Shared Ownership Schemes
Slough Borough Council does not have a shared ownership register or scheme which means you cannot apply for a shared ownership scheme through the council. When and if shared ownership properties owned by the council become available within Slough, the register will reopen online, accessible via this page. To find out about shared ownership schemes that are not run by the council go to the GOV.UK website.
What is shared ownership
Shared Ownership is for people who cannot afford a mortgage on 100% of a property. It's also called a part-buy/part-rent scheme.
Slough Borough Council does not currently have a shared ownership register which means you cannot apply for a shared ownership scheme. When and if shared ownership properties owned by the council become available within Slough, the register will reopen online, accessible via this page.
How shared ownership works
Shared Ownership allows you to buy a share of a property. You pay a mortgage on the share you own, and a below-market-value rent on the part you do not own.
Because you only need a mortgage on the part you own, the amount you need to put down as a deposit is much lower.
The combined mortgage and rent payment is usually lower than a 100% mortgage payment would be.
Staircasing
Once you are a shared owner, you can increase the share you own in stages. This is called staircasing. Usually, you would buy an extra 10% share at a time. The shares you can buy will depend on the terms and conditions.
New build or resale property
Once you decide to buy through Shared Ownership, you need to choose whether to buy a new build or a resale.
New build
Under this scheme, you usually initially buy between 25% and 75% of a newly built home from the provider. The provider is usually a housing association.
This scheme is especially appealing to individuals who cannot:
- raise a large enough deposit to get a mortgage approved
- get a large enough mortgage to buy a property outright, even with a ‘healthy’ deposit.
Resale
Resales are shared ownership homes that are sold when the current shared owners want to sell their stake in the property. This is usually because they want to buy a property outright.
Every resale is unique in the share you can buy and/or the rent to pay. This is because of the share the current owner bought and/or staircasing, where the owner has bought more shares.
You can find resales on the Finding a shared ownership home page of the GOV.UK website or on housing association websites.
Some housing associations also use external agencies such as Moving Soon - Shared Ownership Houses near me to advertise new and resale properties where you can apply to be considered. You may receive information on shared ownership options from them and it is likely that you will need to register on the particular agency websites.