UK Construction and Law

The Social Housing Bill reaches the Commons on Thursday with a 35 year right to buy bar on newly built council homes

By Staff Writer  |  8 September 2026

The bill that left the Lords on 1 September has its Commons second reading on 10 September. It lifts the right to buy qualifying period from three years to ten, caps the discount at 15 per cent, removes the right for homes built by or for the landlord for 35 years after completion, and requires housing associations to notify councils before selling social homes.

The Social Housing Bill [HL] was introduced in the Lords on 14 May 2026, went through committee on 15 and 17 June and report on 20 July, and passed third reading on 1 September. It was brought to the Commons on 2 September as Bill 139 and printed with explanatory notes and a departmental memorandum dated 27 August. Parliament's bill tracker gives Thursday 10 September for second reading, and the Minister for Housing and Planning confirmed the date at MHCLG questions on Monday.

What the bill does to the right to buy

Clause 1 amends section 119 of the Housing Act 1985 so that the qualifying period becomes at least ten years rather than at least three. Clause 2 inserts a new section 121ZC under which the right may not be exercised where the tenant, a spouse or civil partner living with them, or a cohabitee owns other residential property. Clause 6 substitutes a new section 129(2): the discount is 5 per cent plus 1 per cent for each complete year by which the qualifying period exceeds ten years, up to a maximum of 15 per cent. Clause 7 removes the ten year limit on the landlord's right of first refusal in section 156A, so the landlord's right to buy back a former council home no longer expires.

Clause 8 adds new exceptions to Schedule 5 of the 1985 Act. Under new paragraph 18 the right to buy does not arise where the dwelling was constructed by the landlord or by a developer from whom the landlord acquired it, its construction was practically complete on or after the date the paragraph comes into force, fewer than 35 years have passed, and the home is social housing other than low cost home ownership. Practical completion is defined as the point at which the home first becomes fit for occupation. New paragraph 17 removes the right in National Parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty and rural areas designated by regulations, and new paragraph 19 removes it for homes let by a council at market rent under tenancies granted after commencement.

Clause 10 amends section 11 of the Local Government Act 2003 so that the Secretary of State may determine that a requirement under section 11(2)(b) on the use of specified capital receipts does not apply, or is modified, for an English council. Clause 12 inserts new sections 171A and following into the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, under which a private registered provider must not make a relevant sale of a social housing dwelling in England unless it has given prior notice to the local housing authority and other conditions are met. Clause 22 brings the qualifying period, the discount, most of the exceptions and the right to acquire provisions into force on Royal Assent.

The minister's case on Monday

At oral questions the minister said the Government had already cut maximum right to buy cash discounts and that the bill takes "further action to increase eligibility and banning the right to buy on new build social homes for 35 years". He told MPs the Government has raised the stock threshold for holding a housing revenue account from 200 homes to 1,000, is exploring low cost borrowing for councils and remains of the view that self-financing is the right foundation for the HRA, while recognising the effect of HRA debt on councils' ability to build.

I am really pleased that in the early years of the social and affordable homes programme, 30% of the funding will go to London. That will allow London to deliver at least £6 billion of initial allocations, over half of which will be for council housing.

Matthew Pennycook, Minister of State for Housing and Planning, House of Commons, 7 September 2026

For contractors building for councils the 35 year bar is the clause to read. It attaches to homes practically completed after commencement, it follows the home rather than the tenant, and it applies whether the council built the home itself or bought it from a developer. A council that has been reluctant to commission new stock because it could be sold at a discount within three years of letting has, if the bill passes as printed, thirty-five years of certainty instead.