Your Shared Ownership home is just that – jointly owned between you and us, so when you’re ready to sell and move on, we’re here to help.
As part of your lease, we have four weeks to help sell your share to someone looking for home like yours with Shared Ownership.
During these four weeks, we’ll advertise your home on our website and the Share to Buy website to help find you a buyer. If after this time we haven’t found a buyer for your share, we’ll still market your home – but you’ll also be able to market your share, either yourself or through an estate agent of your choice.
To help you understand what a typical Shared Ownership sale might look like, we've put together some simple steps below to selling your shared ownership home:
01. Getting ready to sell
So that we can advertise your property on our website and the Share to Buy website we’ll need the following information and documents:
- Energy Performance Certificate
We require a copy of the current EPC for your home - RICS Valuation
A copy of the current up-to-date RICS valuation - Photos of your home
We've put together a quick guide to getting great photos here - Property Listing Form
You can download the form here - Consent from joint owner if applicable
We need confirmation in writing that they also wish to sell - Evidence of any name change if applicable
e.g. Marriage Certificate/Deed Poll
Once you have gathered the above, please email this over to resales@sovereign.org.uk
02. Property Checks
Once we’ve received all the information to advertise your home, our team will need to do a few checks. These checks can take up to 10 working days and include:
- Remaining time on lease
- Local connection and requirements
- Staircasing restrictions
As soon as these are done, we will email you to confirm we have everything we need to market your property.
03. Advertising your home
Our marketing team will get your property listed on our website and the Share to Buy website so that home hunters in your area will see your home listed in their searches. We’ll send you the link to your listing as soon as it's ready to view!
04. Arranging viewings
You know your home better than anyone else. To make it easier for you, interested potential buyers will contact you directly so you can arrange a convenient date and time to show them around your home.
05. Found a buyer
Great news, you’ve found a buyer! The first step they will need to take is to register with Share to Buy and complete a financial assessment with one of our Independent Financial Advisers to make sure Shared Ownership is right for them. The steps that your buyer will need to take to apply for your home can all be found here.
Still have questions?
We've answered below some of our most Frequently Asked Questions. If you'd like to discuss anything further you can contact the Resales team on resales@sovereign.org.uk or 0300 330 0718
FAQs
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is the UK’s leading professional body for qualifications and standards in land and property.
To sell your home you will need to instruct and pay for a RICS Valuation which is used to determine whether the value of your share has changed since you bought the property, and therefore defines the price your share needs to be sold at.
In accordance with your lease you cannot sell your share for more than the RICS valuation.
How do I get a RICS valuation?
You can search for a local RICS qualified surveyor on the RICS website www.ricsfirms.com.
How long will a RICS valuation last?
The valuation must not be more than three months old. Should the sale not complete within three months you’ll need to update your valuation. We suggest asking your surveyor whether they’ll issue updates to the valuation report every three months for little or no cost.
Before we can market your home, we’ll need to check your lease and any planning documents to find out if there’s any requirements which affect your sale.
This could be making sure any future buyer has a Local Connection to the area or is approved/nominated by your Local Authority.
We’ll also check to see how long is left on your Lease and if there are any equity restrictions which may affect someone’s decision to purchase or ability to obtain a mortgage on the property.
When your advert goes live, we’ll let you know so you can see a copy of your finished advert on our website and Help to Buy.
Sovereign will charge a maximum of 1% of the value of your share if we nominate a buyer. This fee is indicated in your shared ownership lease. You can read more about the fees structure here for if you decide to sell your home through an agent.