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.