If you’re a council tenant wondering whether you need a deposit to buy your home, the answer is often no. With the Right to Buy scheme, many lenders allow the council discount to be used as your deposit, meaning you can purchase your property without putting down cash savings. While affordability, credit history, and property type still matter, the right advice can make the difference between thinking homeownership is out of reach and actually making it happen.
Dec 23, 2025
For many council tenants, buying their home feels like something other people do.
Something for later. Something unrealistic. Something that needs savings they simply do not have.
We recently helped a client who felt exactly the same.
She had lived in her council property for years and never imagined she would own it. Then she received a Right to Buy offer that changed everything.
A £300,000 home.
A £100,000 council discount.
Purchase price £200,000.
On paper, it sounded incredible. In reality, she had no savings and no idea if any lender would take the case seriously.
She is now a homeowner, without putting down a cash deposit.
So do you actually need a deposit to buy your council house?
The honest answer is, often no. But it depends on how the case is handled.
Right to Buy allows eligible council tenants to purchase the home they live in at a discounted price.
The size of that discount depends on:
In many cases, this discount can be substantial. It is not uncommon for tenants to receive discounts of tens of thousands of pounds, and sometimes much more.
What most people do not realise is that this discount is not just a reduction in price. For mortgage purposes, it can often be treated as a deposit.
In many Right to Buy cases, no traditional deposit is required.
Most lenders are happy to use the Right to Buy discount as your deposit, meaning you can borrow the full discounted purchase price.
Using our recent client as an example:
The mortgage was structured so the full £200,000 was raised, with the discount acting as the deposit.
No savings. No gifted deposit. No last-minute panic.
This is why Right to Buy is often described as a no deposit purchase, when handled correctly.
“Most people come to us thinking they need years of savings before buying their council home. In reality, the Right to Buy discount often does the heavy lifting. Our job is making sure the mortgage is structured properly so lenders see the case clearly.”
While many lenders accept the discount as a full deposit, not all do.
Some situations where a deposit may still be required include:
Even then, the deposit is usually far smaller than buying on the open market.
For example, a 5 percent deposit on a £100,000 discounted price is £5,000, not £15,000 or £30,000 on the full value.
This is where many Right to Buy applications fall apart.
Lenders are not just looking at the discount. They are assessing the whole picture, including:
The key difference between an accepted case and a declined one is often how it is presented.
We structured our client’s mortgage so:
This is not something comparison sites or generic applications handle well.
We hear the same assumptions all the time:
Most of the time, these beliefs come from bad advice or no advice at all.
Right to Buy is a specialist area. General mortgage rules do not always apply in the same way.
Even if you do not need a deposit, buying your council house is not completely cost free.
You should still budget for:
These costs are usually manageable, but they should be planned for early to avoid stress later.
The discount helps reduce how much you need to borrow, but affordability still matters.
Lenders will look at:
The mortgage must still be affordable, even if the loan to value looks strong due to the discount.
This is another reason specialist advice matters early on.
Right to Buy mortgages are not complicated, but they are different.
The lender choice, case structure, and timing all matter. Getting one part wrong can lead to delays, stress, or outright rejection.
A specialist mortgage advisor can:
For our client, this meant the difference between staying a tenant and becoming a homeowner.
“Right to Buy isn’t about gaming the system. It’s about understanding how lenders actually assess these cases. When it’s done right, people go from thinking it’s impossible to holding the keys to their own home.”
If you are living in a council property and wondering whether homeownership is realistic for you, the best place to start is a conversation.
You do not need savings to ask the question.
You do need the right advice to get a clear answer.
For many people, the biggest barrier is not the deposit. It is misinformation.
With the right support, buying your council house may be closer than you think.
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