Right to buy

The Right to Acquire Scheme helps Housing Association tenants to buy their current home at a discount.

The scheme only applies to properties built or bought by your landlord, using public funds, after 1 April 1997.

This includes properties that have been acquired by the Jigsaw Homes Group by Large Scale Voluntary Stock Transfers from Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, Chorley Borough Council and Gedling Borough Council.

It should be noted that some properties, such as sheltered accommodation, are excluded from the Right to Acquire Scheme.

To qualify for the Right to Acquire you must meet the following conditions:

• Your home must have been built, or bought, by your landlord using public funds after 1st April 1997.
• You must have been a Housing Association, Council or Armed Forces tenant for at least 5 years.
• The property you want to buy must be self contained.
• The property you want to buy should be your only and main home.

You cannot apply for the Right to Acquire if you are being made bankrupt, or if a Court has ordered you to give up the tenancy of the property you wish to purchase.

If you inquire about the Right to Acquire Scheme, Jigsaw Homes will initially check that both you and your home meets the qualifying criteria that are set out above. Provided that is the case, Jigsaw Homes will then invite you to make an application for the Right to Acquire.

The amount of discount you will get depends on where you live. In areas where members of the Jigsaw Homes Group have properties the discount is either £9,000 or £10,000.

If you have previously had a discount to buy a Council or Housing Association property, this may be taken off your Right to Acquire discount.

Jigsaw Homes would obtain an open market valuation for your home to work out the price that you would be offered to purchase your home at. An open market valuation is the price that a property would be expected to sell out through an estate agent, and the valuation would be obtained by someone who was a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

If you purchase your home under the Right to Acquire Scheme and subsequently re-sell it within 5 years of doing so, then you will be required to pay back all or part of the discount that you received.

There are a number of factors, such as property value and the length of time since the property was purchased that may influence the amount that you are asked to repay but the general principles are:

After 5 years of ownership, no discount is repayable under the Right to Acquire Scheme.