The government has published further guidance on its proposed reforms to the Right to Buy, Preserved Right to Buy and Right to Acquire schemes, setting out new restrictions that will substantially narrow who can buy their social home and on what terms.

The guidance, published on Monday, 9 November 2026, develops reforms first announced in April 2026. The changes are being taken forward through the Social Housing Bill and are not yet in force. They will apply once the bill has completed its parliamentary stages and received royal assent, which the government says is approaching its final stages as of November 2026.

Longer wait and smaller discounts

Under the reforms, the minimum qualifying period for tenants will increase from three years to 10 years. A tenant with fewer than 10 qualifying years when the new rules take effect will need to complete the balance before becoming eligible.

Discounts will start at 5 per cent of the property's market value after 10 qualifying years, rising by 1 per cent for each additional year, and will be capped at 15 per cent of the property's value or the cash discount cap, whichever is lower. The maximum cash discounts were already reduced in November 2024 to between £16,000 and £38,000, depending on location, and the cost floor protection period was extended from 15 to 30 years. Discounts under the Right to Acquire will stay unchanged at between £9,000 and £16,000.

Newly built social homes will not be available to buy until 35 years after they were built, a measure intended to give councils confidence to build new homes without them being sold before building costs are recovered. A home completed in 2027, for example, would not become eligible for purchase until 2062.

New exclusions now confirmed

The latest guidance confirms several exclusions that had previously only been under review. Homes in national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty and designated rural areas will not be available under the Right to Buy or Preserved Right to Buy, because such homes are particularly hard to replace. Council-owned homes let at market rents will also be exempt.

Applicants who already own another residential property, in the UK or elsewhere, will generally be unable to use the schemes, with an exception where an applicant has had to leave a home because of domestic abuse. People who have previously bought under any of the three schemes will generally not be able to use them again, except where they had to leave the purchased home because of domestic abuse or the breakdown of a marriage or civil partnership.

Longer waits and tougher safeguards

Processing times will also grow. The period for serving a notice confirming or denying an application will rise from four to eight weeks, or from eight to 12 weeks where the applicant has a tenancy history with another public sector landlord. Offer notices will take from eight to 12 weeks for houses and from 12 to 16 weeks for flats and leasehold houses.

Landlords will be able to pause application timescales for up to six months while suspected fraud is investigated, a safeguard aimed in part at cases where vulnerable tenants may be pressured into buying. The period during which some or all of the discount must be repaid on resale will increase from five to 10 years, with the full discount repayable in the first year and falling by 10 per cent each year after that. The former landlord's right of first refusal on resale will become indefinite, applying every time the home is sold.

Councils can already retain 100 per cent of Right to Buy receipts to support replacement homes and combine those receipts with grant funding.

What tenants need to do now

For an application to be considered under the existing rules, tenants must submit the prescribed RTB1 form, or RTA1 form for Right to Acquire, to their landlord before the Social Housing Bill receives royal assent. The date of royal assent is currently unknown. Local authorities and registered providers have been advised to keep processing current applications under the existing legislation while preparing their procedures for the new regime.