Shared Ownership resales

If you can’t afford all of the deposit and mortgage payments for a home that meets your needs, Shared Ownership offers you the chance to buy an initial share of a home worth between 10% and 75% of its market value. You will pay rent to the housing provider on the rest. 

You can buy more shares in your home in the future, as and when you can afford to do so. This is known as ‘staircasing’. If you buy more shares, you’ll pay less rent. The amount of rent you pay will be based on the landlord’s share. 

When you buy a Shared Ownership resale home, you will typically purchase the existing shared owner’s share of the home. For example, if the existing shared owner has a 50% share of the home, you will purchase this 50% share from them. The terms of the existing shared owner’s lease will then pass to you. This means you pay the same amount of rent and service charge as the existing shared owner once you have purchased their share from them.  

If you can afford to do so, you can choose to purchase a larger share in the home than the share held by the existing shared owner. If you purchase a larger share, the amount of rent you will have to pay will reduce proportionately.     

If you purchase a new model Shared Ownership resale home, you will benefit from certain features of the new model. This includes the new forms of staircasing. 

However, it is important to note that the 10-year period during which the landlord is required to support shared owners in new model homes with the cost of essential repairs and maintenance may not apply. This is because this feature of the new model only applies to new build homes for the first 10 years following their completion, and as you will be purchasing the home from an existing shared owner, it may already be over 10 years old.

Eligibility

You could buy a shared ownership resale home in England if:

• your household earns £80,000 a year or less, or £90,000 a year or less in London.
• you are a first-time buyer, you used to own a home but can’t afford to buy one now or are an existing shared owner looking to move.

Only military personnel will be given priority over other groups through government funded shared ownership. However, councils with their own shared ownership home-building programmes may have some priority groups, based on local housing needs.

How to apply

Find out how to apply for shared ownership (GOV.UK).