Voluntary Right to Buy

Right to Buy allows council tenants and housing association tenants with the Preserved Right to Buy to buy their home at a discount. The previous government explored further extending this right to all housing association tenants. Because this extension scheme was not based on legislation, it was labelled Voluntary Right to Buy. 

Future plans for Voluntary Right to Buy 

Although previous Conservative governments announced plans to extend Right to Buy to those living in housing association properties, this is not on the new government’s agenda. While we know that this is disappointing for those residents hoping to buy their social homes, we are pleased to see the new government prioritising the increase of affordable housing supply across the country.  

Our agreement with the government at the time of the Voluntary Right to Buy pilots was based on a clear set of principles, with our red line being that every single social home sold would be replaced. Evaluations of the pilots demonstrated how difficult this is to achieve, as there is not enough money from sales to build new social homes. On current figures, less than half of the homes sold have been replaced, and those that have been replaced are rarely replaced at social rent levels. 

Our research shows that there are 4.2m people in need of social housing in England today. Every social home sold would make that waiting list longer. Housing associations are also facing new financial challenges, including the urgent need to make all their buildings safe and decarbonise homes. Our priority is to continue to work with the new government to increase the supply of good quality social housing. 

Voluntary Right to Buy pilots 

In 2015, the NHF, on behalf of our members, put forward a proposal to the government on how it could deliver its commitment to extend Right to Buy to housing association tenants by way of voluntary agreement rather than legislation. We wanted to make sure that any system delivered for tenants, housing associations, and the government. 

The agreement was based on four key principles: discounts for tenants, control over which homes to sell, full compensation, and flexible one-for-one replacement. You can read more about these principles in our policy briefing. 

In order to test how Voluntary Right to Buy could work in practice, the government ran two pilot schemes – an initial pilot in 2016, and a second pilot in 2018. Eligible tenants living in the pilot regions were able to go through the process of buying their own home, with a discount paid for by the government.  

The original pilot (2016) 

In January 2016, five housing associations were invited by the government to take part in an initial pilot scheme.  
In collaboration with the pilot associations, we commissioned the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research to conduct research into lessons learned from the pilots. 

Read the original pilot report. 

The Midlands pilot (2018) 

This was launched in August 2018, following the government’s announcement in the 2016 Autumn Statement of £200m funding for a regional pilot. The pilot lasted for two years and tested portability, one-for-one replacement and the Voluntary Right to Buy guidance.  

Read the Midlands pilot report.