Buying more shares in your home

What is staircasing?

Staircasing is the process of buying additional shares in your Shared Ownership home over time. By staircasing, you gradually increase how much of your home you own - and reduce the rent you pay on the remaining share.

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

Many homeowners choose to staircase gradually over time as their finances change.

You can see all our admin charges here.

How to buy more shares

Step 1 - Create your Stairpay account

Start by creating a free Stairpay account to begin your staircasing application using the form below.

Once signed in, you can check what additional shares you may be able to afford, start your application, upload documents and track your progress from start to finish.

Stairpay will guide you through each step of the process and provide helpful resources along the way.

If the Stairpay widget above doesn’t load, you can still start your staircasing application by visiting Stairpay directly.

Step 2 – Appoint a solicitor

Because you’re purchasing more of your home, you’ll need to instruct a solicitor to handle the legal work on your behalf.

You can choose a solicitor from our approved panel as shown in your Stairpay account, or appoint your own. Your solicitor will then manage the legal process through to completion.

Step 3 – Get an independent RICS valuation

To buy more shares, you’ll need a valuation from a surveyor registered with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). This valuation confirms the current market value of your home and sets the price of the shares you want to buy.

Please note: RICS valuations are usually only valid for three months, so you must complete your purchase within this timeframe.

Stairpay will show you our approved RICS surveyors, or you can choose your own.

Step 4 – Complete affordability checks and upload documents

Stairpay will guide you through all the documents you need to provide, which may include: 

• proof of ID
• proof of address
• your RICS valuation
• a mortgage in principle (if required)
• details of home improvements (optional)

All documents are uploaded securely in Stairpay, so there’s no need to send anything directly to us.

Step 5 – We confirm the cost of your additional shares

Once you’ve completed your application with Stairpay, it will be sent to our team for review. After reviewing your information, we’ll send you:

• the final offer confirming the price of the share you want to purchase
• any fees payable (if applicable) - you can see all our admin charges here
• your estimated completion timeline

Remember, your RICS valuation is only valid for 3 months, so you must complete your purchase within this timeframe.

Step 6 – Legal completion

Your solicitor and our solicitor will progress the transaction.

Once everything is completed, we’ll send you:

• a completion statement confirming your new share
• your updated rent amount (if you’ve not staircased to 100%)

Congratulations – you’ve now successfully staircased and bought more shares in your home!

What's next?

If you’re ready to begin, you can start your application in just a few minutes.

Or, you can continue to explore Stairpay and all of the tools and support they offer, including the Stairpay Academy - a space dedicated to learning more about Shared Ownership.