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Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
Right to Buy is a government scheme that allows you to buy your home if you are a council home or housing association tenant for a huge discounted rate. Right to Buy has been abolished in Scotland and Wales.
The government scheme sometimes means that you can use the discount you receive on your place as a mortgage deposit so you are able to buy your home and get a mortgage with less savings needed.
The scheme is applicable to you if you are living in the property in question, you have no legal issues with debt and you have had a public sector landlord for at least three years.
The value of the discount that you get depends on a number of factors, including whether you are in a house or a flat and where in the country that you live. Find out more in this guide on how big your discount could be.
Depending on the value of this discount you might be able to use this as a deposit for your place as most mortgage lenders will allow you to do that. You will still have to pay any upfront mortgage or surveying fees but this discount relieves a lot of pressure from saving for a deposit.
However, even when using this discount, your lender will check your credit and income history. Having a good credit score and a history of repaying bills on time will help make getting a mortgage easier.
Use Lending Expert as your mortgage broker for your Right to Buy mortgage and we can work out the best way to use your discount to secure financial stability in the future.
Before taking out a Right to Buy mortgage, make sure to share the objectives with your mortgage advisor so that you can ensure that the mortgage suitably meets your requirements.
Lending Expert is a mortgage broker and can compare over 1,000 Right to Buy mortgage deals across the UK. Whilst high street banks will typically offer Right to Buy mortgages too, we can help find the best option for you, with rates from 1.39% per month, whether you are looking for interest only, fixed, variable, tracker or have a bad credit history.
Start by clicking on ‘Check my Eligibility’ below and enter some basic details about you and your property, and Lending Expert will help you find the best Right to Buy mortgage according to your requirements.
There are a few criteria that have to be applicable to you if you are to be eligible for a Right to Buy discount and therefore a Right to Buy mortgage. If these criteria fit your circumstances then you may be eligible for the Right to Buy scheme and a discount on your property:
The discount that you are able to get on your Right to Buy property depends on a number of factors including how long you’ve been living in public-sector housing, where in the country your place is and whether it is a house or a flat.
If you are living in a house you are eligible for a 35% discount after the three years of your tenancy. After five years the discount that you can get increases by 1% each extra year you have been in a council owned property (not just the one you are buying) with a maximum discount of 75%.
If you are living in a flat then you are eligible for a 50% discount after three years. After five years this is increased by 2% every year you have been a public sector tenant with a maximum discount reaching 70%.
Some factors may change the discount that you are eligible for, including if your landlord has spent money building or maintaining your property. The biggest discount currently available in England is £84,600, but if you are in London then this is £112,800.
One of the biggest advantages of using the Right to Buy scheme is that often it means you would not have to save for a deposit. This is because many lenders will accept your discount as a deposit.
It is important to check with your lenders that they will accept the deposit as some will ask for savings in addition to the discount.
Even if you do end up using your discount as a deposit there will be other fees involved in buying your property. These include surveying fees as well as some upfront mortgage costs. Make sure that you do not rely solely on the discount and have some savings to pay for these original costs.
Moreover, having a deposit does not make you automatically eligible for a Right to Buy mortgage ,and lenders will still want to see your credit history as well as your income and expenditure to make sure that they can trust you to make repayments on time.
Selling your Right to Buy property can be complicated depending on how long you have been living there. Before you embark on your Right to Buy journey, make sure that you want to live there for at least 10 years.
If you sell your Right to Buy property within 5 years then you will have to pay back part of, or in some cases all, of your discount.
If you are looking to sell your Right to Buy property within 10 years of purchasing it then you must first offer it to another social landlord at the market price before you are able to put it on the market yourself.
This could mean that there are complications and delays in moving into your next house and can reduce the amount of equity you have to buy your next place with.
There are a few simple factors that can help improve your chances of getting a mortgage if you are using the Right to Buy scheme:
Working with a mortgage broker such as Lending Expert will help you find the best mortgage to suit your circumstances, without impacting your credit rating.
Contact us today to speak to an expert and start comparing first time buyer mortgages.
We proudly offer Right to Buy mortgages across England and Northern Ireland including Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Newcastle, Sheffield and more.
Working with a number of high street banks and specialist mortgage lenders, Lending Expert has access to over 1,000 mortgage deals available. We’re in the perfect position to help you find the best rates and get approved.
Our eligibility checker is completely free to use and can provide an indicative quote, with no obligation.
Founded in 2013, we have years of experience working in the secured loan and mortgage market and have helped thousands of customers to date. Our values have always been to find the right product for the right individual at the competitive rate – and we are pleased to offer our services for you today!
A right to buy mortgage is specifically designed for people who are in a position to buy their council house so that they no longer rent it and instead have the opportunity to own their own home when they wouldn’t otherwise have the chance to. The criteria to be eligible to buy your council house are strict, but if you apply you will qualify for a discount on the value of your property when you do come to buy it.
The main criteria are that you are a current secure tenant of your local council and that you have also spent at least five years as a public sector tenant, which means that you cannot have rented in the private sector during that time. If you have been transitioned from your local council to a housing association as a secure tenant during the last five years you will also qualify for a right to buy mortgage. It is worth noting that, subject to approval in parliament, the qualifying time will reduce from five to three years.
The main criteria are that you are a current secure tenant of your local council and that you have also spent at least five years as a public sector tenant, which means that you cannot have rented in the private sector during that time. If you have been transitioned from your local council to a housing association as a secure tenant during the last five years you will also qualify for a right to buy mortgage. It is worth noting that, subject to approval in parliament, the qualifying time will reduce from five to three years.
If you decide to buy your council home after five years you can qualify for a 35% discount on the value of the property when you buy it. This discount increases each year up to a maximum of 60%, or £75,000. If you live in a flat you can potentially qualify for even great discounts.
Although you can then approach any lender for a mortgage you may find that you have to be selective in order to get the best deal. This is because some lenders do not take the discount into account when assessing your deposit and therefore will not be likely to provide you with a mortgage. Other lenders, who offer right to buy mortgages will take the discount into account and will treat this as your deposit as when combined with the mortgage value it equals the total value of the property. Lenders are able to do this as effectively you gain the equity in the house equal to the size of the discount you receive and so lenders use this to reduce the risk of the loan. Other than that, lenders require all of the usual documentation and checks to ensure that you will be able to afford the repayments on the mortgage.