Section 5 - Home ownership and mortgage difficulties - The Moray ...

More information
If you are thinking about buying your home you should contact us for an application
form and a more detailed information booklet – these are available from your local
access point. Your filled in form should be returned to our Legal and Committee
Section. For more information contact us on 0300 123 4566.
You should be aware that the right to buy transaction – from the date of application
to the date of legal completion of the purchase – takes around six months.
Remember, if you sell your home within three years of when you accepted our offer,
you will have to pay back all or some of the discount.
5.4.1 Pressured Area Status
The purpose of a pressured area status designation is to protect the amount of
affordable rented housing and to make sure that there are enough houses for
people who need them.
The Housing (Scotland) Act 2010 introduced more flexibility and local control over
pressured-area designations giving local authorities the power to make, amend and
revoke pressured designations.
Before an area or property type can be designated as ‘pressured’, we must be able
to show that:
the need for social housing in the area is likely to exceed supply; and
this is likely to be made worse by tenants buying their homes.
The effect of Pressured Area Status
A pressured area designation suspends the ‘Right to Buy’ for the following tenants:
tenants who have taken out a new tenancy in the area on or after 30 September
2002 (the date of the introduction of the Scottish Secure Tenancy);
tenants whose tenancy was created before the introduction of the Scottish
Secure Tenancy who did not previously have the right to buy entitlement; and
tenants who have succeeded a tenancy following 30 September 2002 (unless
they were a level one successor). That is a spouse, joint tenant or co-habitee
(providing the house has been the co-habitee’s sole or principal home for six
months prior to the tenant’s death). In all cases, the house of the deceased
tenant must have been the only or principal home of the qualifying person.
Tenancies created before the introduction of the Scottish Secure Tenancy and
which were converted to the Scottish Secure Tenancy will not be affected by the
suspension as long as:
Updated: 04 December 2012 Section 5 Page 8