Government Raises Right To Buy Discounts

The government will offer increased discounts of up to £75,000 to council tenants who want to purchase their homes under the reinvigorated right to buy scheme.  Some other key points of the revised scheme include;

*No changes have been made to the qualifying criteria for Right to Buy or Preserved Right to Buy - tenants must have spent five years as public sector tenants.

*For the first time, additional homes sold under Right to Buy will be replaced by a new home for affordable rent, with receipts from sales recycled towards the cost of replacement.

*For the first time, there is provision to cover some of the cost of withdrawn applications. Authorities will now be able to retain £2,850 in London and £1,300 in the rest of England to cover the costs of administration on each sale.

Local authorities will be able to retain additional receipts for replacement housing - provided they can sign up to an agreement with Government that they will limit the use of those receipts to 30 per cent of the cost of the replacement homes.

Read more key points on the CLG website.