The Social Housing Bill

The new Social Housing Bill was announced 13 May 2026, during Sir Keir Starmer's time as Prime Minister, and is described by the government as “the next step in the delivery of our decade of renewal for social and affordable housing”. This webpage summarises the key reforms in the Bill on:

• Right to Buy.
• Disposals (the sale of social homes to the private market).
• Protections for victims of domestic abuse.

And proposed amendments on:

• Allocations.
• Access for safety.
• Shared ownership.

We’ll update this webpage as the Social Housing Bill progresses. We’re engaging with the government ahead of the Committee Stage, which begins on 27 October and concludes on 3 November, on the detail and design of proposed amendments and any subsequent regulation. 

You can read the full detail of the Bill on the government’s website.

Right to Buy

The Bill contains comprehensive reforms to Right to Buy including:

• Increasing the minimum tenancy required to be eligible for the Right to Buy from three to ten years.
• Reforming discounts so they start at 5% of the property value and go up to a maximum of 15% or the cash discount cap (whichever is lower).
• Exempting the following: newly built social and affordable homes for 35 years, rural homes, council homes for market rent.
• Preventing tenants who have previously benefitted from the scheme from exercising the Right to Buy, with a small number of exceptions.
• Aligning the Right to Acquire scheme with the reforms to Right to Buy.

Other points to be aware of are that:

• In its Reforming the Right to Buy consultation response, the government confirmed that it would not be extending the Right to Buy scheme to housing association tenants given the substantial costs to the taxpayer and the reduction in social housing stock that is likely to result. This does not require primary legislation, so there are no provisions relating to this decision contained in the Social Housing Bill.  
• Eligible housing association tenants will still to be able to use the Right to Acquire scheme, and this Bill seeks to align the Right to Acquire with the reformed Right to Buy, to ensure consistency between the two schemes. Discounts for the Right to Acquire are unaffected by these changes, and will continue to be £9,000 to £16,000, depending on the location. 

We welcome all of the above changes, which broadly enact the proposals set out in the government's Reforming the Right to Buy Response – Right to Buy in its current form has reduced the number of social homes across the country over decades, and we have been calling for changes to the system for years.

Therefore, we do not support tabled amendments that aim to undo the Right to Buy reforms in this legislation, including proposals to reduce the Right to Buy eligibility period and increase discount rates. We are working with politicians from all parties to ensure they understand how these changes would erode confidence to build in the social housing sector amid an already acute shortage of affordable homes.

Disposals (the sale of social homes to the private market)

The Bill contains new requirements on disposals, including:

• A requirement for housing associations to notify the relevant local authority and other private providers in their area before a disposal takes place, thereby giving these organisations the opportunity to consider whether they have any interest in purchasing the property. 
• An initial proposal for a four-week period after the notification has taken place before the sale of a property can be completed. During the notification period, providers will remain free to market properties, engage with potential buyers and progress disposal plans in the usual way.  

The government has recently proposed extending the notification period from four weeks to eight weeks.

In our conversations with the government on disposals, we've supported the objective of retaining homes while calling for a system that is workable and proportionate. Our view is that the current proposals strike an appropriate balance: allowing for effective transparency and collaboration between housing associations and local authorities without adding major restrictions to effective housing management.

We're also developing proposals for how our members could access capital or revenue funding to convert homes at risk of sale to transitional supported housing, settled accommodation, or temporary accommodation.

Our disposals briefing shares more detail on our work, and will help our members with any conversations on this topic with politicians or stakeholders.

Protections for survivors of domestic abuse

The Bill contains new protections for survivors of domestic abuse, including: 

• Stronger powers for landlords to enable them to take possession of a property where domestic abuse has taken place without the requirement for the victim to leave.
• A new mechanism to facilitate the transfer of the joint tenancy into the sole name of the victim, where a victim wants to remain in the home as a sole tenant.
• Powers to enable the courts to make an order to provide the victim with suitable alternative accommodation, where it is not appropriate for the victim to remain in a home and the landlord has this accommodation available.
• A safeguard to ensure that perpetrators are unable to unilaterally end a joint tenancy in retaliation against possession action until proceedings have been concluded. 

The current guidance and powers for housing associations are insufficient in enabling providers to adequately support people experiencing domestic abuse in joint tenancies, so we welcome the proposed changes in this Bill.  

This is often a highly sensitive and complex area for housing association staff. We are working with our members and the government on the detail and design of these changes to ensure housing associations can be best placed to protect victims and survivors of domestic abuse and assist them to find safety and rebuild their lives.   

Ministers are considering an amendment to the Bill, known as Georgia’s Law, requiring social housing providers to offer a new secure tenancy to a tenant who had followed police advice to move out of their social housing due to threats of targeted violence. We are meeting with MPs and officials to discuss the most practical solutions to safeguarding people experiencing threats of violence and in need of emergency alternative accommodation. 

Amendment on allocations

The government has recently announced plans to give councils new powers to refer homeless households to housing associations, similar to the provision in Section 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001. These plans were initially considered in last year's homelessness strategy.

The measure is intended to strengthen joint working with local authorities, building on the many good examples of partnership working to ensure social housing allocations are used to prevent homelessness.

Housing associations will retain the ability to refuse referrals where there are “good reasons”, and the government has confirmed they will work with the sector to define these reasons and set them out in regulations. This is alongside work already underway to update the statutory guidance on social housing allocations.

The government is committed to working closely with us and our members on the detail of the changes, and we'll keep this webpage updated as this work progresses.

Amendment on access for safety

Over the last year we’ve been speaking to our members to understand issues faced with accessing homes. Housing associations’ number one priority is the safety of residents. But, along with councils, they report increasing difficulty securing access to residents’ homes to carry out statutory safety checks, including gas, electrical and carbon monoxide safety.

The legal route for carrying out this work when access is denied currently faces significant practical challenges and is no longer proportionate with the duties placed on housing associations. In these circumstances, housing associations make repeated and extensive attempts to gain access to residents’ homes for statutory checks. As a last resort, they must rely on the court process to gain access which is leading to inconsistent outcomes.

We’ve been raising policy solutions with the government. Baroness Taylor has acknowledged that this issue requires further consideration from government. Following a joint consultation with the Ministry of Justice on housing disrepair claims, officials at the MHCLG are analysing responses to deepen their understanding of how the current process works, including what does not work or is unclear, to ensure the process for safety-related access is as effective as possible. 

This is very encouraging, and we will engage with ministers and officials to push for legal clarity on access for safety either through the Social Housing Bill or other routes. 

Amendment on shared ownership

There has been one Bill amendment on shared ownership, calling for a comprehensive review of the shared ownership model within 12 months of the Bill becoming an Act of Parliament.

The government has since said they do not believe this review necessary, so we are seeking confirmation on whether this shared ownership amendment will be removed at Committee Stage.

Repealing unused legislation

The Bill also seeks to repeal unimplemented provisions from the Housing and Planning Act 2016. These include:

• The sale of high-value social homes.
• Fixed-term tenancies for local authorities.
• Mandatory ‘pay to stay’ policies.

We support these changes – each of these reforms were unworkable in practice and should not remain on the statute book.

Share your feedback on the Social Housing Bill

The Social Housing Bill has moved through early stages of the legislative scrutiny process quickly. As a result of the pace of this work, we have not consulted individually with our members but have been discussing our work at relevant national groups and networks.

To share your views on any of the proposals outlined above, please get in touch with our Public Affairs team.

We've also convened a working group of representative bodies from across the social housing sector to inform our work on the Bill.

NHF submission to the Public Bill Committee

Summary

The National Housing Federation is the voice of not-for-profit housing associations in England. Our members provide homes to six million people in every community across the country. We strongly support the government’s ambition to deliver a decade of social housing renewal. Government decisions have meant that housing associations have been able to take significant steps to re-build their financial capacity. As a result, last year housing associations built the highest number of social rent homes in over a decade, with our data showing a 57% increase in social rent starts to March 2026.

Social homes provide the stability and security for families to build a good life, and the current system has depleted that stock for decades. We therefore welcome measures in this legislation to protect social housing stock by reforming Right to Buy. With over 170,000 children currently living in temporary accommodation it is essential that social homes are protected, so that housing associations and councils have the confidence they need to build more social homes at pace.

A lack of safe, secure and high-quality housing can put people experiencing domestic abuse at risk of homelessness. The introduction of a simplified legal mechanism for survivors of domestic abuse to apply to remove a perpetrator form a social tenancy is another very welcome step which will help housing associations better support victims of domestic abuse.

Given the acute shortage of social housing, we also understand concerns about any social homes being sold and want to work with the government to ensure disposals continue to be used as a proportionate, effective and constructive tool to enable social housing providers to invest in new homes.

Housing associations are committed to working in partnership with councils to deliver on the government's social housing ambitions. Over the next ten years, together we will build tens of thousands of new homes for social rent, and we are ambitious to do more.

Part 1 – Protecting Social Housing Stock

Right to Buy

• We welcome the proposed changes to Right to Buy (RtB) in this legislation. Social homes are a vital resource for low-income families, and the current system has depleted that stock for decades.
• Measures to increase the minimum qualifying period for RtB to a period of ten years (Clause 1), reform RtB discounts (Clause 6) and introduce a new 35-year exemption for newly construction social housing (Clause 8 (3) will boost councils’ confidence to build while ensuring RtB is more sustainable and better value for taxpayers’ money.
• As highlighted by the Rural Housing Alliance, pressures on rural social housebuilding are acute: 17% of the population lives in rural areas but they receive just 7% of all new affordable homes. There are currently over 306,000 people are on rural social housing waiting lists. At current build rates, this backlog would take 89 years to clear.
• We therefore strongly support measures in Clause 8 (3) to disapply RtB in National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty or areas designated as rural by the Secretary of State. These reforms mirror existing provisions for Right to Acquire and further ensure that vital rural social homes are safeguarded.

Right to Acquire

• Our members are supportive of measures which closely align Right to Acquire (RtA) with the reformed RtB to ensure consistency between the two schemes.
• Applying the same rural designation framework to both RtB and RtA would improve consistency and ease of administration. The existing criteria based on population and density, alongside the automatic exclusion of National Parks and National Landscapes, provide an objective and well-established criteria for identifying rural communities where additional protections are justified to retain affordable housing.
• However, our view is that the effectiveness of this framework should not depend on whether individual local authorities have the capacity or willingness to act. The current application-based approach has resulted in uneven coverage and a rural postcode lottery, while research by the Home Builders Federation has recently highlighted persistent recruitment and retention challenges across planning departments.
• We need a clear transition process and there should be no point at which currently protected homes lose their exemption simply because the relevant local authority has not completed the new designation process. We therefore recommend either an automatic national designation for all areas that meet the criteria or a statutory requirement for local authorities to designate qualifying areas.
• MHCLG should underpin this approach with nationally consistent data, methodology and mapping, supported by a public register of designated areas. This would provide certainty for tenants, housing associations and local authorities, reduce administrative burden and ensure the system operates transparently and consistently across England.

Disposals

• Disposals refer to instances where a provider of social housing sells or otherwise transfers homes or land out of its ownership or control. Housing associations have been long-term stewards of social housing in their communities for decades and take this role seriously: last year our members spent a record £9.7bn on repairs and maintenance, with plans to spend £54bn over the next five years.
• There are instances where it is not possible or viable for certain homes to be retained as social housing. This is in part driven by the age of some of these homes, as well as the need to meet increasing regulatory requirements and balance the necessity for investment in new and existing homes. England has some of the oldest homes in Europe, a significant portion of which were built in the post-war period and are now beyond their expected lifespans. Many housing associations therefore do adopt strategic plans to manage their homes, ensuring the proceeds of sales allow for receipts to be invested in building more new, higher quality social homes.
• 0.18% of housing association homes (4,844 homes) were sold in 2024/25, with similar numbers the year before.
• Selling a small number of unsuitable or uneconomic properties releases funds for new development and reinvestment in existing stock. In some cases, one sale can help fund more than one new home.
• In the last 10 years housing associations have built 413,705 affordable homes, including 49,010 for social rent, while selling 35,845 social and affordable homes for non-social use.
• Housing associations work in partnership with councils wherever possible – often notifying or offering first refusal; take up of this is often low, reflecting the constrained resources of local authority providers. Under new section 171A, a registered provider must provide a sale notice to the local housing authority and other private registered providers in the area for a minimum period of eight weeks before disposals of social housing out of the sector. We believe this new requirement strikes an appropriate balance: allowing for effective transparency and collaboration between housing associations and local authorities without placing undue restrictions on effective stock management.
• It is important that housing associations retain flexibility over disposals to make the best decision for individual properties. Anything which limits this choice risks having a detrimental effect on our members’ ability to make prudent decisions about the best way to manage homes and deliver the best outcomes for residents in the long-term.
• Given the acute shortage of social housing, we understand concerns about any social homes being sold and want to work with government and other partners to ensure disposals continue to be used as a proportionate, effective and constructive tool to revitalise our homes.
• We are continuing to work with officials at MHCLG to develop proposals that would help ensure as many homes as possible can be retained within the social housing sector, including for temporary accommodation and supported housing. This would help deliver on other important objectives to address homelessness, increase investment into existing homes, and reduce costs to local authorities by reducing their reliance on expensive nightly-paid temporary accommodation.
• Additional measures to support the retention of as much social housing stock as possible include:
  • Additional grant funding to invest in energy efficiency and broader quality works, including new burdens funding for new requirements introduced through the review of the Decent Homes Standard.
  • New requirements introduced in a way that does not place excessive financial burdens on social landlords, e.g. reasonable implementation timescales and a proportionate approach to exemptions.

Part 3 - Protections for victims of domestic abuse

• Housing plays an important role in cases of domestic abuse, where housing uncertainty can be used by perpetrators to exert control. A lack of safe, secure and high-quality housing can put people experiencing domestic abuse at risk of homelessness and can therefore make them hesitant to speak out.
• The current guidance and powers for housing associations are insufficient in enabling providers to adequately support victims in joint tenancies.
• Clause 14 and Schedule 1 of this legislation confer important new protections on social housing tenants who are victims of domestic abuse, ensuring victims can leave unsafe homes, or remain safely, without losing tenancy rights.
• We welcome the decision to introduce a simplified legal mechanism for survivors of domestic abuse to apply to remove a perpetrator from a social tenancy. This in turn will help housing associations better support victims of domestic abuse who are in a joint tenancy with their abuser to gain housing security and stay safely within their own homes long-term or be offered suitable alternative social housing where available.
• This is often a highly sensitive and complex area for housing association staff. We want to work closely with the government on the detail and design of these changes to ensure housing associations can be best placed to protect victims and survivors of domestic abuse and assist them to find safety and rebuild their lives.

Government amendments

Duty to Offer: providing homes for homeless households

• Housing associations share the government’s commitment to providing homes for homeless households. We will work closely with government on the details of the proposed statutory ‘Duty to Offer’, which will require housing associations to offer suitable accommodation to a homeless household referred to them by a local housing authority.
• With almost 180,000 children growing up in temporary accommodation, we need councils, housing associations, mayors and the government all working together to end the housing crisis. Housing associations are committed to tackling homelessness in all its forms, as well as other damaging consequences of our broken housing system, such as overcrowding.
• Most housing association lettings are already made available through local authority nominations. However, housing associations also need flexibility over a proportion of their homes to meet the needs of existing residents, including by facilitating internal transfers and tackling overcrowding. The level of this flexibility should be agreed transparently with local authority partners through regularly reviewed nominations agreements, and any new referral powers should reflect these local arrangements.
• NHF research found that nearly half (47.7%) of all overcrowded families live in social housing, underlining the need for housing associations to retain sufficient flexibility to make the best use of their existing homes and respond to households’ changing needs.

Duty to Collaborate: identifying households at risk of homelessness

• New Clause 24 would introduce a new Duty to Collaborate, requiring specified bodies, including housing associations, to take proactive steps to identify and support households at risk of homelessness.
• Housing associations are committed to strengthening their partnerships with councils to prevent and end homelessness, and to help more families access safe, secure and affordable homes.
• We look forward to working with the government on the detail of this new duty, including how it will apply to housing associations, so that it supports effective local collaboration and delivers on our shared ambition to tackle homelessness.

Homelessness prevention

Allocations: Duty to Offer

As part of its commitment to tackle homelessness, the Government has proposed a new Duty to Offer through amendments to the Social Housing Bill.

The new duty would:

• Enable local housing authorities to refer a homeless household owed the main housing duty directly to a private registered provider (PRP) of social housing.
• Require the PRP to offer suitable accommodation to that household, unless it has a “good reason” not to.

Further detail, including what constitutes a reasonable period for making an offer and when a PRP may have a good reason not to make one, will be set out in regulations. The Government has committed to working with the sector to develop these regulations, alongside work already under way to update the statutory guidance on social housing allocations.

The Duty to Offer is intended to strengthen joint working between local authorities and housing associations, building on the many good examples of partnership working to ensure social housing allocations are used to prevent homelessness.

We will continue to work closely with the Government and our members on the detail of these changes and will update this page as the proposals develop.

Replacing and extending the Duty to Refer: Duty to Collaborate

The government has also proposed new duties to strengthen collaboration between public services in preventing homelessness. These would build on and replace the existing Duty to Refer.

Specified bodies would be required to take a more proactive role in identifying people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and take action to prevent or relieve that homelessness.

A regulation making power is also included to define in this secondary legislation how specified bodies can or must comply with their new duties.

The new duties would require specified bodies to:

• Identify homelessness earlier: identify actual or possible homelessness at the earliest opportunity.
• Notify the local housing authority: establish whether someone has already applied to a local housing authority for homelessness assistance and, where they have not, seek their consent to notify the authority.
• Take appropriate action: where actual or possible homelessness has been identified, take appropriate steps, consistent with the body's existing functions, to prevent or reduce the risk of homelessness or relieve its impact. This includes consulting other bodies and services where appropriate and working with the local housing authority to support a coordinated response.
• Which organisations will be classed as specified bodies, as well as further detail about how they must comply with these duties, will be set out in secondary legislation.

The existing Duty to Refer applies to specified public authorities and does not include housing associations. However, more than 200 housing associations have signed up to our voluntary Commitment to Refer, with many already supporting homelessness prevention through referrals to local authorities and tenancy sustainment work.

We will work with the government and our members as the detail of the new duties is developed.