Right to Buy Process

Stages

• Once you have sent in an RTB1 claim form, Cestria will acknowledge receipt of your application within 5 working days.
• An assessment of your application will take place and we will let you know within four weeks whether you have the Right to Buy. If you have had numerous tenancies with other housing providers it may take slightly longer to arrive at a decision as we await confirmation of tenancy histories.
• If you do not have the Right to Buy we will advise you of the reason why and close your file.
• If you have the Right to Buy we will write to you to advise you that the next step is to have an independent valuation undertaken on the property. This will be arranged by the valuers with yourself for a suitable date and time.
• Once we have received confirmation that you wish to proceed we will arrange for a layout plan to be drawn up and an EPC (Energy survey) to be carried out on the property before passing the file details across to our solicitors to deal with the closing stages of the Right to Buy sale.
• Once we have received the valuation we will calculate any discount you may be entitled to and send out an offer notice to you detailing the price for which you can purchase the property.
• If you are happy with the offer and you wish to take up your Right to Buy you will need to find yourself a solicitor and secure a mortgage offer, you will need to forward details of your solicitor to us.
• If you are not satisfied with the valuation of the property you can request a further valuation be undertaken of the property, this request needs to be made within 12 weeks of receiving your offer notice (Section 125). The re-valuation will be undertaken by the District Valuer and this valuation will be final whether it be lower or even higher than the original valuation.

Discount Rules

Through the Right to Buy Scheme tenants may be entitled to a discount on the market value of their home. As a rule the longer you have been a tenant, the greater the discount you could get. This discount is subject to a maximum limit of 60% for a house, 70% for a flat or £75,000 whichever is lower.