The Right to Buy scheme has been a fixture of UK housing policy for over four decades. But 2026 feels different. With the Social Housing Bill now in Parliament and a raft of confirmed reforms reshaping the rules, housing associations and local authorities are facing a genuine shift in how the scheme works, and what it means for their stock, their finances, and their long-term planning.
If you work in social housing, this is worth getting your head around now.
The scale of the problem has been building for years. According to the 2026 UK Housing Review, 2.8 million homes have been sold under Right to Buy since 1981, generating £62 billion in receipts, much of which was never reinvested in replacement homes. The result? Social housing has fallen from 31% of all UK households to just 17% today, and the total number of social homes has dropped from 6.8 million to 5.2 million despite ongoing building efforts.
Perhaps most striking: around 40% of Right to Buy homes are now in the private rented sector. Homes built for social rent, sold at discount, now generating market returns for private landlords. It’s a pattern the current government is clearly determined to slow down.
The reforms confirmed in April 2026 and introduced through the Social Housing Bill in May are the most significant tightening of the scheme in its history. Here’s a clear summary of the main changes:
Eligibility extended to 10 years. Tenants will need to have lived in social housing for 10 years before they can apply to buy, up from the current three-year requirement. This alone is expected to significantly reduce the volume of applications.
Discounts substantially reduced. Maximum cash discounts are now capped at between £16,000 and £38,000 depending on location, down from much higher figures under the pre-2024 system. The percentage discount structure has also changed, starting at 5% at 10 years and rising by 1% per year up to a maximum of 15%.
A 35-year exemption for new builds. This is arguably the most impactful long-term change. Newly constructed social homes will be exempt from Right to Buy for 35 years after completion. For providers who have been reluctant to invest in new stock because it could be sold off within a few years, this offers meaningful reassurance.
100% of receipts retained by councils. Councils can now keep all receipts from Right to Buy sales. From 2026-27, they’ll also be able to combine these with grant funding to build or acquire replacement homes, a significant financial flexibility that wasn’t previously available.
Rural exemptions. Properties in rural areas will be exempt from the scheme entirely, recognising the particular difficulty of replacing stock in those communities.
Fraud prevention measures. The Bill also introduces stronger protections against third parties pressuring vulnerable tenants into buying, and clamps down on repeat use of the discount.
The Right to Buy reforms 2026 represent a clear shift in the government’s priorities: from enabling individual homeownership at pace, to protecting the long-term supply of social homes. For housing associations and local authorities, that shift creates both challenges and opportunities.
On the challenge side, there’s the short term. Historically, periods of announced-but-not-yet-implemented reform have triggered a spike in applications. It happened in November 2024 when the discount cuts were first confirmed. Whether that pattern repeats itself this time is uncertain. The general decline in applications since earlier reforms may dampen the effect, but it’s worth monitoring.
On the opportunity side, the combination of retained receipts and the ability to combine them with grant funding genuinely changes the financial calculation around new development. Councils that previously felt burned by investing in new homes only to lose them quickly now have a much stronger case to build again. The 35-year new build exemption isn’t just a protection. It’s a signal to invest with confidence.
The LGA has broadly welcomed the reforms, though it has called for locally or regionally set discount levels, arguing that a nationally set cap doesn’t reflect the wide variation in property values and local housing markets across England.
These reforms don’t exist in isolation. They sit alongside the new five-year rent settlement (which allows providers to increase rents in real terms each year from 2026), changes to the Affordable Homes Programme, and growing pressure on providers to meet EPC C standards by 2030.
What they add up to is a sector being asked to do more: build more, retrofit more, support more vulnerable tenants, while navigating a period of significant regulatory change. The Right to Buy reforms 2026 are, in that context, a positive development. They give providers greater certainty, better financial tools, and stronger protection for new investment. But they also require providers to plan carefully and stay on top of a fast-moving policy landscape.
These are exactly the kinds of conversations we’ll be having at Housing 2026 in Manchester this June. If you’re navigating the practical operational impact of policy changes like these, including what they mean for void management, stock turnaround, and tenant transitions, we’d love to connect.
Find us at Stand E27 at Manchester Central, 23–25 June 2026.
Chartered Institute of Housing: 2026 UK Housing Review highlights continued impact of Right to Buy on housing pressures (March 2026): https://www.cih.org/news/2026-uk-housing-review-highlights-continued-impact-of-right-to-buy-on-housing-pressures/
GOV.UK: Right to Buy overhaul to safeguard social housing (April 2026): https://www.gov.uk/government/news/right-to-buy-overhaul-to-safeguard-social-housing
GOV.UK: Guide to the Social Housing Bill (May 2026): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-social-housing-bill/guide-to-the-social-housing-bill
Bevan Brittan: The Right to Buy, An Update on Proposed Reforms (June 2026): https://www.bevanbrittan.com/insights/articles/2026/the-right-to-buy-an-update-on-proposed-reforms/
Local Government Association: Briefing: Social Housing Bill, House of Lords Second Reading (June 2026): https://www.local.gov.uk/parliament/briefings-and-responses/lga-briefing-social-housing-bill-house-lords-second-reading-1
Public Sector Executive: Government confirms further reforms to Right to Buy scheme (April 2026): https://www.publicsectorexecutive.com/articles/government-confirms-further-reforms-right-buy-scheme
Related Articles
The UK’s biggest social housing investment in a generation is here. But more homes means more voids to manage. We look at what housing teams need to get right operationally before the new stock starts to arrive.
Read article
From 1 July, the energy price cap is forecast to rise by 13%, pushing typical annual bills to £1,850. Here’s what it means for letting agents, landlords and the tenants in your portfolio.
Read article
Last week, Dan French, Head of Customer Growth and Account Development at Helpthemove and Alistair Carruthers, Enterprise Business Development Manager at Helpthemove joined Nick Kyprianou, Director of Property Management from Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward for a webinar hosted by Propertymark to discuss the reality of managing voids at scale under the Renters’ Rights Act 2026.
Read article