Do I own my Shared Ownership home?

First off let’s start with the basics, Shared Ownership is a home buying scheme to help first-time-buyers or those who do not currently own a home get onto the property ladder. A Shared Ownership buyer will be able to purchase a share of a home, most commonly, through a mortgage and will rent the share of the home that they don’t own from their provider.

With Shared Ownership you are buying a leasehold meaning you’ve effectively bought the right to live and rent the home for a prolonged period. Southern Home Ownership offers typically offers leases which last for 999 years. This means that providing you keep up with the required payments on the property and the terms of your contract, you have the right to remain in the property throughout the lifetime of the lease.

Despite this you will receive various privileges that a tenant in a common tenancy agreement would not have access to, such as being able to decorate your home however you see fit, so feel free to buy that colourful wallpaper you’ve been eyeing up. Shared Ownership tenants also have an assured lease.

Shared Ownership helps you to build an investment in a home that might otherwise not be available to you. It’s important to note that the Shared Ownership scheme offers the opportunity to buy further shares in your home, commonly known as “staircasing”. Under the updated Share to Buy scheme, these further shares can be as little as 1%, allowing you to further invest in a home at your own rate. Most Shared Ownership providers will allow residents to buy further shares up to full ownership of the property.

For more information on the Shared Ownership scheme visit the Gov.uk website.

Are you looking for a stylish and modern Shared Ownership home in London or the South East?

Southern Home Ownership provides stylish, high quality and contemporary new homes, for sale on a Shared Ownership basis in a number of great locations such as Hove, East London and Surrey.

If you're a first-time buyer and interested in purchasing a property through Shared Ownership in London or the South East, then take a look at our collection of developments.