Shared Ownership is designed to enable people to buy an affordable home that suits their needs. As only a part of the property is purchased, a smaller mortgage and a smaller deposit is required. This can be a great way of getting on to the property ladder.
There are a number of different schemes. Some properties you can buy between 25% and 75%, others you can start at just 10%. In most cases, you can purchase additional shares (staircasing) until you own the property outright – but in some cases, there is a cap on how much you can own. Our Sales team will provide full information on any individual property that you are interested in.
To buy a Shared Ownership property, you will need to be eligible for the scheme and pass an affordability check. With some properties, you may also need to prove a local connection to the village, or area, that the property is in. Here is our guidance and policies setting out the requirements.
Eligibility Criteria
In order to be eligible for Shared Ownership, you should:
- Have a gross household income of less than £80,000 per year
- Be unable to buy a similar property for your needs on the open market
- Not own another property
Affordability
All applicants who wish to purchase a shared ownership property must be checked to confirm that they meet our affordability criteria. This check is carried out by one of our panel of specialist shared ownership mortgage brokers. They will qualify each person against their own mortgage assessment and also against Soha’s policies on affordability as set out below:
Soha Policies
Soha assesses all applicants carefully to try and ensure that buying a property is affordable for them now, and in the future. In addition to the standard affordability criteria, Soha also require:
- A minimum of 5% deposit to be put down (100% mortgages are not accepted)
- Satisfactory Occupancy Levels – the number of people living in the property should not exceed the maximum number of people the property was designed for. Please see our Household Size Policy
- A satisfactory credit history – please refer to our Adverse Policy
- Sufficient spare income to provide a safety net – please see our Surplus Income Policy
As Soha often gets multiple enquiries per new build property released, we have a clear policy on who is offered each property. Please see our First Come, First Served Policy, which will be followed for all new build property allocations.