Am I Eligible?

Am I Eligible?

When you apply for a Shared Ownership home you will be asked to register with Help to Buy South and this application will confirm your initial eligibility -

• You are not able to afford to buy a suitable home on the open market
• You have an income of less than £80,000 per year in your household
• You would be able to fund the costs associated with purchasing a home – usually around £2,000
• You have a connection to the area where you would like to buy, e.g. you live or work there

You will also need to prove that you are able to afford the property so a financial assessment will be carried out to make sure you are not overstretching your finances. 

What if I am in receipt of Benefits?

You still may be eligible, but it will depend upon the type of benefit you are on, whether you are in receipt of this benefit long term and whether you need to borrow money to purchase your share.  Get in touch and see how we can help you.  

Shared Ownership - in more detail

Buying your home with the Shared Ownership scheme works very much the same as on the open market. You will only need to finance the part you are buying, and we own the remainder. We rent this part to you at a subsidised rate. The rent is agreed and fixed at the time that you buy and there is a maximum amount that it can be increased by each year.

We are required to follow the guidelines from our regulator, Homes England, and we will encourage you to buy as much of the property as you can comfortably afford but it will be from 40% up to a maximum of 75%. However, the more shares you buy, the lower your rent will be! 40% is our standard minimum share, however, this can sometimes be negotiated depending upon the property and your circumstances.

You will need to finance your share of the home by taking out a mortgage or through capital you already have. This could be savings, a gift or from the sale of a previous property.

Once the home is yours you will be responsible for all the repairs and maintenance as if you owned the property outright. You will be a leaseholder and will have certain guidelines to follow which can include payment of a service charge to cover the maintenance of communal areas and to cover the cost of building insurance.

You get to choose your home, within reason. You will get a chance to tell us your preferred plot when you register your interest with us and we will do our best to offer you that home or one very similar.

The full value of the house is assessed by an independent valuer and this cannot be changed or offered upon - the price you pay for your share is fixed. The benefit of owning a Shared Ownership home is that the combined monthly cost is often lower than that of renting privately so you could save money! You will also get the advantage of any increases to the value of your home. As the full value of the property increases, so does the value of your share – bear in mind that the opposite could happen too.

The rest of the time in your home is just that, your home. We do not routinely inspect the home and you are able to decorate your home to make it personal to you. You will need permission to make any structural changes. We cannot tell you to move, unless you break the terms of your lease, and if, for any reason, we are unable to keep the share that you do not own we are legally bound to sell your share to another registered provider so your lease and your home will always safe.