What is shared ownership?

Shared ownership is intended for eligible people who are looking to buy an affordable home suitable for their needs.

With shared ownership, you buy a percentage of a house and pay a discounted rent to LiveWest on the remaining share that you don’t own.

This means a smaller deposit, and a smaller mortgage. A great way to help you get onto the property ladder.  

You can buy more shares as and when it’s affordable to you, usually between 25%-75%, and eventually up to 100%. In most cases, you can own your home outright.

The qualifying criteria

In some cases, to qualify to purchase a new build or Resale home with LiveWest, you will need to have a local connection to the area in which you want to buy if there is a local connection requirement. Once you have registered your interest, a member of the Sales team will be able to provide you with further information and confirm whether you are eligible.

In order to be eligible for shared ownership, you should:

• Have a gross household income of less than £80,000 per year.

• Be unable to buy a similar property for your needs on the open market.

• Have enough savings or access or sufficient funds to put towards your deposit, and any other purchasing costs such as moving costs and legal fees.

• Not currently own or have interest in another home (although we will consider those who are sold subject to contract).

How do I apply?

1. Apply and affordability assessment:

If your preferred plot is available and you are the first to apply, LiveWest will check that you meet the local connection requirement if applicable, and refer you to New Homes Mortgage Helpline to carry out your affordability assessment.

This is required by all our customers looking to purchase a shared ownership home. If the property you have applied for is not available, we will contact you.

Please be advised that LiveWest will only refer one application to New Homes Mortgage Helpline per property on a first come first serve basis.

2. Your affordability assessment:

For your affordability assessment, you will be required to evidence: 

• Incomings
• Outgoings
• Identity 
• Deposit funds
• Local connection if applicable

New Homes Mortgage Helpline will confirm the documentation required to evidence the above. If a joint application is made, both applicants must be named on the shared ownership lease and on any mortgage on the property. You will have 72 hours to provide the requested documents.

For more information on the New Homes Mortgage Helpline process and affordability assessments, view our ‘How to Apply’ brochure for a step by step guide and what you will need to do. 

In line with Anti-Money Laundering legislation, our procedure requires that you evidence the source of funds for your deposit or cash purchase. This can be a detailed bank statement which shows the account details, the saved amount, and also any periodic payments which have led to the amount being accrued. If you're a cash buyer and the source of funds is from either a house sale, windfall or inheritance, then you will also be required to evidence this.

3. LiveWest Approval:

Once you have completed your affordability assessment with New Homes Mortgage Helpline, LiveWest will complete the final approval before contacting you with the outcome of your application. Please note during our busiest times this may take up to five working days.  

Please note all affordability assessments must be carried out in line with the Homes England Capital Funding Guide for Shared Ownership Capital Funding Guide - 1. Shared Ownership - Guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Once you've been offered your new home

We will do everything we can to help you into your new home in the shortest possible time. We will normally expect an exchange of contracts (when you are legally committed to the purchase) within six weeks of us issuing the sale contract to your solicitor (unless other timescales are specified). Completion of the sale (when you move in) should take place within a further two weeks (subject to the completion date of the development).

Unless there are circumstances beyond your control, we may be forced to withdraw an offer of sale if these timescales are unreasonably delayed. For Resale homes, the timescale will be agreed between you and the seller although we will always try to assist with the process where we are able to.

You will be invited to view your new home. For new build homes, we will organise your visit (subject to the construction stage) and our Sales team or our agent, will show you around your home. 

For Resale homes, we will put you in touch with the owners and provide you with written details of the sale, including the share available for purchase and the rent payable on the remaining share.

Moving in and completion day

Congratulations! This is the big day where you will receive the keys to your new home.

Once a completion date has been agreed with your solicitor, your Sales Consultant will arrange a New Home Demonstration with you, which can take place up to a week before your agreed completion date. 

The purpose of the New Home Demonstration is to help you understand more about your home and what to expect on your completion day. You can expect helpful advice on living in and maintaining your home, appliance and system operations and other important information including your rectification period, warranties, and reporting new home repairs. 

On completion day, once our solicitor confirms the funds have been received, we will contact you to share the good news and provide the key safe code to your new home!

We kindly ask that you take photos of the meter readings on the day of your completion and email them to the Sales team. If we do not receive the readings within the 48 hours after completion, readings from the last property inspection or your New Home Demonstration readings will be used to update the providers.

Some of our homes are complete with Air Source Heat Pumps, and some with solar panels. To find out more, you can view our below guides with details on maintenance and care.
 

After you've bought

If you would like to do any structural work or home improvements on your property, you will need written approval from LiveWest. You may also need approval from your lender, and in some cases planning permission and building regulations. Get in touch with us for more information.

Did you know?

Following the latest Government’s revisions to the shared ownership eligibility criteria, there is no longer any assessment of housing need before allocating a home and therefore there is no longer any restriction on the number of bedrooms in a property you are applying for, unless specified in any planning condition. 

The only applicant group which takes priority above others are those from members of the British Armed Forces, unless conditions within the planning consent apply e.g. highest priority given to local people living within the community where the homes have been constructed. Should any such special conditions apply, we will make them clear to you when you apply.

Applications from non-Armed Forces personnel and where no local connection or planning conditions apply, will be dealt with on a 'first come, first served basis'. This means that we will prioritise applications in the order in which they are submitted.

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