Buying your home

Buying your home

Right to Buy is a government scheme which allows council tenants the right to buy their home at a discounted price. YHN manage all Right to Buy sales of council homes in Newcastle upon Tyne.

If you have any questions about Right to Buy please contact us in the following ways:

  • Telephone: 0191 278 7725
  • E-mail: rtb@yhn.org.uk
  • Postal address: Home Ownership Team, YHN House, Benton Park Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE7 7LX

Our office hours are Monday – Friday 8:30am - 4:30pm

buying your home

Am I eligible to buy my home?

You are eligible for the scheme if:

  • You have been a secure tenant for at least 3 years (it doesn’t have to be 3 years in a row)
  • You don’t live in Housing Plus accommodation or accommodation particularly suitable for older or disabled people
  • You don’t have any legal problems with debt
  • You don’t have any outstanding possession orders

If you qualify, you can buy your home:

  • By yourself
  • With a spouse, civil partner or other joint tenant
  • You can also share the right to buy with up to 3 family members who have lived in your home for the last 12 months

You cannot buy your home if:

  • You live in sheltered housing
  • Your home is not self-contained
  • It is not your only or principle home
  • You live in a house provided by the Council so that you can be near your place of work
  • Your home has been specially adapted for the elderly
  • A court has made a possession order against you which says that you must leave your home
  • You are undischarged bankrupt, have a bankruptcy petition pending against you, or have made an arrangement with creditors (people you own money to) and you still owe them money

Costs and discounts

Your Homes Newcastle and Newcastle City Council do not charge for their services to support you through the processes of buying your home, but standard charges associated with the purchase of a property do apply.

We will calculate the purchase price of your home at the date we receive your application form, less any discount you are entitled to.

The longer you have been a tenant, the more discount you are entitled to up to a maximum amount. You can find out more about what discount you could get by visiting the Government's Right to Buy discount page.

The discount you receive may be reduced if the amount of money we have spent repairing or maintaining your home in the last 10 years is more than the purchase price of your home.  This is called the cost floor.  We cannot sell your home to you for less than the cost floor amount.

There are a number of one-off costs involved when you buy a home such as stamp duty, legal and survey fees, and the costs associated with taking out a mortgage. Always take independent legal and financial advice. For a list of additional costs, visit our 'what are the costs of buying my home' page. 

For more information, speak to our Home Ownership team: 

How to apply

If you decide home ownership is right for you, we recommend contacting the Government’s Right to Buy Agent Service for free and impartial advice. The service will help you through the process of buying your home.

1. Complete your application

Fill in the Right to Buy (RTB1) form and return it to us by email or post. You can also complete the form or download a copy of the form online. 

2. Our response 

We will send you a notice (RTB2) no more than four weeks after receiving your completed form to tell you if you have the right to buy or not. 

3. Offer of sale 

If we agree to sell your home to you we will send you an offer notice (known as the Section 125 Notice). This will tell you: 

  • The price you will have to pay.
  • A description of the property.
  • Estimate of service charges and any improvement costs for the first five years if the property is a flat or maisonette.
  • Any structural defects that we know about.
  • The terms and conditions attached to the sale.
  • How to appeal against the valuation of the property if you feel it is too high.

Please note that we cannot quote a price for the property before it has been valued. 

4. Getting a survey and legal advice 

Before you decide to buy you should get an independent structural survey carried out by a qualified surveyor. You should also get some legal advice from a solicitor or licenced conveyancer.

5. Tell us what you want to do next 

You will need to decide if you want to buy your home or withdraw your application within twelve weeks of receiving your offer of sale.

If you do not tell us what you intend to do we will send you a reminder and if you do not repay within 28 days of this reminder we will assume that you do not want to buy and withdraw your application. 

If you have decided to buy and you need a mortgage you will need to talk to a bank or building society. 

6. Completing the purchase 

If you have decided to buy you will need to return your acceptance form to us agreeing to the terms and conditions of the sale, along with the required documents that we have requested. You will need to instruct a solicitor, or licenced conveyancer to deal with the legal side of your purchase and to explain the terms of your lease if you are buying a flat or maisonette. 

We will then send you a notice giving you 56 days to complete the purchase. If you have not completed within this time we will issue a second notice giving you a further 56 days to complete the purchase.

If you do not complete by the end of the second 56 days we will withdraw the application.

Need more information?

Click the links below for additional information on the Right to Buy scheme:

Is this page useful?
Is this page useful?