This is a follow up to a written by the media centre at UploadAproperty a for sale by owner website, so we will only briefly run over the main points offer various shared ownership schemes.

The idea of the scheme is to make the purchasing a property more affordable and to allow the first time buyer to achieve that first step on the property ladder, all the various shared ownership schemes are the initiative of the Government under the umbrella of Homebuy, Homebuy was initially designed to help around 10,000 people to get on the first run of the housing ladder this in turn will also help participating house builder by enabling them to sell there property to first time buyers, Homebuy has a budget of around £300m from local Government and communities funding.

Homebuy and the shared ownership schemes are run mainly by locally established Housing associations and geared towards those who can not afford to purchase a property without assistance, usually the housing association will have a number of properties on there books to which potential buyers who are eligible can view and if interested can put an offer in to buy, the buyer can then apply to purchase up to 75% of that property's value, the buyer will then be required to pay rent on the outstanding percentage of the final purchase price. In some situations they will allow a buyer to purchase a property they found through an agent or a for sale by owner site, in these cases the property will only be accepted onto the scheme after it has been proven to meet the necessary criteria i.e.: surveyors report.

Remember these schemes are targeted towards those have no other way to purchase a property applicants are usually those who are in housing need and priority given to those on the particular housing association list or for those in the housing associations local authority. The shared ownership scheme can be fill bureaucracy which can make it a drawn out process but rewarding when the buyer finally exchanges contracts.

When the time comes to move on the property would usually sell in one of two ways, first port of call would be to sell your percentage of the property back to the housing association which they will then re-advertise to others on the Homebuy scheme, or you could market the property yourself through an agent or a sale by owner site.

Maintenance and repairs are normally the responsibility of the occupier to that property, even though the occupier only own a share in a property it is normal practice for the lease to state that all future maintenance and repair to the property are the responsibility of the occupier.

This is just a brief look at the Homebuy scheme, for a more in depth article on the various the types of Homebuy schemes that are available go to our for sale by owner site and read the shared ownership article.