Important changes to licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO): the Government has extended the Mandatory HMO Licensing Scheme to include more properties, starting from 1 October 2018. Find out what properties are now included.

Buying a Home

If you cannot afford to buy your own home on the open market, then we may be able to help.

There are many low cost home ownership options that have been designed to help anyone looking for an affordable home to buy and this section is for council tenants, waiting list applicants, first time buyers, key workers and anyone who would like to take advantage of this assistance.

These are the ways in which you could be assisted in purchasing a property:

Right to Buy – council tenants only
Transferable Discount Scheme – council tenants only
New Build Homebuy – (formerly known as Shared Ownership) – council and registered social landlord tenants, key workers and those on the council’s Housing Register, especially first-time buyers
First Steps (external link) - Londoners looking for affordable homes to own

The council owns a wide range of property throughout the borough and over time, for various reasons, some become surplus to the council’s needs and these properties for sale are usually sold by auction or tender. The properties we market are mainly for residential use but include garages, small parcels of land and industrial buildings.

If you find that you cannot afford to buy at the moment, but would like assistance in looking for a good quality home to rent the National Approved Letting Scheme - NALS (external link) will be able to provide you with a list of accredited letting agents in your area.

Page Last Updated:

15 June 2018

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