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I know a few people who've done it. One has now staircased up to 100% and is looking to sell the flat.
This is what I'm doing, now. Yet to see what happens when solicitors start to talk to the HA - I've yet to have a sensible offer.
Howard-
From what I gather the HA had a clause that the property had to be initially offered to the HA at market value for them to sell.
The lad I know put it on the market, got some offers and presented those to the HA as market value which got rid of the haggling about what market value is. The HA decided they didn't want to pay that price so allowed them to carry on selling privately.
They did run into problems though in that the lease didn't allow sub-letting which ruled out purchase for anyone looking for buy-to-let.
aggi
I know a few people who've done it. One has now staircased up to 100% and is looking to sell the flat. From the sounds of things the sale process has been a little more extended because of extra hoops with the housing association, etc.
He also had issues with maintenance fees, service charge, etc which ended with them auditing the company running it, claiming money back and the residents taking over.
Overall though he doesn't regret buying it.
Others who've bought more recently seem to be happy. Same kind of thought process in terms of quality of life and that was the only way to buy in somewhere they wanted to live. To my eye the service charge, etc seems steep but I think that's the way with most modern flats.
The main thing is probably how long you're planning to stay in London. Going through the whole process to stay for 3 years doesn't seem worth it. If you're staying longer then having somewhere to live that you can't be chucked out of is nice, assuming you'll be happy to live there for a decent number of years if the worst comes to the worst.