Shared ownership
If your finances don’t stretch to a deposit and a mortgage, shared ownership could help.
Last updated on
Mar 12, 2026 15:42
Shared ownership is another way to get on the ladder, if you’re struggling to buy your own place.
That’s because you’re buying just part of a property — a share — not all of it, and renting the rest from a landlord. So the deposit and mortgage are much more affordable, but there are other costs.
The idea is that over time, you keep buying a bit more until it’s all yours.
This guide covers the schemes in England, but there are similar ones for the rest of the UK. Here’s how it works.
Shared ownership is a government-backed scheme to help people who can’t afford a standard deposit and mortgage to buy a home. It’s part buy, part rent.
You can use a shared ownership mortgage, and a deposit, to buy your first share in the property and you pay rent on the rest. These costs can increase over time. Always check what’s in the lease before you commit. Over time, the aim is to build up your share until you own the property.
You have to be eligible for shared ownership: many first-time buyers qualify, along with certain other groups. We cover more on who’s eligible below.
Shared ownership has been going since the 1980s in the UK. The government introduced it to help first-time buyers, and others struggling to afford a place, to get onto the property ladder.
Shared ownership homes are new-builds and resale properties and they’re usually sold by housing associations, local councils, and other non-profits. These providers are also the landlords. The government provides some funding for building and managing affordable shared ownership properties.
Shared ownership homes are usually leasehold not freehold, so you won’t own the land itself and you may have to pay ground rent and service charges as well as rent for the property.
With a shared ownership mortgage, you buy part of the property — usually between 25% and 75% but it can be as low as 10%. The deposit is typically 5%-10% of the share you’re buying (not the whole property value).
Once you’ve lived in the property for a certain period (your lease will specify this), you can buy another share — say 25%. So if you started with 25%, now you’d have 50%. You can typically go on adding shares until you have 100%.
This is called “staircasing” and allows you to achieve home ownership in stages — you build up your ownership over time until you own the whole property.
Let’s say you were getting a shared ownership mortgage for a property that cost £200,000 and you were buying 25% of it, with a 10% deposit. The figures would be:
When you buy your share, you’ll enter into an agreement with the landlord (such as a housing association) and your mortgage lender.
You’ll need to make your monthly rent payments and mortgage payments. You’ll also likely have to pay service charges, to cover maintenance of communal areas, and ground rent to the landlord.
Your lease will set out what shares you can buy over time.
Typically you staircase in chunks of at least 10%. Once you own 100%, you stop paying rent.
You can use “gradual staircasing”, where you buy a 1% share each year for the first 15 years. The price will be based on the original value of your home with an increase or decrease of the official House Price Index applied to it. Alternatively, you can get a new valuation (for a fee).
If you use standard staircasing (a share of 5% or more), each time you buy another share, the price of it will be based on the property value at that time. So you’ll need to pay valuation and legal fees as well as mortgage arrangement fees. These fees could total around £2,000. Your landlord may charge an admin fee of £150-£500. And you might need to pay stamp duty, depending on the value of the extra shares you buy.
You have to buy your share within three months of the valuation date or the valuation is void.
The bigger the share you own, the less rent you’ll pay to the landlord for their share, and the more you pay for your mortgage.
Some shared ownership agreements cap the amount of the property you’re allowed to own, so check this before you buy.
Not every lender offers shared ownership mortgages.
Lots of applicants are first-time buyers. But you don’t have to be one to get a shared ownership property. There are some income limits and other criteria, though.
Here’s a list of what you need to be eligible:
Plus, one of the following must apply to you:
Some developments prioritise people who live or work locally.
Shared ownership won’t suit everyone but for some, it’s the key to owning a place.
It’s possible to get shared ownership with a less-than-perfect credit history, but it will depend on how bad and how recent the credit issues were. As it’s not straightforward, it’s a good idea to have a chat with a broker.
If you're planning to use a mortgage for shared ownership, there will be two hoops to jump through, not one.
That’s because you’ll need to pass the mortgage lender’s credit and affordability checks but you’ll also need to pass rent affordability checks done by the provider (the landlord).
Some shared ownership schemes state that you need a good credit history, but since there’s no single definition of what that means, it’s worth discussing it with any schemes that specify this.
Some people have found that they can get a mortgage for shared ownership, but the landlord declines their application because of credit issues.
Before you consider applying for anything, get to know your credit score and understand how to improve it.
If you want to understand whether shared ownership could work for you, a Habito mortgage adviser can explain your options and the risks involved.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
There are the upfront costs to buy your share of the property and then there are ongoing costs like your rent. Upfront costs include your deposit and all the usual fees that come with getting a mortgage, such as valuation fees and legal fees.
You’d only be liable for stamp duty on the value of the share you’re buying, not the value of the whole property. In England and Northern Ireland, first-time buyers don’t pay stamp duty on the first £300,000 (the first £125,000 for other buyers).
Rent is usually set as a percentage of the share you don’t own. This is often around 2–3% a year, but it varies by landlord and can increase annually in line with your lease.
As well as paying the rent for the share you don’t own, you’re likely to pay monthly ground rent and service charges, to cover maintenance of communal areas like gardens. These can also increase with time.
And if you use a mortgage to buy your share, you’ll be making monthly mortgage payments as well, so be sure you can afford all of this before you apply.
Landlords typically review the rent every year, so your rent could rise but there are set limits on how much rent your landlord can charge you.
Below is a breakdown of costs for a two-bedroom, new-build shared ownership flat in Kent, in May 2025, with a 5% deposit.
Full market value: £253,000
This is an illustrative example only, based on market conditions in May 2025. The rate you’re offered will depend on your circumstances and could be higher or lower.
Monthly costs total: £1,008.
This monthly total is rent plus the service charge plus mortgage payments for a £60,087 mortgage, at 4.9%. There would also be council tax and utility bills to pay, too.
Figures from the estate agency site Rightmove from March 2024 suggest that shared ownership homes sell faster than other types of property – 56 days to sell shared ownership vs 65 for the rest, on average.
Shared ownership resale is possible whether or not you own 100% of the property. But if you don’t own 100%, you’ll need to let the housing provider know you want to sell, and it has the right of “first refusal”, meaning it can buy it back, or find a buyer, who typically needs to buy at least the same share that you had.
If you own the whole thing, you can usually sell it on the open market. There’s also an option to staircase to 100% and sell at the same time, on the open market. Some homes are covered by a “mandatory buyback” meaning the landlord will decide the buyer.
There are some issues that can make a shared ownership home less attractive to buyers. If the remaining lease on your home is too short, it can be tricky to sell or remortgage it. And this can affect the value. So before you buy, make sure you know how much of the lease is left to run.
Lastly, the rising cost of service charges has been controversial recently and the industry has been trialling a code of practice to ensure these charges are both clear and affordable.
Shared ownership works well for many people who’ve struggled to afford their own place, but there are more moving parts to consider and a lot depends on the small print in your lease.
If you’re planning to use a mortgage to buy a share, or you’re not sure what you can afford, it’s a good idea to chat through your options with a broker.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
This content is intended for general guidance and is not a substitute for personalised mortgage advice.
Generally, you can’t rent out a shared ownership property, and your lease will say this. That’s because the whole aim of the scheme is to support those who are struggling to get their own place — it’s not about helping people to become landlords. But some schemes say there may be exceptional circumstances and they’ll consider them case by case.
You might be allowed to let out a room within the property but you’d need to check with your landlord first.
Staircasing allows you to become a property owner in stages by adding to your share of the property over time. Your lease will set out the size of the shares you can buy and over what period. If you buy a share of 5% or more, there will be fees such as valuation fees.
Some schemes cap ownership at, say, 80%, but the lease will make this clear.
A deposit for a shared ownership property purchase is usually 5%-10% of the share you’re buying (not the value of the whole property). This makes it much more affordable than a standard deposit for a home.
Yes, you can get to 100% ownership of a shared ownership property. Once you have 100% of a house, you can typically buy the freehold (check your lease, though). But if you have a flat, you’ll always be a leaseholder.
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