Shared Ownership staircasing and resales

The staircasing process is completely optional! While some buyers choose to buy additional shares in their home as their financial circumstances change, many owners choose to stay at their current owned share.

One of the benefits of staircasing is that you will own more of your home, and will therefore have greater benefit from any increase in the value of the property. If you choose to buy more shares, your rent will also decrease. If you go on to purchase 100% of your home, you will become the outright owner of the property and no longer pay rent at all.

If you choose to purchase 100% of your Shared Ownership home, you will become the outright owner, continuing to pay your mortgage and any service charges, but no longer paying any rent.

If your property is subject to a lease that has restricted staircasing, then the amount of the property that you can own could be limited to 80%. This restriction is rare and more often found in rural areas a result of planning permissions to ensure that the property is retained for local people and does not become available as a second home. We would recommend speaking with your housing provider and checking the terms of your lease to see if there are any staircasing restrictions in your home.

If you are an existing owner who has tried selling your Shared Ownership property via your housing provider and on the open market but are struggling to find a buyer, back-to-back staircasing could help. Also known as simultaneous sale, this option allows you to staircase to 100% ownership at the same time as selling your home so that your property is no longer covered by the Shared Ownership rules.

Unless you can afford to pay for the further shares from savings, staircasing will normally involve either taking a further advance from your current mortgage lender, or a new mortgage for both your existing mortgage and new shares from another lender. As your property is unlikely to be classified as a new-build, and the level of your deposit/equity may be a different percentage of your new borrowing, a better deal is often obtained with a re-mortgage.

A solicitor or conveyancer will be required to carry out the legal work associated with buying additional shares in your home, and some costs will likely be involved. If you are remortgaging as part of the staircasing process, several lenders will offer ‘free legals’ or money towards legal expenses as part of their offer. As it is more complex than a straight remortgage, a supplement is usually charged where the ‘free legals’ option is chosen.

Yes! If you own less than 100% of your property, you will usually be required to give the housing association a period of time to find a buyer first, although full details will be outlined in the terms of your lease. Should the housing association not be able to find a buyer within the set time, you are then free to market the property yourself.

If you have staircased and now own 100%, you can sell without the housing association needing to market the home first.

To help speed up the sales process, it is advisable that you allow your housing provider to pass your contact details on to your buyers so that you can discuss possible moving dates. It is also important to liaise with your solicitor on a regular basis so that they can progress the sale with your buyer’s solicitor. Once a buyer has been found and your housing association has instructed their solicitors, your provider will not have any direct involvement with the sale, however, they are able to assist where required.

If a a housing association buys shares back and allows you to rent the property, this is known as flexible tenure; flexible tenure is rare and only granted in exceptional circumstances. If you wish to sell some or all of your shares back to your provider, you should approach your housing association to discuss your options.

You should begin to look for another property as soon as you decide to sell. However, to avoid putting yourself under any pressure, you should not make an offer on another property until a buyer has agreed to purchase your Shared Ownership home. When you agree to buy a home, it’s in your best interest to make everyone involved aware of any timescales.

Are you housing association, developer, sales agent or location authority selling properties through Shared Ownership, First Homes, Deposit Unlock and other affordable homeownership schemes? We can list your new-build and resale homes on the Share to Buy property portal!

As well as working alongside registered housing providers, we also partner with private sellers who are looking to sell their current Shared Ownership home.