Home buy eligibility management overview

The 'Right to Buy' scheme allows secure tenants of council homes and housing association properties to buy their home with a significant discount; those who cannot afford to buy their home outright may still be able to purchase a share of it, with the landlord holding the remaining share. Similarly, for assured tenants, the 'Right to Acquire' scheme gives eligible tenants of registered social landlords the legal right to buy the home they currently rent. In all scenarios, eligibility criteria applies to both the tenant and the property in which they live. For instance, before a tenant can apply to buy their home, they must have accrued the minimum qualifying period in public sector tenancies - currently set at three years. This can be made up from the present and any previous relevant public sector tenancies, irrespective of whether these qualifying periods are continuous - temporary, homeless, introductory and short-hold tenancies can all be included. Any previous public sector tenancy referenced in the qualifying period need not have been categorised as 'secure'; it also does not matter whether or not the tenant had the right to purchase the previous property. The following circumstances can all be counted towards the qualifying period:

Periods during which the tenant held a public sector tenancy
Periods spent as the spouse of a public sector tenant where they occupied that property as their only or principal home
Periods during which the spouse of the purchaser was a public sector tenant providing the purchaser and spouse were living together at the relevant time
Periods during which the deceased spouse of the purchaser was a public sector tenant, providing the purchaser and spouse were living together at the time of death
Periods during which the spouse of the purchaser (if living together at the relevant time) was formerly the spouse of a public sector tenant and lived there as his/her only or principal home
Periods during which the deceased spouse of the purchaser (if living together at the time of death) was formerly the spouse of a public sector tenant and occupied that dwelling as his/her only or principal home.

Irrespective of scheme, joint applications are also encouraged from a range of stakeholders: someone who shares the tenancy, the main applicant's spouse or civil partner, or up to three family members who have lived with the main applicant for the past twelve months. Whilst any joint applicants don't have to be on the current tenancy agreement, the property must be their main home. Within the Home Buy module of Civica Cx Housing, all previous tenancies relevant to a specific application, together with all linked contacts and applicants, can be recorded against the associated case. Furthermore, historical rent-based data held against each contact record can be an invaluable aid when assessing applicant eligibility, specifically to verify that all stakeholders have no legal problems with debt and have no outstanding possession or court orders.

Separate help articles have been created for each key aspect of home buy eligibility management, including: