What is shared ownership?

Shared Ownership gives eligible people the opportunity to purchase a share in a property.

It works by offering a ‘part buy, part rent’ way of purchasing your home for a smaller upfront payment – making it easier for you to get on the property ladder. The shares sold are usually between 10-75% of the property, with a rent charged on the remaining share.

Once you become a shared owner, and when the time is right for you financially, you can buy more shares in your home through a process known as ‘staircasing’. When you buy more shares, you’ll pay less rent.

In some locations where property values are high, there may be restrictions on how much of the property owners can purchase. This is to help make sure that there will always be affordable homes available in the local area, for local people.

You may be eligible to buy a home through the shared ownership scheme if both of the following are true:

your household income is £80,000 a year or less (£90,000 a year or less in London)
you cannot afford all the deposit and mortgage payments for a home that meets your needs, on the open market

One of the following must also be true:

you’re a first-time buyer
you used to own a home but cannot afford to buy one now
you’re forming a new household – for example, after a relationship breakdown
you’re an existing shared owner, and want to move
you own a home and want to move, but cannot afford a new home that meets your needs

For some homes, you may have to show that you currently live, work in, or have a connection to the area where you want to buy the home.

If you own a home, you must have the following when you apply to buy a shared ownership home:

formally accepted an offer for the sale of your current home (called ‘sold subject to contract’ or ‘STC’)
written confirmation of the sale agreed (called a ‘memorandum of sale’) including the price and your intention to sell
You must have completed the sale of your home on or before the date you complete buying your shared ownership home.