Shared Ownership House(Leasehold) to Freehold once 100% shares are purchased

guysl80

Dear all,

 I recently viewed a 2 bed House which is under the shared ownership scheme. Need to buy 66% shares of the property which is affordable for us. The agent told us that if we can staircase upto 100% the Leasehold will be converted to a Freehold. 
Does that mean there will be NO lease for the property once we purchase the Full Shares automatically? Or do we still need to pay some amount of money to the Council to get the Freehold Status?

What does usually happens when we buy 100% shares of a HOUSE? The lease left for the House is 96 years.

Thanks in advance

eddddy

It's up to each Housing Association to decide the rules of what happens when you staircase to 100%

But there are some Housing Associations who will give you the freehold of a house 'for free', once you have staircased to 100% (but you'd probably have to pay solicitors fees etc)  But some Housing Associations might not.


If you go to the website of the specific Housing Association, it might mention their rules. (But your solicitor would check this stuff in detail, if you decided to buy.)

guysl80

Thank you for the info. The agent responsible for the property agreed to help on this matter and find out the procedure after reaching the 100%.

newbuildbudget

It’s definitely up to the HA. My sister in law bought a shared ownership house 3 years ago and just staircased to 100%, but the HA wouldn’t sell the freehold despite being told they would when she first bought the house. So she now owns it fully as a leasehold. This was because all the houses on her road are to stay as affordable housing if they are ever sold. 

However the HA said they will buy back at market value should they ever choose to sell.