Right to Acquire: buying your housing association home
Your landlord’s offer
If your landlord agrees to sell, their offer will tell you:
- the price they think you should pay for the property and how it was worked out
- your discount and how it was worked out
- a description of the property and any land included in the price
- estimates of any service charge (for a flat or maisonette) for the first 5 years
- any known problems with the property’s structure, eg subsidence
Deciding to buy
Once you get your landlord’s offer, you have 12 weeks to tell them that you still want to buy.
If you do not reply, the landlord will send you a reminder (called an ‘RTA4’). You’ll have a reasonable time (at least 28 days) to reply. If you do not, your landlord will send a final reminder (called an ‘RTA5’). If you do not reply to that, your landlord can drop your application.
You can pull out of the sale and continue to rent at any time.
If you disagree with the landlord’s offer
Contact your landlord and tell them why.
If you think your landlord has set your home’s market value too high, you must write to them within 3 months of getting the offer and ask for an independent valuation.
A district valuer from HM Revenue & Customs will visit your home and decide how much it’s worth. You have 12 weeks to accept their valuation or pull out of the sale.