Affordable Home Ownership
Our New Homes Department works closely with a number of housing providers on and off of the Island to help secure affordable home ownership. The schemes we help them to market are listed below with a brief understanding on how each scheme works.
Shared Ownership Scheme
Shared ownership is provided by housing associations, it is where you can purchase a share of a property and you pay a rent on the remaining share to the housing provider. Shared ownership properties are always leasehold. Each shared ownership scheme may differ from others depending on the lease and the provider of the properties. Some schemes will allow you to purchase a minimum share or maximum share depending on your affordability, you may also be able to staircase to owning more shares in the property this would be subject to the lease. Due to only purchasing a share of a property the deposit needed for a mortgage will be considerably lower when compared to the deposit needed to purchase a property outright, allowing for a more affordable purchase and ideal for first time buyers to get onto the property ladder. There will be terms and conditions to meet to qualify on purchasing a shared ownership property and this can vary depending on housing providers.
Staircasing
Buying more shares in your shared ownership home.
Depending on the terms of your lease, once you have owned your home for a period of time you are then able to purchase further shares in your property. Some housing providers will allow you to purchase up to the full 100% and own your house fully. This will then result in you not having to pay anymore rent to the provider, a service charge however would still be payable. The amount you can staircase at will be subject to the terms of your lease and there may be a restriction on how many times you can do this. So purchasing a larger share at what you are able to afford may be the best route to go down. There may also be opportunities where you are able to purchase the freehold once you own the property fully or in some instances the freehold may automatically become yours.
Overall staircasing benefits you to be able to eventually own your property outright so no rent will be payable or purchase up to an amount where your rent will decrease as well as being entitled to more if your property increases in value.
Older Persons Shared Ownership
If you are aged 55 and over you may be able to purchase a home that is for sale on a shared ownership basis. Usually the amount of the share you can purchase would be between 25% and 75% of the market value, you then pay a rent on the remaining share. The scheme works in the same way as the normal shared ownership other than once you own a 75% share you do not need to pay a rent on the remaining share and you cannot purchase more than the 75%. To be able to qualify for the scheme there is a criterion that you would need to meet.
For more information please don’t hesitate to contact us on 01983 538080 or newhomes@hrdiw.co.uk
