Right to Buy is changing. What Huntingdonshire tenants and buyers should know.

The Social Housing Bill had its second reading in the House of Lords on 1 June 2026. If passed, it will extend the minimum tenancy period before exercising Right to Buy from three to ten years, and permanently exempt all newly built social homes from the scheme. For social housing tenants across Huntingdonshire, and for anyone watching housing supply in the patch's planning pipeline, there is real substance here.

What does the Social Housing Bill change?

Three provisions matter to anyone in the patch.

The Right to Buy qualifying period goes from three years to ten. A tenant who moved into their council or housing association property in 2023 was potentially eligible to buy from 2026. Under the bill, they would need to wait until 2033 instead. The discount available under RTB is unchanged; it is the waiting period that extends.

Newly built social homes will be permanently exempt from RTB. Any social housing completed after the bill comes into force cannot be bought through the scheme at all, regardless of how long a tenant has lived there. The purpose is to prevent new affordable supply from being sold out of the social sector as quickly as it was built.

Councils and housing associations will get right of first refusal when a former RTB property is put up for sale. This aims to recover some of the social housing stock sold in previous decades that has since returned to the open market.

Which Huntingdonshire communities are most directly affected?

Huntingdon town has the largest concentration of social rented housing in the patch, with council and housing association properties across the town centre and residential areas managed by Luminus Group and others. St Ives and Godmanchester also have meaningful social housing presence. For tenants in these communities who are currently in year three to ten of their tenancy, the qualifying-period change is the most direct impact.

Rural parishes across the wider patch have more modest social housing stock, so the qualifying-period change is less keenly felt outside the main towns. Your landlord can confirm your current tenancy start date and eligibility under both the current rules and the proposed new threshold.

What does the new-build exemption mean for the planning pipeline?

This is the provision with the widest reach across the patch. Every major development currently working through Huntingdonshire's planning system includes an affordable housing component. As of June 2026, the pipeline includes:

• The 330 homes proposed for Sawtry, with 40 per cent affordable housing, equating to around 132 homes.
• Two Godmanchester schemes totalling 342 homes, at Dexter's Farm and Bridge Place, both carrying affordable housing requirements.
• The 300 affordable homes already approved as part of Alconbury Weald's Grange Farm phase.

If the Social Housing Bill is enacted and these developments complete after the law comes into force, the affordable homes within them will be permanently outside the RTB scheme. That changes the calculus for developers, councils and housing associations building in the patch: new affordable housing stays in the social sector for good, rather than gradually selling off through RTB over the following decades.

What if I was planning to use Right to Buy?

If you have been in your social housing property for more than ten years, the bill does not affect your eligibility. Your path to buying your council or housing association home remains open on the same terms.

If you are currently within year three to ten of your tenancy, the bill would mean waiting considerably longer. Alternatives worth exploring in the meantime include:

• Shared ownership schemes through housing associations active across the patch, where you buy a percentage share and pay rent on the remainder.
• First Homes, which are open-market properties sold at a 30 to 50 per cent discount to eligible first-time buyers.
• The open market across Huntingdonshire, which often offers more scope than buyers initially expect, particularly in villages off the main A14 corridor where prices can be keenly set.

What about ex-council properties on the open market?

Right to Buy has historically released a stream of ex-council properties into the open market: solidly built, often generously proportioned, and priced attractively by owners who bought at a discounted rate. As the qualifying period extends, that flow of properties into the second-hand market will ease. Buyers who have relied on ex-RTB stock as an accessible entry point would do well to broaden their search to include privately developed new builds and shared ownership alongside the open second-hand market.

How this shifts competition for specific property types depends on how significantly RTB volumes fall over the next few years. We are watching it closely across Huntingdon and the wider patch.

What should buyers and tenants do next?

The bill is at second reading stage, with a full parliamentary passage still ahead. These are proposed changes, not yet law. The direction of travel is clear, however, and social landlords across the patch are already preparing their position.

If you are a social housing tenant and want to understand your current RTB eligibility, contact your landlord directly. Luminus Group, Paradigm Housing and Huntingdonshire District Council can all confirm your tenancy start date and how it maps against both the current three-year threshold and the proposed ten-year one.

For buyers and sellers thinking about what social housing policy means for values in the patch, the short answer is: more protected affordable housing in new developments, and a gradual easing of ex-RTB supply to the open market over the next few years. If you are thinking of buying or selling in Brampton, Huntingdon or anywhere across the 56 villages, a free valuation is the best starting point for an honest picture of where things stand.