Right to buy

Each year approximately 600 Highland Council tenants buy their Council homes making use of the discounts available through the Right to Buy (RTB) scheme. 
 
As well as the purchase price of your home being a major investment, home owners have other costs such as general repair and maintenance and house insurance.   You should think carefully about these when you consider buying. 
 
The Government changed the Right to Buy legislation in 2002.   Some changes apply to all tenants - such as showing that you have no arrears of rent or Council Tax.   Other changes depend on whether your current tenancy with the Council started before 30 September 2002.   As a general rule, if your current Council tenancy started before this date, the old terms and conditions continue to apply for as long as you stay in your house.   However, if your tenancy started on or after 30 September 2002 the new Modernised Right to Buy terms and conditions apply.

Pressured Area Status

Parts of the Highlands were designated as “Pressured Areas” on 15 November 2005.  This means that tenants who started their current tenancies on or after 30 September 2002 in the designated “Pressured Areas” have their Right to Buy (RTB) suspended for five years until November 2010.    
 
Council tenants whose tenancy started from before 30 September 2002 and those who do not live in the designated areas are still able to buy their home.  
 
The designated "Pressured Area” are:

• Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
  • Cromarty Firth Ward (except for Alness)
  • Tain and Easter Ross Ward (except for Balintore and Milton
    
• Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey 
  • All wards, except for the Merkinch estate in Inverness Central and the Hilton estate in Inverness Ness-side and Millburn
    
• Ross, Skye and Lochaber
  • All wards except for Kinlochleven, the Plantation estate in Fort William and the three streets of Carn Dearg, The Corries and Polmona in Claggan in the Fort William and Ardnamurchan Ward and Aultbea in the Wester Ross and Strathpeffer Ward.

This action helps to make sure that Council housing is available to let in communities where there are shortages of housing.   
 
The Council and housing associations are helping tenants to become home owners through low cost home-ownership schemes.
 
For more information on Right to Buy, please contact your local Housing and Property Office. 

  
Related Websites
 
There is a leaflet with lots of information on your right to buy your home. This has been produced by the Scottish Executive. It is available from all  Housing and Property Offices and Service Points. 
 
Right to Buy - offsite link to the Scottish Executive