Right to Buy: Preserved Right to Buy

  • Headline benefits: Eligible tenants are offered a discount of up to £96,000 (£127,900 in London) to help buy the home they are renting.
  • Headline requirements: If you were a secure council tenant and were living in your home when it was transferred from your council to another landlord, then you may have a Preserved Right to Buy.

Key actions

Eligibility quiz

Availability: England only

Overview

If you’re a housing association tenant in England the Preserved Right to Buy scheme could help you buy the home you currently live in with a discount of up to £96,000 (£127,900 in London).

Eligibility

You could be eligible if you were a secure council tenant and you were living in your home when it was transferred from the council to another landlord, like a housing association.

You could also be eligible if you then moved to another home owned by the new landlord. But not if you moved to a home owned by a different landlord.

Your landlord will be able to tell you whether you have the Preserved Right to Buy. If you’re a housing association tenant and you’re not eligible for this scheme, you may be eligible for the Right to Acquire scheme instead.

The government has plans to extend the Right to Buy to more housing association tenants.  The government will evaluate new pilot areas for the extension known as Voluntary Right to Buy. More details will be announced in due course.

Find out if you could be eligible for the Preserved Right to Buy, what discount you might get and whether you can afford to buy – and how to take the next steps if you decide to apply.

View more information about Preserved Right to Buy

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Right to Acquire

If you’re a housing association tenant in England you could be eligible to buy the home you rent with a discount between £9,000 and £16,000.