Buying a home

Are you…

  • living or working in the borough and
  • a first time buyer or
  • a council or housing association tenant or
  • paying high rent to a private landlord or
  • earning up to £90,000 per year (other income restrictions may apply)

... and want to own your own home?

If you fit any of the criteria above, these are the ways we can help!

One-to-one appointments

The Home Buy team and our support colleagues run a hybrid service and may be working from different locations. The team will be able to interact online, by telephone or in person. If you need to submit any documents or arrange an appointment with a Home Buy officer, please call us on 0202 8753 6464 or email h&fHomebuy@lbhf.gov.uk

Find your new home online

Create your online account to view and express an interest in any properties you like.

View properties

Getting started is quick and simple. First, create your own H&F Home Buy account.

Register with H&F Home Buy

Once we have received your application we will validate it, and you'll then be able register your interest in all properties that are suitable for you.

Already registered?

  • Log in using your email address and the password you used to register with us.
  • You can use the ‘forgotten your password’ link if you can’t remember it.

Log in to H&F Home Buy

Once you’ve done that, you can:

  • Start viewing potential new homes.
  • Express interest in available properties.
  • Create alerts to notify you of new properties that become available.
  • View and update your application.

Need help?

Please call us on 020 8753 6464 or email h&fhomebuy@lbhf.gov.uk.

Council shared equity

Formerly known as Discount Market Sale, this is a low cost home-ownership product where you buy a new build property at a discounted price. The discount will vary depending on the property and sale price. This is possible because when the development was negotiated with the council, this discount was agreed. It's to help low and middle income earners get onto the property ladder.

The purchaser buys the percentage of the property available after the discount. When s/he sells the property, it has to be sold at this same percentage of the property value, which must be agreed by us. Applicants will need a mortgage and/or savings to cover the discounted price of the property.

Apply to buy or sell the remaining share

If you are the owner of a discounted market sale property and want to buy the remaining share or sell the property, please see apply to buy the remaining share, or sell, your discount market sale property

Shared ownership

This enables residents and workers of the borough to buy a share of a newly-built property

You buy between 25 and 75 per cent of a home and pay rent on the remaining share.

Over time you can buy more shares in the property (a process known as stair-casing) and in doing so, you will reduce the amount of rent you pay.

You can keep buying shares in the property until you own the property outright. Once this happens, you stop paying rent.

If you wish to sell the property at anytime, you keep the percentage of the property’s current market value that you own.

Resales

These are previously owned shared ownership or council shared equity homes that were built and sold in the past and are now being resold by their current owners.

Intermediate rent

Intermediate rent offers you the opportunity to rent a property at less than the market value. The rent charged is normally approximately 20 per cent lower than what you would expect to pay for a similar home in a similar area if you were renting privately.

As well as being more affordable, you have the assurance that your home is built, managed and let by a housing association.

Intermediate rent has traditionally only been available to key workers, although this choice is now available to other home-seekers who are not high priority for social rent and those who cannot afford to buy a home of their own outright but who would like to save to buy a home in the next five years.

Intermediate rented homes are usually let on an assured shorthold tenancy.

h&f Home Buy quick guide (pdf 596KB)

Right to Buy

This scheme offers discounts for council tenants to buy their current homes.

If you are a council tenant, have had a minimum of three years public sector tenancy, and would like to buy your council property outright, you may get a discount of up to £127,900 on the total market value of the home. This discount will apply to Right to Buy applications which are served on the landlord by the tenant on or after 6 April 2023.

In London, the maximum discount will increase to £136,400. This discount will apply to applications which are served on the landlord by the tenant on or after 6 April 2024. 

The discount threshold may increase each year in April in line with the consumer price index (CPI).

Some properties remain excluded from the Right to Buy, including those related to your employment and some housing provided specifically for older people or those with disabilities.

How to apply for Right to Buy

Before completing a Right to Buy application form, we advise you to read through the Right to Buy Guide to give you a further insight to the scheme and to use the Right to Buy calculator to check what you can afford.

If you'd like further information about Right to Buy, call us on 020 8753 6464. We are available Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm or email us at h&fHomebuy@lbhf.gov.uk with subject heading 'Right to Buy'.

Leaseholder after sales

Leaseholder after sales - extending your lease, doing works and loft conversions.

Definitions of terms used by councils, solicitors, home buyers and surveyors

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