Right to Buy or Acquire

Right to Buy (RTB) or Right to Acquire (RTA) are schemes that enable our customers who rent their homes to buy them from us at a discount.

Right to Buy

The Preserved Right to Buy scheme is available to customers who held secure tenancies with Chelmsford Borough Council, which were transferred to us when we took ownership in March 2002. If you’ve remained a customer in the same property since this date, you may be eligible. If you’re eligible, you’ll receive a discount off the market value of your home, depending on your length of tenancy, up to a maximum of £84,600.
 

To find out if you’re eligible for Right to Buy, where you can get more advice and how to apply, register for or sign in to your online account. You can also find more information on the Government’s Own Your Home website.

The Right to Acquire scheme allows housing association customers to buy their current home at a discount. You can apply to buy your home if you’ve held an assured tenancy with us, in your own name, for three years or more. 

Discounts for this scheme are set by the Government and are between £9,000 and £16 ,000 depending on where you live.

You can visit the GOV.UK website to find out the discounts in your area. Your discount might be reduced if you’ve used Right to Acquire or Right to Buy before.

To check your eligibility, find out where to get more advice and where to apply, register for or sign in to your online account.

If you feel that Right to Acquire is not for you, for example if you can't afford to buy your home with the discount, you might want to consider shared ownership. This allows you to own part of a home until you can afford to buy more of it.