Right to Buy
If you are a secure tenant and have been a council or social housing tenant for three years or more, you may have the right to buy your home.
The Income team administers the right to buy process, enabling secure tenants of a WH property to buy their council home (if you qualify).
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What the team does
The Income team administers the right to buy process, enabling secure tenants of a WH property to buy their council home (if you qualify).
If you are a secure tenant and have been a council or social housing tenant for three years or more, you may have the right to buy your home.
If you buy your house through the Right to Buy scheme, you will become a freeholder, which means you own your house and the land it is built on, and you will be responsible for all maintenance and repair. Some properties, such as bungalows, are not included in the Right to Buy.
If you buy your flat or maisonette through the Right to Buy scheme, you become a leaseholder, with ownership rights to your property for the period of the lease, which is 125 years.
Customers can apply by heading to the Wolverhampton Homes website and downloading the application form, which includes a discount calculator and a tool to check eligibility.
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How this benefits customers
The Right to Buy scheme provides our customers with the option of buying their home, if they qualify and they wish to buy their home.
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What customers can expect
The current turnaround for completion is about 12 months from receipt of an application form.
WH aims to respond to the initial application within 28 days.
Valuation of the property takes place once an application has been accepted. Offers are issued eight weeks for houses and 12 weeks for flats.
Once the customer has the offer, they have three months to accept or decline.
Customers can request a redetermination if they think the valuation is too high.
We understand delays can happen. If this is the case, customers are requested to submit a delay notice on WH by using forms RTB6 and/or RTB8. We are then bound by 28 days to move the customers application on to the next stage of the right to buy process.
Applications can be cancelled if customers do not provide the necessary documentation/information within an appropriate timeline.
If a customer application is cancelled, another one can be made.
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How we measure success
- Low levels of complaints
- Completion of Right to Buy sales.
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How we continue to improve
- Compliance with Right to Buy timescales
- Ensuring all information is available to support customers through the process and clear advice is given.
- How the team's work fits within the Consumer Standards