Right to Buy in Scotland and Wales is over. Here's what replaced it
Scotland scrapped Right to Buy in 2016 and Wales followed in 2019. Neither government swapped the discount for nothing, though. Here's what social tenants in both countries can actually use instead.
4 mins read
16-09-2026
Written by
Editorial Team
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Right to Buy now exists only in England. Scotland ended it for every social tenant on 31 July 2016, and Wales followed on 26 January 2019. Neither government replaced the discount with anything similar. What exists instead is shared equity, and the rules differ enough between the two nations that they're worth taking one at a time.
This is general information rather than legal or financial advice, and housing law is fully devolved, so what applies depends on where the property sits.
Scotland: ended 31 July 2016
Section 1 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 repealed the right to buy provisions in the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, with the repeal taking effect from 1 August 2016. That made 31 July 2016 the last day a Scottish council or housing association tenant could exercise the right. Anyone who missed that date has no residual claim. The right isn't paused, it's gone.
Wales: ended 26 January 2019
Wales legislated through the Abolition of the Right to Buy and Associated Rights (Wales) Act 2018, which ended the right across the country on 26 January 2019. The Welsh Government's reasoning was blunt: more than 139,000 council and housing association homes had been sold under the right between 1981 and 2016, and abolition was meant to protect what was left of the social housing stock from shrinking further.
What replaced it in Scotland and Wales
Both nations moved to shared equity rather than a fixed discount. In Scotland, the routes sit under what the government calls its LIFT schemes (Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers). The table below shows how the main options compare.
Scheme | Nation | What you buy/get | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
Open Market Shared Equity | Scotland | 60-90% of an existing home's cost | Government holds the rest; repaid at its % of sale value |
New Supply Shared Equity | Scotland | 60-80% of a selected new-build | Part of the same LIFT umbrella |
Shared ownership | Scotland | 25%, 50%, or 75% share | Occupancy charge paid on the remainder |
Share Ownership Wales | Wales | 25-75% initial share | Rent on the unowned share; further shares buyable later |
Homebuy Wales | Wales | 30-50% equity loan | Mainly for rural areas |
Help to Buy Wales | Wales | Shared equity loan, homes up to £300,000 | Needs a mortgage plus at least 5% deposit |
Under the Open Market Shared Equity scheme, you'll need to show you couldn't otherwise afford a home that meets your needs, since it's aimed at lower to middle income households rather than open to everyone. When you sell, the government's share is repaid at its percentage of the market value at that point, not the amount it originally put in.
The England contrast
In England, the right survives, just with much smaller discounts than it used to have. A secure tenant with three years under a public sector landlord qualifies.
Property Type | Discount at 3-5 years | Annual increase after year 5 | Cap |
|---|---|---|---|
House | 35% | +1 percentage point/year | Lower of 70% of value or regional cap |
Flat | 50% | +2 percentage points/year | Lower of 70% of value or regional cap |
Discounts start at 35% for houses and 50% for flats, rising by one percentage point a year for houses and two for flats after year five, but the discount is always capped at whichever is lower: 70% of the property's value, or a regional cash cap. Those regional caps were cut hard on 21 November 2024 and now run from £16,000 to £38,000. London is capped at £16,000 outside Barking and Dagenham and Havering, and the North East at £22,000. Anyone who applied before 21 November 2024 keeps the old, far higher limits of £136,400 in London and £102,400 elsewhere, so the English scheme has become noticeably less generous for new applicants. We cover the full eligibility and discount arithmetic in our separate guide to Right to Buy in 2026.
One thing that catches people out: the right attaches to the home and its landlord, not to the tenant. An English secure tenant who transfers to a Welsh or Scottish tenancy can't carry the discount across, however long they held it in England.
If a shared equity or shared ownership purchase is on the cards next, you can compare conveyancing quotes for the purchase through Moving Compared.
