Remortgaging your Shared Ownership home

When your current mortgage deal is ending, remortgaging could help you:

• switch to a better rate
• reduce your monthly outgoings
• fund home improvements
• buy more shares in your home

Now might be the perfect time to buy more shares

Remortgaging could be the perfect time to buy more shares in your home (also known as staircasing). Many customers use remortgaging as an opportunity to increase their share in their home.

Buying more shares in your home can offer several benefits, including:

• increasing your ownership in your home
• reducing the rent you pay on the remaining share
• building more long-term security in your home
• working towards full ownership, if allowed in your lease

Try our staircasing calculator (provided through our partner Stairpay) to help you understand what you might be able to afford, and how buying more shares could affect your monthly outgoings.

How to remortgage

Step 1 - Check your current mortgage

Look at your current deal, paying particular attention to your interest rate and when it ends.

Step 2 - Find a new mortgage deal

Speak to a lender or mortgage broker to understand how much you could borrow, and what deals are available to you.

Step 3 - Get your documents together

When you request our consent to remortgage (see Step 4 below), you’ll also need to send us:

• a copy of your new mortgage offer
• written confirmation of the value of your home from your new lender
• a statement from your current lender showing your outstanding mortgage balance (if applicable)

Step 4 - Request our consent

As your housing provider, we need to approve your new mortgage. You can request our consent by completing ONE of the following application pathways (please choose the option that best describes your reason for remortgaging):

• buy more shares
• change from joint to sole ownership
• change from sole to joint ownership
• change your mortgage term or interest rate
• remortgage with a new lender
• borrow additional funds for home improvements

Step 5 - We review your application

Once we’ve received your application, we'll review it as quickly as possible – this could take up to 10 working days. Administration fees apply and are payable upfront before any approval can be provided – you can see all of our admin charges here.

What we'll look for in a remortgage request

We cannot consent to any form of mortgage or further advance of charge other than that specified in the lease. This usually means that your new mortgage must, amongst any other criteria detailed in your lease:

• be affordable and from a recognised lender
• not be interest-only or have a very high interest rate
• not exceed the value of the share you own, or will own following the purchase of additional shares
• not include equity release or debt consolidation
• not be taken out in relation to anything other than the first charge lending by the mortgage owner