If you are a Secure Tenant you may be able to buy your home under the Right to Buy (RTB) scheme.
Buying your Council home
The RTB is a government run scheme that allows some tenants to purchase the property that they rent from the Council. Eligible tenants can receive a discount of up to £87,200 off the market value. (This discount is subject to change and applied at the start of a new financial year.)
Discounts start at 35% if you live in a house
If you are the tenant of a house, you could qualify for a discount of 35% off the market value of your home after you have held a public sector tenancy for a total period of 3 years. This discount is fixed at 35% until you have held your tenancy for 5 years.
After this 5 year period the amount of discount will increase by 1% for each year of your tenancy up to a maximum of 70%. However the discount has a financial maximum of £87,200.
Discounts start at 50% if you live in a flat
If you are the tenant of a flat, you could qualify for a discount of 50% from the market value of your home after you have held a public sector tenancy for 3 years. This discount is fixed at 50% until you have held your tenancy for 5 years.
After this 5 year period the amount of discount will increase by 2% for each year of your tenancy up to a maximum of 70%. However the discount has a financial maximum of £87,200.
Before applying for RTB
We recommend that you read the following:
– Right to Buy summary booklet
– Right to Buy guide
– Right to Buy FAQs (pdf 162 kB)
– Guide for completing the Right to Buy application form (pdf 181 kB)
When applying for a RTB, please complete:
Applying for RTB
You can either:
– Download and print a RTB form (pdf 449 kB) and a supporting evidence form (pdf 193 kB) or
– Fill in an online RTB form
To enable us to process your application, please use the Right to Buy checklist to ensure you have completed the RTB1 form in full and have all the required supporting evidence.
If there is any missing information or Solihull MBC require further supporting evidence, we will contact you as soon as possible. If there are any delays in providing the information, you must be aware that this could result in delays processing your application.
You can return your RTB1 form and Supporting Evidence to a Solihull Connect office. Or post it to:
Right to Buy
Rent Control
Endeavour House
Freepost RLSS-UEBA-RTUZ
Meriden Drive, Kingshurst
Solihull B37 6BX
Please note that we have 4 weeks from receipt of application or 8 weeks if you have been with SMBC for less than 3 years. To acknowledge and progress your RTB to the next stage. Once your claim has moved to stage 2, or RTB2, we will then have 8 weeks to send you an offer letter if the property is not leasehold, or 12 weeks if the property is leasehold.
You must also note that once the RTB1 has been submitted, we will only carry out emergency or structural repairs to the property.
