As and when your financial circumstances change, you can opt to buy more shares in your Shared Ownership home. This process is known as ‘staircasing’. This is optional and you do not have to buy more shares if you don’t want to.
The more shares you own in your home, the less rent you will pay to the housing association. In most instances you can own up to 100% of your home and, if you do so, you will no longer need to pay any rent. If you become the outright owner and you wish to sell, you are no longer required to give your housing association the opportunity to market the property first.
You may acquire additional shares in your Shared Ownership property at a price equal to the relevant proportion of the current full open market value of the property. For example: if your home is valued at £300,000 and you want to buy an additional 25% share, the purchase price of your share will be £75,000.
You can usually buy additional shares at any time. For some homes though, you might need to wait for a certain amount of time after you buy the Shared Ownership home. Check your lease to find out when you can buy additional shares and what shares you can buy.
Maximum share you can own
For most Shared Ownership homes, the maximum share you can own is 100%. However, there are some exceptions.
In some places, called ‘designated protected areas’, you may only be able to buy a share of up to 80%. Check with the landlord.
If you buy an Older Persons Shared Ownership (OPSO) home the maximum share you can own is 75%.
Before you buy a shared ownership home, ask the landlord for the ‘key information document’ to check what share amounts you’ll be able to buy in the future.
