Reforming the Right to Buy
Last year the Government consulted on changes to the Right to Buy scheme and on 2 July 2025 published its response to the consultation.
The response confirmed reforms to the Right to Buy including:
- Exempting newly built social homes from Right to Buy for 35 years
- Increasing the length of tenancy requirements to qualify for Right to Buy from 3 to 10 years
- Reforming discounts so they start at 5% of the property value, rising by 1% for every extra year an individual is a secure tenant up to the maximum of 15% of the property value; and
- Tightening the restrictions on properties post sale by increasing the period from 5 years to 10 years that the council has the right to ask for repayment of all or part of the discount; and
- Extending the period in which a local authority has the right of first refusal so that it applies in perpetuity.
In addition, further policy development and analysis will explore:
- More effective fraud prevention
- Reforms to the cost floor to better protect investment in existing homes
- The current timelines for processing Right to Buy applications
- How the Right to Buy applies in rural areas.
In a ministerial statement, the Housing Minister said the reforms will “better protect much-needed social housing stock, boost councils’ capacity, and enable them to once again build social homes at scale.” The Government intends to remove the formal one-for-one Right to Buy replacement target but calls on councils to go over and above replacing sold stock and to play a central role in the commitment to deliver a generational increase in social and affordable housebuilding.
The Government will legislate when parliamentary time allows to bring these reforms into force. More immediately, the Government confirmed that the flexibilities that were introduced in July 2024 will continue indefinitely and, from 2026-27, will permit councils to combine Right to Buy receipts with grant funding for social and affordable housing to accelerate delivery of replacement homes.
