Selling your Shared Ownership home

Thinking about selling your Shared Ownership home? We’ll guide you through it. This webpage explains what happens, what you’ll need to do, and what to expect at each step.

First, take a look at your lease. It sets out what you can and can’t do when you sell, including any timescales and local rules we need to follow.

Finding a buyer

Our nomination period

In most cases, your lease gives us four weeks to find a buyer for your home (this is called the nomination period). During this time, we’ll market your home and look for buyers who meet the eligibility criteria in our Allocations Policy. If there are any extra local rules, we’ll follow those too.

How we choose a buyer

If more than one eligible buyer is interested, we offer the home on a first come, first served basis.

We go by the date and time we receive a fully completed application. An application is only treated as complete once:

They’ve completed a financial assessment
An independent financial advisor has approved it
We’ve received all the documents we need.

If anything is missing, we’ll need to wait until it’s been provided before we can consider the application in date order.

If local requirements apply, we’ll use first come, first served among the buyers who meet those requirements.

Valuing your home

Shared Ownership resales are sold at full market value. We’ll use an independent valuation from a RICS-registered valuer to set that price.

What you need to know about the valuation

We’ll arrange a visit from the valuer
You’ll need to pay the valuation fee
The valuation is usually valid for three months
If the sale doesn’t complete within that time, you may need to pay for an updated valuation
The valuation could go up or down, depending on the result.

The valuation is based on the condition of your home at the time of the visit. Any improvements you’ve made should be considered. However, if you’re only selling your share, you might not get back the full cost of the work you’ve done or the value they may add to your home.

If you disagree with the valuation

You can ask for the valuation to be reviewed
If we still can’t agree, it can be referred to District Valuer Services (DVS)
You’ll need to pay any DVS fees.

Other things you’ll need before you can sell

You’ll also need a valid Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) before your home can be sold. You’ll need to arrange this and pay the cost.

What a buyer can purchase

They must buy at least the share you own now
They may be able to buy a bigger share at the same time
In some cases, if it’s affordable, they may have to buy a bigger share.

This is worked out as part of the buyer’s financial assessment.

Financial assessment for buyers

Anyone who wants to buy your home will need to complete a financial assessment with one of our approved independent financial advisors.

If they do use them, any mortgage fees are paid by the buyer
It’s free for buyers to do this assessment
The advisor may offer mortgage services, but the buyer doesn’t have to use them.

Our resale fee

If we find a buyer during the nomination period, we’ll charge a resale fee.

This is 1% + VAT of the full market value of your share. If the buyer purchases a larger share at the same time, our fee is still based on the value of the share you owned.

If we don’t find a buyer

If we don’t find a buyer within the four-week nomination period, you can sell your share on the open market using an estate agent. Any special conditions in your lease will still apply. Your agent will need to market your home at the value set by the RICS valuer, and you won’t be able to sell your share for more than that valuation.

Selling 100% of your home (a back-to-back sale)

You can also choose to sell your home outright (100% of the shares) on the open market.

This usually means:

You staircase to full ownership
You sell the home at the same time (this is known as a back-to-back sale)
The buyer pays for the extra equity.

A few important things to know if you’re selling 100%:

You’ll need to pay for the valuation.
You can sell for more or less than the RICS valuation
However, the amount paid for our share must meet the staircasing valuation
The staircasing valuation must still be valid and up to date on the day you complete.

Need help or have questions?

Selling your home can feel like a lot to manage, but you don’t have to do it on your own. If you’re unsure about anything, get in touch and we’ll talk you through the next steps.

Have a
question?

If you have a question about Pathways, take a look at our Pathways FAQs section. If you’d like to talk to a member of our team, email us at pathways@lloydsliving.co.uk or call us on 0345 030 6546 and let us know how we can help.

Pathways FAQs