Right to Buy lets most council tenants buy their home at a discount. The important thing to know in 2026 is that the discounts were cut sharply on 21 November 2024. The maximum is now whichever is lower: 70% of your home's value, or a regional cash cap. In Yorkshire and the Humber, which covers Sheffield, that cap is £24,000.
A great deal of advice online still quotes the old figures of £102,400 outside London and £136,400 in London. Those apply only to applications made before 21 November 2024. If you are applying now, the numbers are very different, and planning around the old ones will leave you badly short.
Your discount is whichever is lower: 70% of your property's value, or the cash cap for your region.
In practice the cash cap is what bites for almost everyone. The percentage below only matters if your home is worth very little.
Houses: 35% if you have been a public sector tenant for three to five years. After five years it rises by 1% for each extra year.
Flats: 50% for three to five years. After five years it rises by 2% for each extra year.
Either way it stops at 70% of the value, or your regional cap, whichever comes first. If you are buying with someone else, you count the years of whoever has been a public sector tenant longest.
Your discount may also be reduced if your landlord has spent money building or maintaining the home in the last 30 years — and you get no discount at all if they have spent more than the home is now worth.
You can apply jointly with someone who shares your tenancy, or with up to three family members who have lived with you for the past 12 months even if they are not on the tenancy.
Different rules apply in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
You may have Preserved Right to Buy if the council owned your home and transferred it to a housing association while you were living there — that gives you the full Right to Buy. Otherwise you may qualify for Right to Acquire, which has different rules and smaller discounts. Ask your landlord which applies to you.
Say your home is valued at £180,000, it is a house, and you have been a council tenant for ten years.
Your discount is worth about 13% of the market value. That still works as your deposit — you would be borrowing £156,000, which is 100% of what you pay but around 87% of what the home is worth. Lenders look at the latter figure, which is why Right to Buy mortgages remain workable.
Figures are an illustration. Your own valuation, tenancy length and regional cap will differ.
Usually, yes. Most lenders treat the Right to Buy discount as your deposit, so you may not need cash up front for the deposit itself.
You will still need money for legal fees, a survey, and any lender or broker fees, so it is not a no-cost purchase. And because the discounts are now much smaller, the mortgage you need is considerably larger than it would have been before November 2024 — which means affordability matters more than it used to. Our borrowing calculator is a sensible first step.
Within five years you repay some or all of the discount, based on the value of the home when you sell, not what you paid:
Within ten years you must first offer the home back to your old landlord or another social landlord in the area, at full market price. If you cannot agree a figure, a district valuer sets it and you do not pay for that valuation. If the landlord has not agreed to buy within eight weeks, you can sell to anyone.
If your home is in a national park, an area of outstanding natural beauty, or an area designated rural for Right to Buy, your former landlord may restrict who you can sell to.
Lenders generally view Right to Buy applications favourably, because the discount means you are borrowing below market value from day one, and because long tenancies tend to show stability.
They will still assess the things they always assess: income and outgoings, existing credit commitments, and your credit history. Our guide to what a lender does not want to see is worth reading before you apply.
Not every lender offers Right to Buy mortgages, and those that do have differing rules — particularly on flats, on high-rise blocks, and on ex-local-authority construction types. If your credit history is imperfect, options still exist, though the choice narrows.
The Section 125 notice is the document to read carefully. It discloses repair liabilities, and on a leasehold flat it should indicate service charges — which can be substantial and which lenders will count against your affordability.
How much is the Right to Buy discount now?
Whichever is lower: 70% of your home's value, or your regional cash cap. In Yorkshire and the Humber, including Sheffield, the cap is £24,000.
Why is the discount so much lower than articles say?
The caps were reduced on 21 November 2024. The figures of £102,400 outside London and £136,400 in London apply only to applications made before that date, and a lot of online guidance has not been updated.
Can I use the discount as my deposit?
Usually yes. You will still need cash for legal fees, a survey and any lender or broker fees.
How long do I need to have been a tenant?
Three years with a public sector landlord, and it does not need to be three consecutive years.
Can I apply with family members?
Yes — with someone who shares your tenancy, or up to three family members who have lived with you for the past 12 months.
What happens if I sell within five years?
You repay some or all of the discount, calculated on the value at the time you sell. All of it in year one, then 80%, 60%, 40% and 20% across years two to five.
Will I pay service charges on a flat?
Yes, if it is leasehold. These can be significant, particularly where major works are planned, and lenders take them into account.
We are an independent, whole-of-market mortgage broker at Beehive Works in Sheffield, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 650114). Sheffield has a large council housing stock, so Right to Buy is a conversation we have often — and you can read more about our Sheffield mortgage advice or our first-time buyer guidance.
We will tell you which lenders will consider your property type, what you can realistically borrow, and — honestly — whether the numbers work now that the discounts are smaller.
Your initial consultations and discussions with your adviser are free, and our fees are set out in full before you commit to anything.
Call 0114 303 1031, email info@friendscapital.co.uk, or get in touch through the website.
Last updated 7 October 2026, against GOV.UK guidance. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
