Selling your Shared Ownership Property

Moving on to your next adventure, made easy!

As an owner of a Shared Ownership home who may be interested in selling their property, we have summarised the resale procedure that must be followed as per the terms of the property lease and shared ownership regulations.

The process involves the following:

Carrying out a Valuation

You will need to obtain a current open market valuation by a RICS qualified independent chartered surveyor to assess the value of your property. This is not the same as an estate agent valuation based on an assessment of what the property may be marketed for. We have a responsibility to ensure the sales price is reasonable as part of the Government’s Affordable Home Ownership Scheme criteria.

In some leases the landlord is required to arrange the valuation and the costs are to be met by the leaseholder. We can arrange the valuation to be undertaken by an independent RICS surveyor, or you can arrange your own. Current geographical prices for us to arrange and provide a valuation range from £60 to £120 plus VAT. Once there is a current open market valuation report, we will confirm in writing the sales price for your property based on the percentage share you presently own.

We will send you the valuation and a valuation acceptance form, which you will need to complete and return informing us that you wish to proceed with selling your property. You may sell either your percentage equity share or the full 100%.* *Please note this is lease dependent as in certain areas a maximum percentage can be purchased in a property, for example up to 70-80%. In some leases this is only permitted after the first 12 months.

It’s important that you know that a current open market valuation for staircasing and/or sale is valid for 3 to 6 months and you will be required to arrange another valuation if a sale does not complete in this time frame.

Selling your Share

The sale price of your equity share must not exceed what it has been valued at, however you may accept a lower price if you choose to do so.

From 01 January 2020 anyone wishing to apply for a shared ownership property must be approved by a ‘Help to Buy Agent’. The agent for the North of England is Help to Buy Agent 1, Plus Dane Housing. The agent is a central point where applications are processed for any low-cost home ownership scheme benefiting from government funding. To apply on-line please click the link.

We can advertise your property on our website and the Help to Buy Agent website, both of which are free of charge. If you wish your property to be advertised in this way, please contact us so that we can arrange this, however, please be aware we do not operate or offer an estate agent service. Alternatively, you may wish to advertise your property on the open market with an estate agent. Sometimes we may have prospective purchasers for shared ownership properties, so please ask us about this when you are proceeding with your sale before you appoint an estate agent. Any estate agent cost or legal fees are your responsibility.

When a prospective purchaser is identified they must be approved by the Help to Buy Agent before a sale is agreed.

An application form will need to be completed by visiting the website. Once the application form is completed it is issued to the Home Ownership Team at Thirteen Housing Group. We will then contact the prospective purchaser to carry out an affordability assessment and interview prior to any final approval being granted.

Once a sale has been agreed you will need to appoint a solicitor or conveyancer to act on your behalf and give us their details so we can pass the matter to our Legal Services Team to commence the conveyancing. Please note that you are responsible for your own legal fees.

One of our Housing Services Coordinators’ will undertake a welcome interview with your prospective purchaser to ensure they understand the terms of the lease they are intending to buy, their obligations as a leaseholder as well as any property or development related queries they may have such as carrying out alterations and repairing obligations. We do this to ensure new customers are welcomed and know who to contact if they have any queries once their purchase is complete. They will be encouraged to raise any legal query with their own solicitor during the conveyancing period.

Selling 100% of your Property

You may be able to sell 100% of the property.* This involves a ‘three-party’ transaction between you, Thirteen Housing Group and your purchaser. The complete transaction would involve you purchasing the remaining equity (known as staircasing) from us and selling to your new purchaser on the same day. The purchase from Thirteen is an ‘on paper’ transaction and does not require you to secure funding or capital for this. Your purchaser’s funds will be apportioned to you and Thirteen on the day of completion of sale. The price you pay of the remaining equity share will be based on a current open market value which must not be older than 3 months on the date of completion, the valuation must not have expired. *Please note this is lease dependent as in certain areas a maximum percentage can be purchased in a property, for example up to 70-80%. In some leases this is only permitted after the first 12 months.

Example - if a property has been valued at £100,000 and a leaseholder owns a 50% share, Thirteen would require £50,000 on completion of the sale to the 3rd party new purchaser. If the leaseholder sells the property for less than £100,000 Thirteen would still require £50,000 for the remaining equity based on the current open market value. The valuation for staircasing purposes is valid for 3 months after which a review or new valuation will be required.

Once a sale has been agreed you will need to appoint a solicitor to act on your behalf. Your solicitor will deal with your purchaser’s solicitor and Thirteen’s solicitor. You will need to tell us who your solicitor is so we can commence legal matters.

If you have any further queries or would like to speak to us or to arrange a valuation, please do not hesitate to contact the Home Ownership Team.

T: 01642 668256

E: homeownership@thirteengroup.co.uk