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New Shared Ownership Model

As part of the government’s Affordable Homes Programme 2021 – 2026, some changes to Shared Ownership were introduced; in a challenging market, it’s hoped that the changes will help more people get a foot onto the property ladder.  

These changes don’t yet apply to the Shared Ownership homes that Open Door by Halton Housing are currently selling as our existing developments are funded on the governments previous programme. However, we’ll let you know as soon as we have homes for sale that do. 

The changes to the Shared Ownership model are:

Reduced Initial Share

On the new Shared Ownership model, you can purchase an initial share as low as 10%, previously the lowest share was 25%.

This decrease will help to reduce the deposit needed to buy a Shared Ownership home, making homeownership more accessible.  

Increased length of lease

All new leases on new build Shared Ownership homes will have a minimum lease length of 990 years. 

Staircasing

Staircasing instalments have reduced from a minimum 10% to 5%. 

Shared ownership customers will have the option to buy 1% each year for 15 years with heavily reduced fees, with the introduction of a new gradual staircasing model too. 

Repairs allowance

There will be a 10-year period for new Shared Ownership customers when the housing association or landlord (in this instance Halton Housing) will cover the cost of essential repairs and maintenance to the home. 

New Shared Ownership customers will be able to claim up to £500 in essential repair costs per year. Any repair and maintenance costs over and above this will be the responsibility of the home owner. There will also be the flexibility to roll over a maximum of one year’s worth of unused repairs expenditure into the following year to a maximum of £1000. 

Please note: the 10-year essential repair cover only applies to new build Shared Ownership homes for the first 10-years of the property’s life or until 100% ownership is reached, whichever comes first. If the home is resold within this 10-year period, the remaining years will be assigned to the new Shared Ownership customer. 

Reduced nomination period

When you come to sell your Shared Ownership home, customers will be able to take control of the process sooner. The nomination period that a landlord or housing association (in this case Halton Housing) has to find a new buyer, will be reduced from eight to four weeks.

Right to Shared Ownership

A Right to Shared Ownership will also be available on many affordable rent homes delivered through the new Affordable Homes Programme. 

As with any other Shared Ownership application, there will be certain criteria that customers need to meet to be eligible: 

  • You’ll need to be affordable rent customer for at least three years and have lived in the current property for at least 12 months 

  • You’ll need to have a maximum household income of £80,000 

  • You’ll need to demonstrate that you can afford and sustain homeownership; all prospective buyers will need to undertake an affordability assessment.