Right to Buy has been a cornerstone of housing policy for decades, offering council tenants the chance to own their homes. However, this scheme has often left social housing landlords grappling with dwindling stock and increasing demand. With the Government now proposing significant reforms, it’s time to take a closer look at what these changes mean for you. 

Introduced in the 1980s, Right to Buy gave council tenants the ability to purchase their homes at discounted rates. While it has helped many families step onto the property ladder, it has also been blamed for a sharp decline in social housing availability.  

In some areas, homes sold under the scheme haven’t been replaced, leaving councils struggling to meet the growing need for affordable housing. Over the years, the scheme has been updated with varying discount levels and repayment conditions, but the central challenge remains:  

How do we balance the right to home ownership with the need to maintain a sustainable stock of social housing? 

Potential reforms coming? 

The proposed reforms, as introduced by Angela Rayner, are designed to make Right to Buy fairer and more sustainable.  

Key changes under consultation include: 

• Extending the minimum tenancy period before eligibility, ensuring tenants have a longer history in their homes before purchasing. 

• Protecting newly built social housing from immediate sale, encouraging councils to build with confidence. 

• Targets for replacing sold homes with one-for-one replacements of the same size and in the same area. 

• Increasing the repayment period for discounts from five to ten years to discourage quick resales. 

• Adjusting discounts to their pre-2012 levels, making the scheme more manageable for councils. 

These changes aim to strike a better balance between enabling tenants to buy their homes and ensuring social housing landlords can keep up with demand. 

How this impacts social housing landlords 

If you’re a social housing landlord, these reforms could be both a challenge and an opportunity.  

On the one hand, limiting the sale of new builds and ensuring full retention of sales receipts are long-overdue measures that might allow you to maintain or even grow your stock. On the other, increased targets for replacing sold homes could add pressure, especially in areas where land and construction costs are high. 

Replacing homes on a one-for-one basis sounds great in theory, but in practice, it raises questions.  

• Will funding truly cover the costs?  

• Can replacements be built in the same area, or will tenants be displaced?  

• And with more tenants potentially staying longer before becoming eligible, how will this affect your long-term housing strategies? 

Flexibility in using Right to Buy receipts – such as combining them with Section 106 contributions – is a positive step, but it’s clear that collaboration with local authorities and developers will be crucial to make it work.  

The proposed reforms signal a shift towards protecting social housing stock, but again it’s clear the road ahead will require careful navigation. 

As a social housing landlord, the Right to Buy reforms will fundamentally affect the way you manage your properties, plan future developments, and work with your tenants.  

While some of these changes might lighten the load, others could introduce new complexities.  

Staying informed and proactive will be key to adapting to the new rules and ensuring that the balance between tenant aspirations and housing need is preserved. 

For help with the proposed changes, please contact one of our expert social housing solicitors.