Right to Buy - selling your home

If you wish to sell your property within 10 years of buying it through the Right to Buy scheme, you must offer us the opportunity to buy the property back at full market value.

Whist we have a right of first refusal it does not mean that we will purchase your property. However, we must be offered the opportunity to do so. The decision on whether or not to proceed will depend on our current requirements for particular property types, its location and the availability of funding. The offer will also be passed to another landlord, approved under the Government's regulations, for them to accept or refuse the purchase of your property.

The right of first refusal rules affect properties sold subject to a Right to Buy application made on or after 18 January 2005.

Offer notice

If you're thinking of selling your property, you or your solicitor must send us a formal offer notice of first refusal before you sell on the open market.

Please download and complete the  Right of First Refusal - Offer Notice (PDF 94KB). Either email back to us at legalpost@dacorum.gov.uk or return by post to The Forum, Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 1DN.

We aim to acknowledge your offer within 10 working days. You will be advised of our decision whether to accept or reject your offer up to eight weeks after receipt of your application.

If we decide to accept your offer

We must issue a formal acceptance notice letting you know that we wish to accept the offer or, alternatively, that we are nominating another landlord to accept the offer in our place.

We will only tell you that we have nominated another landlord if they have given us a written commitment that they want to be nominated. Please remember that until a binding contract has been entered into, acceptance of your offer by us, or another landlord nominated by us, does not entitle you to insist on a purchase being carried out.

If we decide to reject your offer

We will serve a formal rejection notice as soon as we have made our decision. You may then sell the property as you wish during the 12-month period starting from the day after we issue our notice.

Repayment of the Right to Buy discount

If you are offering the property back to us within five years of the original sale, then any discount due to us will be shown in the formal acceptance notice, should we decide to purchase your home.

Please remember that our decision on whether or not to purchase your property does not affect your liability to repay discount under the Right to Buy scheme.

Failure to issue an acceptance or a rejection notice within eight weeks

If we fail to issue either an acceptance or a rejection notice within eight weeks of the date of receipt of your offer, you are free to sell the property as you wish during the 12-month period starting the day after the end of the eight-week period.

Re-offering the property to us again in future

If you don't sell the property during the 12-month period, and then later wish to sell the property, you will need to start the process again by re-offering us the property.

If you do sell the property during the 12-month period, and the new owner later wishes to sell the property within 10 years of the original Right to Buy sale, then the new owner will have to offer the property back to us.

Time limits for completing the purchase

If we, or a nominated landlord, accept your offer, there are time limits whereby a binding contract with you for the purchase of the property should:

  • not be later than 12 weeks after the date on which the acceptance notice is served on you, or
  • not be later than four weeks after the date of receipt of written notification from you that you are ready to complete - whichever is later.

The time limits exclude the time taken during an appeal by either party to the District Valuer to decide the valuation of the property.

If these time limits are not complied with by us or a nominated landlord, you may sell the property as you wish, and you will not need to offer the property back to us again. However, if a new owner wishes to sell the property within 10 years of the original Right to Buy sale, they will have to offer the property back to us.

Some property sales or disposals are exempt from the right of first refusal - such as an ownership transfer between family members or due to a will. Your solicitor will be able to advise you on transfers that are "non relevant" or "exempt".

More information

If you would like more information, or have any queries, please email legalpost@dacorum.gov.uk.

Page Last Updated: Wednesday, 08 February 2023 at 04:10 PM