Am I allowed to jointly buy our council flat?

Hi everyone! So my husband has been a council tenant for 10+ years and, after me arriving on my settlement visa back at the beginning of August, we have decided we wanted to put in our application for Right to Buy and move to a bigger property that would better suit all of my stuff moving in I am on the council tax for our flat and we have notified the council that I have moved in, so that is all above board.

We put through our application about 6 weeks ago, and today they contacted  us saying they weren't exactly sure whether I could co-purchase the flat with my husband. They said they were confused as to whether I had the right to purchase a council property before I have my ILR, so they think my husband will have to re-apply by himself.

I know it is a very specific question, but does anyone have any idea if this is true? They didn't seem exactly sure themselves, and I never thought I wouldn't be able to purchase a property in the UK until I had ILR, but maybe it is a special case because it is a council property? Maybe the Right to Buy discount would be counted as public funds?

AAHHHH! The complexities of being an expat can be so daunting at times!

The right to buy and the Statutory House Sales Scheme

Your Right to Buy Your Home: A guide for tenants of councils, new towns and RSLs including housing associations

Check out page nine of the second link I posted. Looks like if you have been living together for 12 months, or a joint tennant you may qualify to buy with your husband.

No mention of needing ILR/ILE though. Might one to consult a solicitor on this one, or have your husband buy it outright and then add you on as a joint tennant (if that's a possibility.)

My DH and I are not council tenants, but first time buyers.  Our council had an open house last night on all of their first-time buyer schemes.  Unfortunately we were told right off the bat that we could not participate in any Shared Ownership scheme until I had ILR because public funds go into the builds and it's considered accessing public funds to buy through the schemes.

Right to Buy might work differently, of course, but she was complete certain in her answer that buying through the council is considered public funds.   I was gutted, so I hope you're able to get a different answer.

Yeah, we sent off a bunch of my paperwork including copies of my settlement visa and they eventually told us that I could not co-purchase because they believe that the discount that he gets for being a tenant for 11 years would be considered public funds.

Oh well though, better to have him go forward with the purchase himself and be safe for ILR than find out 2 years from now that we had accidentally had access to public funds through the purchase and risk a refusal!

Thanks for asking this question, I was curious to know this as well. Now I can tell my bf so we're prepared for any housing purchases in the future