Low Cost Home Ownership

Provision and management of a scheme whereby eligible local citizens can purchase property at a reduced cost or participate in shared ownership schemes.

Low Cost Home Ownership Schemes

There are a limited number of homes available in the Borough of Scarborough available for shared ownership and these are manage by a registered social landlord.

With a shared ownership house, you would own part of the property and pay a mortgage and rent the rest of the property from a housing association.

When existing owners wish to move on from shared ownership properties, they will be placed in the hands of an estate agent, so if you are interested in a shared ownership property - register your details with local estate agents.

HomeBuy is a Government scheme to help people get a foot on the property ladder.

New Build HomeBuy (formerly known as Shared Ownership)

Homes are sold as leasehold properties on a long lease and on shared ownership terms - they can be flats or houses. The minimum share that can be purchased is 25%, and 75% is the usual maximum. A purchaser will need to be able to raise a mortgage for the share they want to purchase, and will pay rent on the share they do not own. Rents are calculated to be affordable.

The purchaser can buy additional shares until they own 100%. This is known as 'staircasing'. When the purchaser wants to sell the property they can either sell the share they own to another household nominated by their landlord or the lease may allow them to staircase to 100% and sell it in the normal fashion. (NB normally on rural exception sites, purchasers can only staircase to a maximum of 80%).

However, landlords may want to buy the property back in order to offer it to other households who want to enjoy low-cost home ownership. They will tell you if they want to do this when you tell them that you want to sell. The property is sold at market value and you will benefit from any equity which has built up on the share that you own.

Open Market HomeBuy

Open Market HomeBuy is a low-cost government-backed home-ownership programme that aims to help people to secure 100% funding of the value of their first home. It is a flexible equity loan scheme designed to help households earning up to a maximum household income of £60,000 a year to buy their own homes on the open market.

There are two Open Market HomeBuy products, which are designed specifically to help local authority and housing association tenants, key workers and others who are not able to afford to buy a suitable home in an area where they live or work without assistance. Both products are available throughout England and have been designed to suit a wide range of personal circumstances. The purchaser finds a property that they want to buy on the open market, but buy part of the equity in partnership with another.

MyChoiceHomeBuy - is funded by the government and is offered by eight housing associations, each of which is an equity loan provider in its own right.
OwnHome - is provided by a partnership between Places for People and the Co-operative Bank and is part-funded by the government. Places for People is an equity loan provider in its own right.

For further information regarding these schemes, please see the links provided below.