If you have your Section 125 offer from the council, or you are about to apply, talk to me before you approach a lender. I compare mortgages across 120+ lenders, including those who treat the Right to Buy discount as your full deposit, and I will tell you honestly whether your property and your credit history are placeable.
HTG Mortgages
Right to Buy Mortgages | Your Discount Can Be Your Deposit
Last Updated: September 2026
Featured in The Telegraph • Daily Mail • The Times • Sky News
Right to Buy lets eligible council tenants in England buy their home at a discount, and many lenders will treat that discount as your deposit, so you may be able to buy with little or no cash of your own. The scheme’s rules are in the middle of changing: the current discounts and the three year qualifying period still apply today, but a Bill before Parliament proposes to tighten them sharply. If you are thinking about it, timing matters.
Currently you need three years as a public sector tenant; discounts run up to 70% but are capped at £38,000 across most of the South East
Many lenders accept the discount as the deposit, some lend the full discounted price, others want a small cash contribution
Sell within five years and you repay part of the discount; for ten years you must offer the home back to the council first
As featured in…
Meet your Advisor
Harry Goodliffe
- FCA Authorised
- Director & Mortgage Advisor
“I‘m not about confusing jargon or passing you from person to person. From our first chat to the day you get the keys, you’ll deal directly with me. I‘ll keep you updated, answer any burning questions, and do everything I can to make the whole process as stress-free as possible.”
Let’s Talk About Your Mortgage
The Right to Buy mortgage process
1
Step 1
First Chat
Send me your Section 125 offer notice from the council, which sets out the price, the discount and the valuation, plus details of your income and any existing credit issues.
2
Step 2
Research
I check which lenders will lend against the discounted price and how each treats the discount, the property type and your credit history.
3
Step 3
Application
Once you have chosen a lender, I handle the application and the valuation and keep to the council’s deadlines, which are fixed and not generous.
4
Step 4
Completion
After the offer I stay on it through to completion, and I will work around whatever fits your circumstances, not just office hours.
About
Our approach.
Why choose HTG Mortgages?
Right to Buy cases fail for three predictable reasons: the property is a flat in a block a lender will not touch, the tenant’s credit history has arrears the lender will not accept, or the council deadline passes while the mortgage is still being sorted. All three are avoidable with planning.
The discount as your deposit.
Lenders treat the difference between the market value and the discounted price as your equity. Some will lend 100% of the discounted price, others cap the loan or want a few thousand pounds of your own money in. Which lenders do what is the first thing I check.
Flats and construction type.
Ex-council flats in high rise blocks, flats above a certain number of storeys, and homes built with non-standard or prefabricated concrete are where lenders decline. Houses and low rise flats are generally straightforward.
The five and ten year rules.
Sell in the first year and you repay all the discount, falling by 20% a year to nothing after five years, calculated on the resale value. For ten years you must offer the home to the council or another social landlord first. Both affect how lenders and you should think about the purchase.
Reforms are coming.
The Social Housing Bill introduced in May 2026 proposes a ten year qualifying period, much smaller discounts, a ten year repayment period and an indefinite right of first refusal. None of it is law yet, and the government has said the changes will be brought in when Parliamentary time allows.
How Right to Buy works today
You qualify if you have been a public sector tenant for at least three years, not necessarily continuously, and your home is your only or main residence. The discount depends on how long you have been a tenant: for houses it starts at 35% after three to five years and rises by 1% for each extra year, for flats 50% rising by 2% a year, up to a maximum of 70%. Cash caps then apply by region, and across most of the South East, which includes Hampshire, the cap is £38,000. Your council also cannot sell below what it has spent building or repairing the home in the last 30 years. Housing association tenants may have the Preserved Right to Buy if their home transferred from a council, or the separate Right to Acquire with a smaller discount of £9,000 to £16,000. If you sell within five years you repay a share of the discount, 100% in year one falling to 20% in year five, based on the resale value, and for ten years you must offer the home back to your former landlord at market value before selling on the open market. These are the rules on GOV.UK as I write this. The Social Housing Bill introduced to Parliament in May 2026 proposes a ten year qualifying period, discounts starting at 5% and capped at 15%, and longer repayment and first refusal periods, but it is not yet law.
What lenders look at on a Right to Buy mortgage
The lender values the property at its open market value and lends against the discounted price you are paying, so the discount does the job a cash deposit normally does. Some lenders will lend the whole discounted price, others limit the loan to a percentage of it or ask for a cash contribution, and a few will not lend on Right to Buy at all. Beyond that, the usual questions apply. Your income needs to support the payments, and my mortgages on benefits page explains how benefit income is treated, because it often features in these cases. Rent arrears or recent credit problems narrow the choice, which is covered on my bad credit mortgages page. The property itself is the other big filter: houses and low rise flats are usually fine, while flats in taller blocks, above commercial premises, or of non-standard construction are where declines happen, and some lenders want a minimum share of private owners in the block. If you want to borrow more than the purchase price to fund repairs, some lenders allow it within limits and others do not. The council’s deadlines for completing the purchase are fixed, so I start the mortgage as soon as the offer notice arrives. Whether buying under Right to Buy is right for you depends on your finances, your plans and the property, and that is what an advice appointment is for.
Why use HTG’s mortgage services?
Available 24/7, so we are always there to help when you need us
We are an independently owned, whole-of-market mortgage broker offering first-charge mortgages
We provide unrivalled customer service, ensuring that you get the care you deserve
Let’s get your mortgage sorted
Written by Harry Goodliffe
Director & Mortgage Adviser, HTG Mortgages · FCA Authorised (1017945)
CeMAP Qualified · Featured in National Press · South England Prestige Awards 2026/27 winner