Right to Buy discounts
If you are eligible for the Right to Buy scheme you can get a discount on the price of your home. Usually, the exact discount you get depends on how many years you have been a public sector tenant. You can count time spent in different properties and with different landlords. The time you count does not need to be continuous.
Further to the recent changes to the Right to Buy discount amount, the basic percentage discount has changed as well:
- For houses, the discount is 35%, going up by 1% for every year over and above the five years you have been a public sector tenant (up to a maximum of 60%).
- For flats, the discount is 50%, which goes up 2% for every year over and above the five years that you have been a public sector tenant (up to a maximum of 70%).
Whether your home is a house or a flat, the current maximum discount is up to £136,400.
Changes to the discount
Following the government's review of Right to Buy discounts, maximum discounts will be reduced to £16,000 from 21 November 2024.
Applications for the Right to Buy received before 21 November 2024 from eligible tenants will be eligible for the current maximum discount of £136,400.
Applications received on or after 21 November 2024 will only be eligible for the reduced maximum discount of £16,000.
Online applications
Online applications made after midnight on 20 November 2024 will only be eligible for the reduced maximum discount of £16,000.
Applications by post or in person
If you are posting an application, you should make a copy and send it by recorded delivery to:
London Borough of Lambeth
Homeownership Services
PO Box 80771
London
SW2 9QQ.
Lambeth will need to receive your application by close of business (no later than 5pm) on 20 November 2024, otherwise, your application will only be eligible for the reduced maximum discount of £16,000.
You can hand your completed application in person by visiting Lambeth Civic Centre, 6 Brixton Hill, London SW2 1EG.
Don’t forget to get a receipt. This will need to be handed in before the Civic Centre closes at 4:30pm on 20 November 2024, otherwise your application will only be eligible for the reduced maximum discount of £16,000.
Discount rules
We cannot sell a property for less money than we have spent on it. If we have spent £5,500 or more improving your home over the past 10 years, and the discount reduces the price of your home below what we have spent on it, a special rule called 'cost floor' may apply.
You can get more details on the discount rules and the size of the discount from Home Ownership Services.
If you sell your home within five years of buying it, you will have to pay back some or all of the discount.
If you owe rent on the property you want to buy, you must pay all the rent you owe four weeks before the property is sold to you. If we hold a suspended or outright possession order against you, and you have not kept to the order, we will not accept your application to buy your home.