Residential policy
Availability
We offer shared ownership mortgages for capital and interest purchase and remortgage applications in England and Wales up to 95% LTV of the customer’s share (which must be 25% or more, and for a purchase must be no more than 75%). The maximum loan to income is 4.49x.
Our usual property criteria including for flats apply, but with a few differences: new build houses and flats are acceptable up to 95% LTV, we don’t cap the LTV for flats based on storey height, and we won’t lend on office or ex-local authority conversions.
Purchases
New build cash incentives are acceptable subject to our usual deposit policy, but the customer must still provide a minimum 5% deposit themselves. It’s okay if this is from a family gift.
Remortgages
We do not accept remortgage applications unless a customer is purchasing an additional share to take their ownership of the property to 100%.
Lease
- The landlord must be a registered provider of social housing and the lease must be a 2015 (or later) Homes England model lease or Welsh Government model lease containing the Mortgage Protection Clause and the right to staircase to 100% without any obligation to increase their share
- Section 106 restrictions on ownership are acceptable if they apply only to the initial sale and are dis-applied to any future sale
- The following pre-emption/nomination rights are acceptable: The sale price under the pre-emption right must be at the open market value. The proceeds of the sale must be payable to the vendor on completion of the sale. The owner of the property must have the right to assign the lease free of any nomination right or sale restriction if either the landlord fails to nominate a buyer or exchange of contracts does not take place within six months of the intention to sell being provided by the owner
Existing customers
Additional borrowing is usually only available for staircasing (minimum 5%), subject to current lending criteria. A conveyancer will need to be instructed. In exceptional circumstances additional borrowing can also be considered for essential repairs to the mortgaged property.
The housing association must give consent for a product transfer, change of term, consent to let or for additional borrowing.