Ashford Borough Council’s RTB Process

A Right to Buy can take up to a year to complete from an application being submitted to the resident becoming a home owner. In some cases, this can be sooner, or in other cases, slightly longer than a year.

To assist applicants, we have provided a general overview of the stages involved in a Right to Buy. In the below summary, Ashford Borough Council is commonly referred to as ‘ABC’. Right to Buy is also commonly referred to as ‘RTB’.

• RTB1 and Additional Information forms are filled in by the resident and returned to ABC. 
  
  
• ABC receive the forms and send an acknowledgement letter back to the resident.
  
  
• ABC have either 4 weeks or 8 weeks to serve an ‘RTB2 Notice’ – this notice is letting you know whether you have the right to buy your council home. We have 8 weeks if you have not been an ABC tenant for a minimum of 3 years but have had a different social landlord.
  
  
• Structural comments are obtained from a historical database if you are applying to purchase a house, or a non-invasive structural survey is arranged on your behalf if you are applying to lease a flat. 
  
  
• If you are leasing a flat, EPS Design LTD will contact you directly to arrange an appointment to carry out the structural survey. This survey is for the Council’s use and will not be shared with the applicant.
  
  
• After the historical structural comments have been obtained or survey carried out, ABC will instruct a valuer to arrange an appointment with the applicant to carry out a valuation. The valuation is for the Council’s use and the full report will not be shared with the applicant.
  
  
• After receipt of the valuation report the Council will draft a Section 125 Offer which will include the valuation, any discount entitlement and the final sale price. This draft version will be audited by our internal Finance team for accuracy. ABC have 12 weeks from the date of the RTB2 to send your Section 125 Offer. 
  
  
• Once Finance approves the draft Section 125 Offer, the Right to Buy Officer will send the final version to the resident with a covering letter, a pink ‘Notice of Intention’ form and a blank TP1 if the property is a house. If the property is a flat, the additional documents will include a covering letter, a pink ‘Notice of Intention’, Estimated Service Charges, a blank Lease and a ‘Becoming a Leaseholder’ document. 
  
  
• The resident then has twelve weeks to return the pink ‘Notice of Intention’ form, letting ABC know whether they wish to proceed with the purchase or withdraw their application. This is the time residents can start looking at mortgages in principle. Residents should be mindful that full mortgage offers come with an expiry date, and there is still work to be carried out by the Council before the sale can formally complete. We do not want residents to lose mortgage offers.
  
  
• The Notice of Intention form provides a section for the applicants to detail their chosen solicitor. Solicitors’ details do not have to be given at this time and can be supplied later by e-mailing the Right to Buy Officer the name and address of the firm. 
  
  
• If the applicant does not wish to proceed with the purchase and notifies ABC of this within the twelve weeks, the application will be withdrawn. A letter will be sent advising the applicant that their Right to Buy has been withdrawn. Residents are free to apply again at any time. 
  
  
• If a response is received within the twelve weeks confirming the resident wishes to proceed, ABC will move to the next stage of the application process which is arranging for a Boundary Plan of the property to be drawn by an internal Building Surveyor.
  
  
• The Right to Buy team will check for any adjoining properties that have been sold so that correct boundaries can be determined and included on the Boundary Plan. The Building Surveyor will then contact the applicants to arrange an appointment to view the property and take photographs. It can take four to six weeks from requesting a boundary plan to the RTB Team receiving the initial version.
  
  
• The boundary plan will be reviewed by the Right to Buy Officer and a Senior Neighbourhood Housing Officer to ensure the boundaries are correct and investigate any encroachment or other boundary issues highlighted by the Building Surveyor. If residents are aware of any boundary issues during the Right to Buy process, we ask that they make these known to their Neighbourhood Housing Officer for resolution.
  
  
• The Boundary Plan will then be sent to the applicant to ensure they agree with it. The applicant is required to sign the plan using a digital identification verification service called YOTI. To use this service, the applicant will require a valid passport. If the applicant does not have a valid passport, we can arrange for the plan to be signed by hand in person at International House, Dover Place, Ashford, Kent TN23 1HU. 
  
  
• When the plan has been signed by the applicant, the RTB Officer will collate all the Right to Buy documents and instruct ABC’s internal Legal team to liaise with the applicants’ chosen solicitor. If the solicitors’ details have not been provided by this time, draft documentation will be forwarded directly to the applicants. It will then be the applicants responsibility to take the documents to a solicitor.
   
• At this stage the Right To Buy Team step away from the process and the last stages are carried out by ABC’s internal Legal team and the applicants solicitor. At times the RTB Team assist Legal to provide additional information, but progress updates or queries about when completion is likely to take place should be directed to the chosen solicitor.
  
  
• When both sides have agreed a completion date, the mortgage or other funds will need to be transferred to the Council which the applicants solicitor can guide them through. Rent will be payable up to the day before completion, and we aim for completions to happen on a Monday.
  
  
• The sale will complete on the agreed date, and the resident will become a homeowner.

If the Right to Buy application is for a flat, there is useful information regarding being a Leaseholder on our Leaseholder Services section - Leasehold Services