Selling your share in your shared ownership home is called assigning the lease.
The new buyer takes over the existing lease, including its terms and conditions.
How to sell your share
If you're thinking about moving, or have decided to sell your home, please get in touch with us:
Email: leaseholdsupport@midlandsrural.org.uk
Tel: 0300 1234 009
A shared ownership lease is a complex document, and we recommend you get legal advice early in the sale process.
Qualifying for shared ownership
Any purchaser buying your share must qualify for shared ownership. Find out more on the gov.uk website
Local connection
With all homes being in rural areas, the majority have local connection criteria. This means that buyers with a local connection to the village have priority.
This is because these homes have been built specifically to help local people. The local area connection criteria vary between each development, but generally require buyers to be a current or previous resident in the village, have family connections or work in the village. This may sometimes include having the connection in a neighbouring parish.
Affordability
The buyer will also need to meet our affordability checks.
We’ll ask you to get your home valued, to establish its current market value.
This must be done by an independent surveyor, qualified through the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). You’ll be responsible for paying the valuation fee.
We recommend you use a surveyor with experience of shared ownership leases and their resale. We can provide details of experienced, independent surveyors if required.
Please send the valuation to us at: leaseholdsupport@midlandsrural.org.uk
Once we’ve received your valuation, we have up to eight weeks to nominate a potential buyer.
Before we can market your home, we'll need you to provide an Energy Performance Certificate EPC. It also really helps if you can send us lots of good quality photos of all the rooms in your house and outdoor spaces.
We'll market your home by:
- Facebook advertising
- contacting relevant people from our database who have registered an interest.
Home viewings
We'll coordinate appointments for potential buyers to view your home. You will need be available to show your home to the potential buyers.
If we’re unable to nominate a suitable buyer within eight weeks, you’re free to sell the share in your home through an estate agent at your cost, at the agreed selling price.
You cannot sell the property as freehold - only the share that you currently own.
If you sell your share through an estate agent, you must make sure that they are aware the property is shared ownership. We will also contact them to confirm our interest in the property and share information about the shared ownership lease and the planning agreement, which needs to be passed on to any purchasers.
Once you've found someone who wants to purchase your share, they need contact us to arrange an interview and affordability check to confirm they meet the eligibility requirements. They can contact us at leaseholdsupport@midlandsrural.org.uk or call on 0300 1234 009.
If they meet the eligibility criteria, we will request solicitors’ details from both parties within seven days.
Once we’ve received the solicitors’ details, we’ll send them both the assignment instructions.