Right to acquire denied

MarkymarkUK

Friend has had right to aquire denied based on following.

The Housing (Right to Acquire) Regulations 1997 Section 3 Part (1) states that the right to acquire does not arise if the net debt or the peak debt attributable to the dwelling-house on the date of service of the tenant's notice under section 122 (tenant's notice claiming to exercise right to acquire) is equal to or greater than the purchase price plus the discount.

Housing association.

No other info provided.

Is this worth appealing?

Max discount is c.£9k

Part of me thinks standard response as they don’t want to sell.

Browntoa

No 

They are stating the correct regulations 

They have supplied the answer

They may not need to provide figures directly, just back them up if needed 

Appeal to who ?

On what grounds? 

silvercar

Has the debt been calculated correctly? Do you think it is greater than the purchase price plus discount?

MarkymarkUK

They may not need to provide figures directly, just back them up if needed 

Are they obligated to provide the figures to tenant?
This is material to any kind of contest. 

MarkymarkUK

silvercar said:

Has the debt been calculated correctly? Do you think it is greater than the purchase price plus discount?

Impossible to know without figures, which haven’t been provided.  Best course to gain these?

Exodi

Just for my sheer curiosity, could someone explain what the above means?

From my interpretation, for example, it would mean:

The house is worth say £150k, the HA has a debt against it (effectively a mortgage) of say £145k.

The tenant wants to exercise their right to acquire the property, buying it for say £143k with a £7k discount.

This has been rejected because the HA owes more on the property than they would receive selling it, effectively causing a loss.

If this is the case, does the tenant have any authority to demand insight into the HA's financing framework? My gut feeling is the HA is under no obligation to comply.

Of course the cynics among us may then suggest that HA's could disingenuously reject any attempt to buy their properties, as they are not required to provide evidence.

MarkymarkUK

Exodi said:

Of course the cynics among us may then suggest that HA's could disingenuously reject any attempt to buy their properties, as they are not required to provide evidence.

My sentiments exactly. But are they obligated to? 

Your interpretation was same as mine. 

The property is specifically desirable to tenant regardless of discount. 

MarkymarkUK

Bumpity bump 

RHemmings

MarkymarkUK said:

Bumpity bump 

Has there been any further information or progress/regress? Any further communications from the HA? 

I'm curious about your position, but it seems a quite specialised situation needing someone with extensive knowledge to reply. I had a look at some law quoted from this page: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/your-right-to-buy-your-home-a-guide--2/your-right-to-buy-your-home-a-guide  The page itself is simple and straightforward but as soon as I follow a link to the law ... this is complicated. The act as a whole is here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/619/made  

Has your friend been provided with any actual numbers by the HA? 

user1977

Presumably at least some of this can be found from the HA's published accounts?