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Newlon Housing Trust

Buying your home

There are currently two government initiatives which, in certain circumstances, may permit a Newlon resident to purchase their home at a discounted price – Right to Acquire and Preserved Right to Buy. Only a limited number of Newlon properties qualify for these schemes. For more information please read the following pages:

Right to Acquire
Right to Buy 

If you want to express your interest to buy your home through either Right to Acquire or a Preserved Right to Buy, then fill in the online form.

Some basic checks will be made before we send the application pack, but all final decisions will be made after a full application has been made.

Right to Acquire criteria

  • The Right to Acquire scheme started in April 1997 so this scheme is only available for properties built or which received government funding after this time.
  • You must have an assured tenancy and must have been a public sector tenant for at least three years.
  • The discount available is between £9,000 and £16,000. The amount of discount you qualify for depends on the borough in which you live.

Right to Buy criteria

  • You must have a protected assured tenancy. You would have this if your home was originally rented with a local authority and it was transferred to Newlon through a stock transfer.
  • The right to buy the local authority home was protected and your rights transferred with you to Newlon. We must, by law, therefore offer you this same opportunity.
  • You must have been a public sector tenant for at least three years.
  • The maximum discount is £96,010 across England, except in London boroughs where it is £127,940. These amounts will increase each year in April in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI.)

Exceptions to Right to Acquire or Preserved Right to Buy

You may be excluded from the Right to Acquire or Right to Buy if any of the following apply:

  • Properties where the landlord has insufficient legal interest i.e. where the property is a house, a lease with a term under 21 years and for a flat, a lease with a term under 50 years.
  • Properties where the landlord is a co-operative housing association.
  • Properties situated in a rural area designated by order of the Secretary of State.
  • Properties let in connection with employment such as key worker or intermediate rent schemes renting below market rates.
  • Properties designed with special features for letting to people with physical disabilities. To gain exemption the property should be one of a group of properties normally let to people with physical disabilities and a social service or special facility is provided close by wholly or partly to assist the tenants.
  • Properties with special facilities let to tenants who are suffering or have suffered from a mental disorder. As above the property must be one of a group of properties and a social service or special facility must be provided close by wholly or partly to assist the tenants.
  • Properties which are one of a group of properties which it is the practice of the landlord to keep for occupation by persons who have special needs and require intensive housing assistance and such intensive housing assistance is provided either directly or indirectly by the landlord.
  • Properties let to persons of pensionable age. Such properties must be one of a group of properties let to the elderly and have special facilities consisting of or including a resident warden or non-resident warden with a calling facility, and/or a common room close by.
  • Properties held on Crown tenancies.
  • Properties where the attributable loan debt is equal to or greater than its current market value.
  • Your home must not be about to be demolished. If you’re not sure about this, please check with us.
  • You must not be an undischarged bankrupt, have a bankruptcy petition pending against you or have obtained a debt relief order.
  • You must not be subject to a possession order; including a suspended possession order, the conditions of which have been broken.
  • You must not have any Anti-Social Behaviour order against you.

Right to Buy extension

  • You may have read about the government’s plans to extend the Right to Buy to housing association tenants, enabling residents to buy their homes.
  • As of yet no firm plans have been made to roll this out.
  • We will keep you up to date with any further developments in this area.
  • For the latest updates from the government please go to righttobuy.gov.uk.