Octavia Housing

Right to buy and right to acquire

The Right To Buy and Right To Acquire schemes give social housing tenants the opportunity to buy their homes at a discount. The discount that you may get under the schemes is currently up to a maximum of £16,000 in London.

Am I eligible for these schemes?

You may be eligible for the Right To Buy scheme if you used to be a tenant of Central and Provincial Housing Trust and were a secure tenant, living in the property, when it transferred over to St Marylebone Housing Association (now Octavia Housing).

You may be eligible for the Right To Acquire scheme if you have an assured tenancy and have been with Octavia for at least five years. To qualify for both schemes the property must also be your only home.

 

You cannot buy your home through the schemes if:

 

• you have a pending bankruptcy petition against you
• you have an outstanding debt in a private financial arrangement or
• an outright Possession Order has been granted against you

 

How does the application process work?

If you are interested in buying your home, we will then send you an application form together with some further information.

Once we receive your completed application form we will let you know whether you are eligible within 4 weeks and also tell you what discount you will be able to get.

If you are eligible and want to go ahead with the purchase, you must confirm this in writing to us no later than 12 weeks from the date that you received the offer notice. If you don’t do this the offer may be withdrawn.

If we decide that you are not eligible for the schemes you have the right to make an appeal.

What will it cost to own a home?

It is important to understand that buying a home is an expensive business. To begin with you will need around £5000 in up-front costs. This covers expenses such as stamp duty, legal and survey fees, valuation fees, and mortgage administration fees.

You should also consider the long term financial commitment involved in home ownership. Once you have committed yourself and bought your property, you will have to pay the mortgage as well as insurance, council tax and utility bills. Also there will be the costs of keeping your property in good repair.

Who should I contact for more information?

If you would like more information please contact the Home Ownership Team.