What is shared ownership?

Shared Ownership was developed in the 1980s to help people who could not afford to buy their own home, either because of high mortgage payments, or deposits, or both. Twelve years ago Advance started its shared ownership programme to help more people with learning disabilities buy their own homes. This means they partly own their home; Advance is the other part-owner but the person has the opportunity to buy a bigger share of their home as time goes by. We were one of the first people in the UK to do this, and now we are the acknowledged experts in this field, with more than 500 people on the scheme and an additional 50 shared owners each year.

Shared Ownership means that an individual, couple or friends can buy a share of the property and rent the remaining share. It does not mean sharing a home with other people, unless you wish to do so.

The person buys a share of the property between 25% and 75% and pays rent on the rest. If they want to they can gradually buy more of the property and eventually own their home outright. This is known as ‘staircasing’.

The concept can work well for people needing support. Typically, the person can get a mortgage to buy a 70 per cent share and rent the other 30 per cent from the housing association. In many cases the mortgage interest can be met by means tested benefits as Housing Costs and the rent (including the service charge) can be met by Housing Benefit.

Under Advance’s scheme, the Association changes the normal lease so that Advance has responsibility for essential repairs. These repairs can be funded through a Housing Benefit Eligible Service Charge.

There are two ways that Advance can afford to purchase a property and these are the Grant Funded route or the Family Funded route. The two brochures can be downloaded to give you more information.

Back | TopPage last updated: 19/07/2010

More in this section:

Related Documents:
- Shared ownership: A short guide ( 233KB)
  An introduction to shared ownership, which helps people buy a share in their own home
- Shared Ownership: guide for practitioners ( 696KB)
  A comprehensive guide to Advance's shared ownership programme, including legal and financial issues
- Shared ownership with family funding ( 254KB)
  This leaflet explains how shared ownership can be part financed by funding from the applicant's family or trust fund

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