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COUNCIL RIGHT TO BUY: Your Right to Buy your home

Right to Buy:

Exceptions to the Right to Buy

Homes suitable for occupation by the elderly

(This does not apply to sheltered housing for the elderly – please refer to a later page for other exceptions)

Summary

Your landlord may refuse to let you buy on the grounds that your home is particularly suitable for occupation by elderly people (under paragraph 11 of Schedule 5 to the Housing Act 1985). If so, you can ask the Secretary of State (a Residential Property Tribunal after 1 April 2005) if you live in England, or the National Assembly for Wales if you live in Wales, to decide if your landlord is right. But you must ask them within 56 days after the landlord has refused to sell your home. If you don’t ask in time, you lose this right of appeal.

What the law says

You do not have the Right to Buy if your home:

• is particularly suitable for occupation by elderly persons, taking into account its location, size, design, heating system and other features;
• was let to you or the previous tenant for occupation by a person aged 60 or over, whether they were the tenant or not; and
• was first let (to you or someone else) before 1 January 1990.

When considering if your home is ‘particularly suitable’, your landlord must ignore features that you have provided (for example, a central heating system).

How do I ask for a decision?

If the property is in England, write to Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Right to Buy branch, Room 2/H10, Eland House, Bressenden Place, London, SW1E 5DQ. After 1 April 2005, decisions will be made by regional panels of the Residential Property Tribunal. You will need to contact their Head Office at 10 Alfred Place, London, WC1E 7LR, telephone number 0845 600 3178, to determine where your appeal should be sent. This is because the appeal will be dealt with by the panel for the region in which your home is located.

If the property is in Wales, write to the Welsh Assembly Government, Housing Directorate, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ.

What happens then?

When both sides have had the chance to put their case and the facts have been established, the Secretary of State, Residential Property Tribunal, or National Assembly for Wales will decide whether or not your home is excluded from the Right to Buy.

What effect will the decision have?

If the Secretary of State, Residential Property Tribunal, or Welsh Assembly Government decides that your home does fall within the criteria set out in paragraph 11 of Schedule 5 to the Housing Act 1985, you will not have the right to buy it.

If the decision is that paragraph 11 does not apply to your home, you will be able to go ahead with your purchase unless there is some other reason why you do not have the Right to Buy (the landlord may have denied the Right to Buy for more than one reason).

On what basis will the decision be made?

The decision-maker will normally expect to be satisfied on the following points:

a) there should be easy access on foot to your home: access is unlikely to be regarded as easy if it is necessary to climb three or more steps ( in addition to the threshold) and there is no handrail;

b) the accommodation should normally be on one level;

c) in the case of a flat above ground floor level there should be easy access by lift;

d) there should be no more than two bedrooms;

e) there should be heating arrangements which function reliably and provide heat to at least the living room and one bedroom;

f) your home should be located reasonably conveniently for shops and public transport, having regard to the nature of the area.

The Secretary of State, Residential Property Tribunal or Welsh Assembly Government will also take into account any other relevant features of your home which are drawn to his/their attention.

Homes due to be demolished

If your landlord intends to demolish your home, he may serve on you an initial demolition notice, valid for up to 5 years. Such a notice suspends his obligation to complete a Right to Buy purchase. If you have already applied for the Right to Buy, you can still complete if demolition does not in fact take place. You can also make a new application while an initial demolition notice is in force, but your landlord does not have to complete the sale under those circumstances.

However, if your landlord serves a final demolition notice, then any existing Right to Buy claims are ended and no new applications can be made. Your landlord can only serve such a notice if all other premises which are to be demolished within the relevant area have been acquired or are subject to binding agreements to acquire. This is to prevent tenants from being disadvantaged by unresolved compulsory purchase issues. A final demolition notice will be valid for 2 years, and can be extended on application to the Secretary of State.

If you have established a valid claim to exercise the Right to Buy before either an initial demolition notice or a final demolition notice is served, you have 3 months in which to claim compensation for expenditure connected with the conveyancing process, such as legal or survey fees.

If your landlord subsequently decides not to demolish the property, he must serve a revocation notice on you as soon as is reasonably practicable. If it appears to the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales that a landlord has no intention of demolishing properties he may serve a notice revoking the initial or final demolition notice on you.

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© Crown Copyright (Correct at time of writing January 2005. Please check with your financial services provider for any changes.)