Glossary · UK
What is Right to Buy Discount Cap?
Reduced maximum cash discounts available to social housing tenants buying their council home under Right to Buy, cut sharply from 2024 to slow the loss of social housing stock.
Full Definition
Right to Buy lets eligible council tenants buy their home at a discount to market value, with the discount increasing the longer they have been a social housing tenant, up to a maximum cash cap. Concerned that the scheme, alongside insufficient replacement building, had contributed to a long-term decline in the total stock of social housing available for people who need it, the government reduced the maximum discount caps substantially from November 2024, reversing large increases to the caps made in earlier years, and reduced how quickly discounts build up with each year of tenancy. Further changes under consideration and reviewed periodically include exempting newly built social homes from Right to Buy for a set number of years after completion (so newly built stock is not immediately eligible to be sold off), and requiring councils to reinvest more of their Right to Buy receipts into building replacement social homes rather than a share going to the Treasury. Because the exact discount caps and percentages have been revised more than once, tenants should always check the current figures on the government's Right to Buy calculator before assuming a specific discount applies.