Housing Options Advice Booklet Shared Ownership Housing Services
Shared Ownership What is shared ownership housing? Shared-ownership is a great way into home ownership. If you can't afford to buy outright, you can part buy and part rent your home. You might buy a 25%, 50% or 75% share in your home. You pay a small rent on the share that you don't buy. The bigger the share that you purchase, the less rent you have to pay. The monthly cost of buying a 50% share is about two-thirds of what you would pay on a mortgage if you bought the property outright. When you can afford to do so, you can buy more shares until you own your home outright. Housing Associations and shared ownership housing The other share in the property is usually owned by a housing association. If you are interested in buying low cost affordable shared-ownership housing, you will need to contact your local Homebuy Agent. From 1st April 2009 Orbit First Step is the new HomeBuy Agent for Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire (including Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury). If you are interested in low cost home ownership options in Central Bedfordshire, visit www.orbithomebuyagents.co.uk or call the Orbit First Step Team on 0345 8 50 20 50 for further information. Alternatively, you can directly contact a housing association in your area that provides shared ownership homes. The website www.sharedownership.org.uk provides the most comprehensive listing of housing associations that provide shared ownership housing. What is HomeBuy? The Government has recently introduced new types of shared ownership housing called HomeBuy. HomeBuy enables social tenants, key workers and first time buyers to buy a share of a home and get a first step on the housing ladder. There are a number of different types of HomeBuy scheme; New Build HomeBuy New Build HomeBuy purchasers can buy a minimum initial purchase of 25% of a newly built home. A housing association can hold the remainder of the equity. Purchasers may buy further shares in their home when they can afford to do so, which is known as staircasing. For further information, please contact Orbit First Step directly on 0345 8 50 20 50. Open Market HomeBuy There are two Open Market HomeBuy products, MyChoiceHomeBuy and Ownhome offered by appointed equity loan providers.
With the MyChoiceHomeBuy Product, an equity loan of between 15 to 50 per cent of the purchase price is provided by a partnership of eight housing associations named CHASE, each one of which is an equity loan provider. This product can be used in conjunction with a conventional mortgage from a range of qualified lender regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Purchasers may be expected to raise finance to purchase between 50 and 85 per cent of a home on the open market. There will be an annual fee of 1.75 per cent on the equity loan in year one, payable on a monthly basis. The fee will increase annually by the Retail Price Index (RPI) plus one per cent. Purchasers are free to re-mortgage at any time but will need the equity loan provider's consent if the loan is still in place. With the Ownhome product, an equity loan of between 20 to 40 per cent is provided by Places for People, a Housing Association, in partnership with Cooperative Financial Services. This product must be used in conjunction with a conventional mortgage from the Co-operative Bank in the first instance. Purchasers may be expected to raise finance to purchase between 60 per cent and 80 per cent of a home on the open market. There is no interest charged on the equity loan for the first five years but there will be a charge of 1.75 per cent from year six and 3.75 per cent from year eleven onwards. Purchasers may re-mortgage with a lender other than the Co-operative Bank provided they comply with the terms of their initial mortgage agreement. Social HomeBuy This scheme provides opportunities for housing association tenants who do not have the right to buy or right to acquire, and those who do but cannot afford outright purchase under the statutory schemes, to buy a share in their rented home at a discount. Interested tenants should contact their landlord directly for further details. HomeBuy Direct HomeBuy Direct is a new shared equity scheme designed to help up to 10,000 first time buyers into affordable home ownership. The scheme will also help participating house builders by enabling more first time buyers to purchase their newly built properties. HomeBuy Direct will be offered on specific new build properties brought forward by developers. For further information, please contact Orbit First Step directly on 0345 8 50 20 50. What is Intermediate Rented Housing? Intermediate rented housing or Rent to HomeBuy, is a form of tenure provided by Registered Social Landlords (Housing Associations) where the rents are approximately 80% of those for private rented sector housing but above traditional social housing rents. It is aimed at people who are mostly in employment and meet the financial criteria to afford higher rents than those residents who are eligible for social housing.
The benefit of this form of renting allows greater security of tenure than private rented housing. With some properties you can rent for up to three years with the option to buy under the New Build HomeBuy scheme. For more information about intermediate rented housing, please contact Key Homes East on 0845 456 6757 or visit their website at www.keyhomeseast.org.uk. Who can buy shared ownership housing? Shared ownership housing schemes are usually intended for people who cannot afford to buy a suitable home in any other way. Applicants must usually be in housing need and be unable to afford outright purchase. Priority will often be given to people on local authority or housing association waiting lists. However, when a new housing scheme is developed that includes sharedownership homes for sale, housing associations often have to work hard initially to sell the shared ownership properties. This is because, when the new homes are first available the association usually has a number of homes available for sale all at one time. Consequently, if you are interested in shared ownership housing don't be put off by the bureaucracy. Apply to the local authority or a housing association that offers shared ownership housing in your area as soon as possible. You don't have to find a new housing development to be able to buy a shared ownership property. When shared owners want to move home, their property will either be offered to the housing association to find a buyer, or will be advertised in the local estate agents. Who does the repairs on shared ownership properties? The shared ownership lease between you and the housing association will set out your rights and responsibilities as a shared owner. Although you have not bought the property outright, you will have the normal rights and responsibilities of a full owner-occupier. In particular, you will normally be fully responsible for the cost of repair and maintenance to your home. How can I get a mortgage on my shared ownership home? A list of potential mortgage providers for shared ownership housing is given on the next page.
Abbey Alliance and Leicester Barclays Bradford and Bingley Bristol and West Halifax HSBC Ipswich Building Society Leeds and Holbeck Nationwide Newbury Building Society Portman Skipton Building Society Teachers Building Society If you would like to discuss the possibility of shared ownership with a Housing Options adviser, please contact the team on 0300 300 8000.