Low-cost home ownership schemes - a guide

Low-cost home ownership schemes for newly built homes

If you live in England and can’t afford to buy a flat or house, you may get financial help to buy a home.

There are two ‘HomeBuy’ schemes to help people buy newly built homes:

• ‘HomeBuy Direct’ - you get a loan towards the home’s purchase price that has no fees for five years
• ‘shared ownership’ - you buy a share of your home and pay rent on the remaining share

You will need to take out a mortgage to pay for your share of the home’s purchase price.

HomeBuy schemes are a first step to fully owning your home. When you can afford it, you can pay more money, eg through savings or your mortgage, to own your home outright.

You can use the links below to find out how the different HomeBuy schemes work.

• HomeBuy Direct - an equity loan scheme

• Shared ownership - how it works

Shared Ownership for the Elderly

If you are aged 55 or over, you can get help from another HomeBuy scheme called ‘Shared Ownership for the Elderly’.

It works in the same way as the shared ownership scheme, but you can only buy up to 75 per cent of your home.

Once you own 75 per cent of the home, you won’t have to pay rent on the remaining share.

• Shared ownership - how it works

HomeBuy agents

HomeBuy schemes are run by local HomeBuy agents, who have details of all the homes for sale through each scheme.

HomeBuy agents are housing associations that have been authorised to run schemes for people who have difficulty buying a home.

If you want to buy a HomeBuy property, you will need to apply to the HomeBuy agent for the area where you want to live.

• Find a HomeBuy agent

Who can apply for the HomeBuy schemes?

HomeBuy schemes are only open to households that earn £60,000 a year or less. A household is the number of people who are buying the home. For example, a household might be:

• you alone
• you and your partner
• you and a friend

HomeBuy schemes are open to:

• people who rent council or housing association properties (see other schemes for tenants below)
• ‘key workers’ in the public sector, eg teachers, who work in the area 
• first-time buyers (you are a first-time buyer if you haven’t owned a home before)

You can also get help through the HomeBuy schemes if you used to own a home, but can't afford to buy one now.

• Who qualifies as a key worker

• Find a HomeBuy agent

Rent to HomeBuy

If you can’t afford to buy a home through one of the HomeBuy schemes, you could qualify for ‘Rent to HomeBuy’.

With this scheme you rent a newly built property for up to five years and pay a reduced rent. This gives you the chance to save for a cash deposit so you can apply to buy a share of the home later.

Contact the HomeBuy agent in your area if you want to apply for Rent to HomeBuy.

• Rent to HomeBuy - how it works

• Find a HomeBuy agent

Low-cost home ownership schemes for people with disabilities

If you have a long-term disability, ‘Home Ownership for People with Long Term Disabilities’ (HOLD) can help you buy any home that is for sale.

You can only apply for HOLD if the homes in the other HomeBuy schemes don't meet your needs, eg you need a ground floor property.

HOLD is a shared-ownership scheme: you buy a share of your home and pay rent on the remaining share. You can use the link below to find out how shared ownership works.

Contact the HomeBuy agent in your area if you want to apply for HOLD.

• Shared ownership - how it works

• Find a HomeBuy agent

Low-cost home ownership schemes for council and housing association homes

If you are a council or housing association tenant, there are three schemes to help you buy your home at a discount:

• ‘Right to Buy’ gives some council tenants the right to buy their rented home
• ‘Right to Acquire’ gives some housing association tenants the right to buy their rented home
• ‘Social HomeBuy’ gives some tenants the chance to buy a share of their council or housing association home

These schemes are run by your landlord, eg your council or housing association. You can use the links below to find out if you can buy your home through one of these schemes.

• Buying your council home - the Right to Buy scheme

• Buying your housing association home - the Right to Acquire scheme

• Social HomeBuy - how it works

More useful links

• Planning for buying a home

• Buying your home

Source:

DirectGov

Tags:

Contact Solicitors Now

Let the advisors at Contact Law, a service of FindLaw, guide you through the process of hiring a qualified solicitor to meet your specific needs:

• 5,000 solicitors objectively screened
• Secure and private service
• Expertise for your needs
• Contact Law is a service of FindLaw UK

Call 0800 1777 167