“We will help every Council Tenant to become Home Owners” With these historic words Margaret Thatcher initiated an equally historic concept of council right to buy scheme. However,
groundwork for this scheme had been laid much before in
70s under
reigns of
labour government.The council right to buy scheme, without being embroiled in any controversy regarding who set off
council right to buy scheme, was indeed momentous. It led many people, who would never have thought (capable would be a more appropriate word to describe their situation) to have their own homes.
So what is council right to buy scheme? Council right to buy scheme is a scheme under which
council tenants are eligible to buy
house in which they have been living.
Therefore, what is that which distinguishes
council right to buy scheme from
other schemes? It is different because
customer would have to pay much lesser than what he would have paid had he bought
house in
open market. This is because
customer is entitled to a discount for
number of years that he was staying in
house as a tenant.
The rate of discount varies with
type of residence and
location of
residence. A person residing in a house will be eligible for a discount of up to 30% with a further discount of 1% for every year lived as a tenant of
house. In cases of flats or maisonettes
rate of discount ranges from 44% to 70%, but not exceeding £38,000. The maximum rate of discount is admissible only in a few localities like
posh London and
Southeast areas of England.
To avail
scheme one must be a council tenant. A council tenant is a secured tenant who has been living since 5 years or more (the limit has been changed from 2 years with effect from 18th January 2005) in any of
following: •District council •London borough council •Non-charitable housing association or other registered social landlord •Housing action trust. •County council or another similar body
Numerous lenders who have sensed
importance of
scheme offer mortgages especially designed to facilitate such purchases. These mortgages are called council right to buy mortgage. A council right to buy mortgage offers to pay
price of
house. This will be an added attraction to
tenants to go for
scheme. The council tenants can pay off to
council from whom
house has been purchased, and then pay to
mortgage provider in easy and affordable installments. In fact,
monthly installment, which
tenant will have to pay, is lesser than
rent he had been paying. Moreover, while
rent is a sunk cost,
monthly installments facilitate you to have your own home.