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Are you eligible for a Shared Ownership home?
Whether or not you qualify for a Shared Ownership home – often called your ‘eligibility’ – is dependent on three separate factors.
Completing an application with Bromford is the only way to confirm that you are eligible to buy one of our Shared Ownership homes. However, the following provides details of the minimum eligibility requirements.
You are eligible to buy a home through Shared Ownership if the following apply:
- Your household income is £80,000 a year or less (£90,000 a year or less in London).
- You cannot afford all of the deposit and mortgage payments for a home that meets your needs.
- You do not own a property, or part of a property, at time of completing your purchase.
- You have good credit history - see affordability below.
- Have funds for a deposit and costs of buying a home.
- Are over the age of 18.
What are the three eligibility factors?
This is defined by the government. You need to meet the general eligibility criteria to be accepted for any Shared Ownership scheme.
We follow the Homes England guidelines on First come, first served and surplus income. You can find out more on these here.
Local Authorities sometimes set their own rules in terms of allocating homes, prioritising people who, for example, already live or work in the area. This can affect whether or not we’re able to offer you a home.
Affordability is different for everyone, and depends on your income, financial commitments and the value of the home you are looking to buy. In most cases, the housing costs of mortgage, rent and service charge should be no more than 40% of your net take home pay. If you can afford a larger share than the one being sold you will be expected to buy the larger share.
- To be approved for a Shared Ownership home with Bromford you need to be financially assessed by one of our qualified mortgage advisor/financial advisors to ensure your purchase is affordable and sustainable. We cannot approve your purchase from any other source.
What does affordability mean?
This means each of the following statements are true:
- I have not been declared bankrupt within the last 6 years,
- I do not have an unsatisfied County Court Judgement (CCJ) registered against my name,
- I am not in arrears with any tenancy payments or mortgage repayments,
- I do not have any active Individual Voluntary Credit Agreements in place,
- I have not had a home repossessed in the last 5 years.
Affordability calculator
How much could you afford to borrow with Shared Ownership? Explore our affordability calculator for a rough affordability guide.
