Shared Ownership

Shared ownership is a form of affordable housing available to eligible house hunters who cannot afford to buy a home on the open market. Housing associations around the UK are currently providing many affordable new homes for shared ownership on a part-buy/part-rent basis.
Those who wish to own their own home but who are unable to do purchase a suitable property on the open market in their local area can apply to buy certain new homes with a part-buy/part-rent arrangement with their housing association.

This means that they can buy a proportion of their home initially (perhaps as little as 25%), paying a mortgage on that part in the usual way, and pay a subsidised rent to the housing association on the remaining part of the property. They do not live in the shared ownership property with you. You can increase your share as time goes by, sometimes to 100%, this is called 'staircasing'.

The rental proportion is usually charged at around 80% of the market rent in that area. With this subsidy, owners are then able to save money to buy further shares in their home over time. There is usually a service charge and/or ground rent to pay on the property too, which will continue to be due even if the owner eventually "staircases" to 100% ownership of their home.

The main advantage of shared ownership is that it can make getting onto the property ladder affordable. Another great advantage of shared ownership properties is that they tend to be new or refurbished. In some areas, stamp duty on shared ownership property is waived.

You will need a small deposit, a shared ownership mortgage to buy your share and a sum of money to pay for administration costs.

Shared Ownership in a nutshell:
• You own part of the property and pay rent to a co-owner in addition to your mortgage payments
• Usually operated though local council or housing association
• Brand new and refurbished properties available
• You can start owning as little as 24% of the property and buying more know as staircasing. Rents decrease
• The deposit and mortgage requirement sill be lower as you are only buying part of the property
• You still need 10% deposit but just of the share you are buying
• Service charges can bump up monthly costs

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