Shared Ownership

With a traditional mortgage, you put up a deposit and get a mortgage for the rest of the property, so you buy 100% of that property.

With Shared Ownership, you buy a share of your property between 10%-75%, depending on what you can afford, and then pay rent at 2.75% on the remaining share. This means that you need a smaller mortgage, and a smaller deposit.

Over time, you can buy more shares as your finances allow, this is called staircasing, as you buy more shares, you pay less rent. For the first 15 years, you can do this in small 1% steps if that suits your budget. You can also buy larger shares, the minimum amount you can buy at one time is now 5%. One day, you may be able to own 100% of your home and no longer pay rent.

Eventually, you can own 100% of the property, at which point you’d only pay a service charge (if your property has one) - but no rent! 

The share you will need to buy will vary based on your personal circumstances and what you can afford. The rent you pay on the share you don’t own is set by the housing provider. At the first sale, the annual rent must be no more than 3% of the value of the share the provider still owns.

Here’s an example: 

Let’s say you buy one of our homes which is valued at £150k. If you chose to buy that at 50% ownership based on your financial situation, you would pay:

• The cost of your mortgage for the 50% share you’ve bought, minus any deposit you have paid
• Your rent to us, which as 2.75% of the remaining 50% share we own, is £172 per month
• Your normal bills for water, gas, electricity, council tax, internet etc.
• Any service charges to cover communal areas of your development

This gives you a clear idea of what your monthly costs might look like.