If you can’t quite afford the mortgage on 100% of a home, Help to Buy: Shared Ownership offers you the chance to buy a share of your home (between 25% and 75% of the home’s value) and pay rent on the remaining share. Later on, you could buy bigger shares when you can afford to.

You could buy a home through Help to Buy: Shared Ownership in England if:

• your household earns £80,000 a year or less outside London, or your household earns £90,000 a year or less in London
• you are a first-time buyer, you used to own a home but can’t afford to buy one now or are an existing shared owner looking to move.

With Help to Buy: Shared Ownership you can buy a newly built home or an existing one through resale programmes from housing associations. You’ll need to take out a mortgage to pay for your share of the home’s purchase price, or fund this through your savings. Shared Ownership properties are always leasehold.

Only military personnel will be given priority over other groups through government funded shared ownership schemes. However, councils with their own shared ownership home-building programmes may have some priority groups, based on local housing needs.

With a Help to Buy: Equity Loan the Government lends you up to 20% of the cost of your newly built home, so you’ll only need a 5% cash deposit and a 75% mortgage to make up the rest.

You won’t be charged loan fees on the 20% loan for the first five years of owning your home.

Example: for a home with a £200,000 price tag

If the home in the example above sold for £210,000, you’d get £168,000 (80%, from your mortgage and the cash deposit) and you’d pay back £42,000 on the loan (20%). You’d need to pay off your mortgage with your share of the money.

For more information (including advice on fees and paying back your loan) please download our Help to Buy buyers’ guide.

London Help to Buy

To reflect the current property prices in London, from February 2016 the Government is increasing the upper limit for the equity loan it gives new home-buyers within Greater London from 20% to 40%.

If you are looking to buy a new home in a London borough, find out more about London Help to Buy

A high percentage of lenders require that you already own your own home, in addition to this they may also require that you earn at least £25,000pa from a source not related to property, but this does differ between lenders. A deposit of normally around 25% of the property value would be required by most lenders.

Any property can be let out, however there are some lender specific rules surrounding leasehold properties and flats/apartments above or next to any commercial properties. You would need to speak with your jem mortgage advisor to discuss this.

You can do your own research or you can engage a letting agent, however the lender will also do their own valuation which covers the value of the property and the rental income they believe is sustainable.

This is possible but it is best to speak to a jem mortgage advisor who can look at your individual circumstances and run through your options.

As a landlord you would be taxed on the rental income you receive in line with your personal income tax liabilities/rates. We recommend you speak to an accountant before purchasing your first property.

A property is classed as an HMO if there are more than three tenants living there who are not members of the same family. Another indication is if there are shared facilities i.e. kitchen, bathroom, toilet etc. Your choice of lenders may be limited if you intend renting your property as an HMO but your mortgage advisor will go through this with you. We also advise you speak to your local council as there may be specific rules in place in your area.

Under standard BTL rules lenders restrict letting to a family member as a condition of your mortgage, however there are specific mortgages available for this. You would need to speak to your jem mortgage advisor for more information.

If you intend to let the property the answer is no, you have to apply for a BTL mortgage.