Once you have lived in your home for a certain period of time as a shared owner, you can buy further shares in your property. This process is known as staircasing, and enables you to own a greater proportion of your home.
The greater the share you buy, the less rent you will pay to Stonewater Homes. If you buy 100% of the shares in your home, you will become an outright homeowner and will no longer need to pay rent.
The main benefit of staircasing is that you will own more of your property and pay less rent. Therefore, you will gain more from any increase in the value of the property as you will be able to build more equity.
In some cases you may also be able to secure a mortgage at a very low interest rate. This could mean that the additional monthly mortgage payment you make to buy additional shares in your home is actually less than the amount of rent you were paying originally. (This is dependent on interest rates and may not remain this way in the future).
You will own your property outright.
You will no longer have to pay any rent to Stonewater Homes, although any service charges as well as ground rent (if applicable) will still have to be paid.
If you wish to sell the property in the future, you will no longer be subject to a nomination period, or buyer restrictions. You may sell your home for as much as you wish and keep the full proceeds of the sale.
If you own a flat, you will still be a leasehold owner, but all of the shared ownership provisions in your lease will fall away. Stonewater Homes will continue to organise the insurance for the building and you will pay for this via your service charge.
If you own a house you will no longer be a leasehold owner and after you complete the final purchase of shares, your lease will end and Stonewater Homes will transfer the freehold of the property to you. This means you don’t have to worry about the lease running out. You will no longer have to pay the buildings insurance portion of your service charge – although you will have to take out your own buildings insurance policy.
The Government have frozen stamp duty on properties below £500,000, so now could be the ideal opportunity to buy further shares in your home.
Find out about staircasingHow does it work?
It really is very simple. You may acquire additional shares in your property at a price equal to the relevant proportion of the current full open market value of the property.
For example: if your property is valued at £200,000 and you want to buy an additional 25% share, the purchase price will be £200,000 x 25% = £50,000.
Contact Stonewater Homes to register your interest in purchasing additional shares. Stonewater Homes will provide you with confirmation that you can staircase, including any minimum share or maximum share you can buy.
Instruct a RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) qualified surveyor to value your home. Make sure that you make them aware of any improvements you have made to the home so that Stonewater Homes are able to take these into account on your offer.
Submit your application form, along with your valuation report and payment of the administration fee to Stonewater Homes for approval. Stonewater Homes will write to you to confirm an offer which states how much you would need to pay to acquire the additional shares in your home.
Once you accept the offer notice, Stonewater Homes will instruct our solicitors to proceed to sell the further shares to you. They will liaise with your solicitor to ensure the process is as efficient as possible.
Congratulations you have staircased!
Upon completion of the transaction your rental amount will be adjusted accordingly.
Contact us to find out more about
buying further shares in your home:
Call: 01454 204035
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