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Who can apply for shared ownership

For households interested in purchasing a council shared ownership property, there are some eligibility requirements that must be met.

  • you must be at least 18 years old
  • your total annual household income must be less that £80,000
  • you must be a first time buyer or do not own a home
  • you should not be able to buy a home suitable for your housing needs on the open market
  • you must be able to demonstrate that you are not in rent or mortgage arrears. For council tenants applying, you must pay off any rent or service charge arears for your application to be accepted.
  • you must be able to demonstrate that you have a good credit history (no bad debts or County Court Judgements) and can afford the regular payments and costs involved in buying the share of the property.

You will also need a deposit of around 5-10% of the share you are purchasing and should have access to at least £4,000 to cover other costs of buying the property (this is a guideline figure, the actual amount may vary).

Required surplus income

To be considered for any of our shared ownership schemes, you must meet our minimum surplus income requirement. We can only accept applicants who have at least 10% surplus income remaining each month after completing the budget planner.

Your mortgage adviser will calculate this for you as part of their affordability assessment and when completing your budget planner.

Is anyone prioritised for council shared ownership?

The government removed all priority groups where there is an under-supply of shared ownership homes. While shared ownership generally aims to help first time buyers, the scheme is available to anyone if they meet the eligibility and affordability criteria.

Properties will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis to applicants who meet the relevant criteria for the scheme.

We will however give priority to existing and former members of the British Armed Forces who meet the eligibility criteria for military personnel and the relevant eligibility and affordability criteria, where a shared ownership property is available and unreserved.

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