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Many council tenants and tenants of building association properties have the option of buying their home and making their first step on to the property ladder using the right to buy scheme introduced by the government. To purchase your rental property you must first meet a number of conditions* a key factor is that you must have lived in the property for 3 or more years. A big advantage of buying your current council house opposed to buying a property on the private market is you will receive a large discount on the market value of the property.

Right To Buy Discounts

When buying a right to buy property you are able to make huge savings throughout the UK the maximum discount is £77,900 except in London which has discounts of up to £103,900. The discount available to you will depend on the current property value, the amount of time you have spent as a tenant in the property and the type of property. To find out if you are eligible for the right to buy scheme and the discount available to you contact your local council or housing authority. It is important to note that once you have bought the property you are required to live there and not sell the property for 5 years, if you move house and sell the property before this you will receive a penalty and have to repay some of the discount you received on the purchase property.

Another important consideration when looking to purchase your council house is that once the property has been purchased you will be liable for any running costs for the property that will result in you having to fund any costs to maintain the property or make any improvements to the home going forward.

Right To Buy Mortgages

An important factor of the purchase process is ensuring that you have the money required to buy the property, on most occasions you will need a mortgage to buy the property. For most people the mortgage is their biggest monthly commitment and careful consideration must be taken when deciding what mortgage you take out. Mortgage plans to buy a property using the right to buy scheme are different to the more traditional purchase mortgages available although many of the banks and building societies do offer right to buy mortgages, not all of them cater for this type of house purchase.

Many people decide to use either a mortgage broker or financial advisor, these often have access to mortgage plans not available on the highstreet and can give you help and guidance through the mortgage process, most mortgage advisors will charge a fee to expedite the mortgage and give you advice on what mortgage plan is best suited to your circumstances and requirements.

Getting Approved for a Right To Buy Mortgage
When looking to arrange a mortgage to buy your home on the right to buy mortgage the same criteria is set for a RTB mortgage or a normal purchase mortgage, things like credit score, CCJ`s, missed payments, defaults and arrears all can effect if your chances of getting approved for the mortgage, although factors include the affordability of the mortgage and your loan to value, obviously your loan to value will be helped by the discount you will be granted. It is important to note the right to buy mortgage lenders and the plans that they provide tend to have a lower tolerance to those of us with an adverse credit rating.

*The conditions for the right to buy scheme often change depending on the current government policies.