Shared ownership is often government funded, which means we must comply with Homes England’s Capital Funding Guide and the Greater London Authority’s Capital Funding Guide to allocate and offer our shared ownership homes through a fair and transparent process.
Shared ownership homes are only available to people who can’t buy a home on the open market.
If you’re interested in buying a shared ownership home from us, you must complete an application form on the Hyde New Homes website.
We consider all shared ownership applications in an impartial, equitable and consistent manner. Applicants must meet our eligibility and affordability criteria, and homes are allocated in line with government guidance.
Eligibility
Eligibility criteria may differ, depending on the development and local authority. However, in general, you must:
- Be aged 18 or over
- Be unable to afford to buy a home on the open market
- Have an annual household income less than £80,000 outside of London and less than £90,000 in London
- Pass money laundering and fraud checks.
If you already own, or part-own, a home (either in the UK or abroad) you may still be eligible for shared ownership, but you must sell that home before completing the purchase of your new home. You’ll need to provide us with proof of sale and proceeds.
Affordability
We follow Homes England guidelines to ensure anyone applying for a shared ownership home can afford to buy it, without overstretching themselves financially.
Initial affordability assessment
You must successfully complete an affordability assessment through one of our panel of independent mortgage brokers and advisers. The assessment is free of charge, and you don’t have to arrange a mortgage through the adviser assessing you.
Adverse credit check
Lenders require mortgage applicants to have clean credit histories, so part of the affordability assessment includes a check to see if you have any adverse credit. This check includes but isn’t limited to:
- Missed mortgage or rent payments
- Credit defaults within the previous 12 months
- Whether you have a County Court Judgement against you. Your eligibility won’t be affected if you can provide documentation to show the default has been satisfied
- Individual Voluntary Agreements that have been discharged more than three years before the adverse credit check won’t affect your eligibility
- Repossessions more than three years before the adverse credit check won’t affect your eligibility, if you can provide proof there are no outstanding debt or credit issues.
We reserve the right to decline applications because of adverse credit histories.
Second stage affordability assessment
You must go through a second stage affordability assessment once you’ve received an offer for your shared ownership home. This is a more detailed look at your finances. The independent adviser will complete a budget planner with you, to look at your income and spending. You’ll have to disclose information and documents, including (but not limited to):
- Your passport (if you have one)
- Three months’ of your most recent pay slips, if you’re employed
- Three years’ of tax calculations/SA302s and tax year overviews, if you’re self-employed
- Proof of any other income (eg tax credits, a second job, pension income etc)
- Three months’ of your most recent bank statements
- Proof of address: eg a full UK driving licence, bank statement or utility bill
- Your most recent P60
- Three months’ of your most recent savings account statements (if you have savings)
- Gift letter, if any of your savings have been gifted
- Marriage certificate (if applicable)
- Council tax bill (if applicable)
- Credit report – Experian or Equifax only
This assessment will ensure:
- Mortgage repayments are no more than 30% of your net income, after considering your firm commitments, including the rent and service charge on your new home*
- You have a minimum of 10% of your income remaining after all your expenditure has been accounted for
- That your income is sustainable in the long term
- That you’ll be able to afford any potential rent increases over the next five years.
*You won’t be able to buy a shared ownership home in London if your housing costs are more than 45%, or less than 25%, of your household income.
Mortgage lenders must be a mainstream shared ownership provider. We reserve the right to decline applications from adverse credit lenders.
Cash buyers
- If you want to buy a shared ownership home without a mortgage, you’ll still need to go through the second stage affordability assessment
- We’ll only consider cash purchases of shared ownership homes outside of London if you can’t get a mortgage due to your age, religion, disability or income
- Cash buyers in London will only be approved in exceptional circumstances. We’ll need to obtain authority from the Greater London Authority.
How we allocate shared ownership homes
Shared ownership homes outside of London are allocated on a first come, first served basis to applicants meeting our eligibility criteria. The first person to submit a reservation form for a home will be given the opportunity to reserve a home first.
We date and time stamp hardcopies of reservation forms when we receive them; the date and time of emailed forms are used for reference.
There are some exceptions:
- Shared ownership homes in London may be allocated differently; you should check the criteria before applying.
- The government sometimes prioritises groups or has specific requirements for a scheme (eg armed forces personnel). We’ll let you know if this is the case.
- Some schemes require you to have a local connection to the area if you want to buy a shared ownership home. We’ll let you know if this is the case; you’ll have to state your connection on the reservation form.
Declining applications
We reserve the right to reject your application if you don’t:
- Meet our eligibility criteria
- Meet the requirements of the affordability assessment
- Meet one of more of our shared ownership-related policies
- Provide the required documentation or information
- Disclose key information that would make your application non-compliant with the Capital Funding Guide.
Responsible organisations
The table sets out the organisations responsible for the shared ownership process.
| Application/assessment element | Responsible organisation |
| Applicant eligibility/prioritisation | Hyde |
| Financial assessment and affordability | Independent mortgage broker or adviser |
| Decision to accept or decline an application and at what share level | Hyde |
| Application of specific policies | Hyde |
| Mortgage advice (if requested) | Independent mortgage broker or adviser |
| Complaints regarding application or share decisions | Hyde |
| Complaints regarding mortgage advice | Independent mortgage broker or adviser’s complaint procedure |
This policy should be used with reference to
Homes England Capital Funding Guide
Greater London Authority Capital Funding Guide
Contact us
For further information please contact us on 0345 606 1221.