Shared ownership changes

Opening the door to homeownership in England

Shared Ownership opens the door to homeownership in England, helping people to get on the property ladder. It offers the chance to buy a share of your home (between 10% and 75% of the property’s value) and pay rent on the remaining share. At a future time, you could then look to buy a bigger share when you can afford to.

The government is funding a new model for Shared Ownership through the Affordable Homes Programme 2021/26. Up to 50% of homes delivered through this programme will now be for the new model of Shared Ownership.

Overview of scheme

• The initial stake has been reduced from 25% to 10%.
• 10-year repair has been introduced, during which the shared owner will receive support from their landlord to pay for essential repairs –  bridging the gap between renting and
• New 1% gradual ‘staircasing’ model has been introduced, enabling shared owners  to staircase in smaller instalments of as little as 1%, down from 10%, with heavily reduced
• Shared owners are given more control when they come to sell their home (shared owners will be able to take control of the resales process from the landlord at an earlier point, giving them greater influence over the sale).
• The new model is available to purchase from 2022 (the government will continue to fund the present Shared Ownership scheme until 2023 through the Affordable Homes Programme 2016 to 2023 – there will, therefore, be a transition period in which both the former and new Shared Ownership models will be available).

 Eligibility

 You could buy a home through Shared Ownership 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.

Newly built home

With Shared Ownership you can buy a newly built home or an existing one through resale programmes from housing associations. You’ll need to take out a mortgage to pay for your share of the home’s purchase price, or fund this through your savings. Shared Ownership properties are always leasehold.

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

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