Buying a Shared Ownership Property

When house prices are high, it can be difficult getting your foot on the property ladder. However, shared ownership may be the answer if you cannot afford to purchase a property outright.

This leaflet from Fairhive Homes will provide you with all the information you need on shared ownership and how to purchase a property through this route.

Making a property purchase is probably the largest financial investment you will ever make, so do make sure you have all the information you require before you proceed with a purchase.

What is Shared Ownership?

Shared ownership, also known as a partbuy part-rent scheme, assists buyers who are unable to afford the full cost of buying a property on the open market.

Basically, buyers purchase a share of the property and then pay an affordable rent on the rest. This means the buyer only needs a mortgage for the share they are purchasing, so the amount of money required for a deposit is usually a lot lower when compared to the amount that would be required when purchasing outright.

Who is eligible for Shared Ownership?

The general eligibility requirements for anyone wishing to buy a Shared Ownership home are:

• You must be at least 18 years old

• Out side of London your annual household income must be less than £80,000

• You must be a first time buyer, OR if you do already own another home, you must be in the process of selling it

• You should not be able to afford to buy a home suitable for your housing needs on the open market

• You must show you are not in mortgage or rent arrears

• You must be able to demonstrate that you have a good credit history (no bad debts or County Court Judgements) and can afford the regular payments and costs involved in buying a home

• You will need to make sure you can cover the amount of deposit required, usually 5-10% of the share you are buying. You will also need to cover the costs of buying a home, covered in the guidance below.

Who are Fairhive Homes?

Fairhive Homes Limited are a notfor-profit Registered Social Landlord providing low cost rented and shared ownership homes.

For more information, visit: www.fairhive.co.uk

Contact us

For further information on Shared Ownership, please contact Fairhive Homes directly:

T: 01296 732600

E: sales@fairhive.co.uk

There are often requirements to meet local criteria, although these can vary from scheme to scheme. For example, you may need to meet one of the following:

• have lived within the Local Authority district for 6 of the last 12 months

• have lived within the Local Authority district for 3 out of the last 5 years

• have a permanent job, or the offer of a permanent job, wholly within the Local Authority district

• have close family ties with family within the district e.g. parents, children, brothers, sisters, who have lived in the area for the past five years.

How much of the property can I purchase?

This can vary from scheme to scheme. It may be anything from 10% to 75% of the property value, with 40% being the most common amount. The remaining percentage is retained by Fairhive Homes and is rented to you. This means you buy your share as a leasehold purchase on a long lease, (125 years or 990 years depending on the property).

How can I become a full owner of the property?

You may move from your initial share to full ownership in a number of stages, buying further shares or ‘tranches’, as and when you can afford them. This is called ‘staircasing’.

Alternatively, if you can afford it, you can move up to full 100% ownership, by buying the entire share held by Fairhive Homes in one go. You can only buy 100% of the property after one year of occupancy. In a few instances, staircasing may be limited to a maximum share of 80%.

For a house, once you own 100% of the property, you will move from leasehold to freehold ownership. For a flat, the property will generally remain on a long leasehold.