Buying a Shared Ownership Property

If you are buying a currently owned Shared Ownership property you may have been introduced to the property either from contact with the Housing Association if you are on its list of nominees or through an estate agent or sometimes direct from the seller.  In all of these cases the legal procedure is more or less identical to the purchase of a normal property but there are one or two additional complications.

You are only able to proceed at a purchase price authorised by the valuation produced by the Housing Association at the commencement of the transaction.

You can, of course, only buy that share of the property which is owned by the seller.  However, if you would rather own a higher share of the property than that owned by the seller it is possible for you to buy the share and staircase to a higher share at the same time.

For example, if your seller owns a 25% share of the property then it would be possible for you to buy that 25% share and at the same time staircase another 25%.

The Housing Association will need to see and approve the mortgage you are obtaining to assist you in buying the property.  This process can sometimes cause delay but as specialist solicitors we are able to contact the Housing Association’s administrative department and in many cases the mortgage advisor to try and speed the process along.

In addition, we cannot proceed to exchange contracts on your behalf without the specific written authority of the Housing Association.  Sometimes at certain times of the year the Housing Association’s administration department are very busy and there can occasionally be delays in this process.

If you buy a share in a currently owned Shared Ownership property you will have the same rights as the seller to staircase the property up to the full 100% in the future.

Please note that Stamp Duty is considerably more complex in Affordable Housing and you may have to make certain choices as to how the stamp duty on your property is to be paid.