Home Ownership for People with Long Term Disabilities
Home Ownership for People with Long Term Disabilities (HOLD) works in the same way as New Build HomeBuy, except that it is designed to assist people with a long term disability to purchase a home on the open market, in situations where the affordable housing currently being built in an area by Registered Providers (RPs) is not suitable.
An example of when it would be appropriate to apply for HOLD would be a situation in which your disability may require you to have a single story property, and your local RP may only be making split level apartments.
How the scheme works
Once your application has been accepted, you select a suitable property on the open market, which is then purchased by a participating RP, and sold to you on shared ownership terms. That means that you can purchase a share of the property (of between 25 – 75%), and the RP owns the remaining share. You will need to secure a mortgage to pay for the share that you buy, and pay a nominal rent to the RP on the remaining share.
You can also buy further shares in your home at any stage (in a process known as staircasing), until you own the property outright.
When you sell your home, the property is sold at market value, and you will benefit from any increase in value that has built up on the share that you own.
Eligibility criteria
The eligibility criteria for Home ownership for people with long term disabilities is the same for all of the Agency’s low cost home ownership products. That is, you should be a first time buyer with a total household income of less than £60,000. If you are an existing home owner, however, you may still be eligible to apply if you can demonstrate that your existing property is no longer suitable for your needs. In this situation, the RP will require a nomination from your Local Authority stating that you are in housing need (i.e. setting out the reasons why their existing property is not suitable) For further details see section 1.4.3 of the Affordable Housing Capital Funding Guide..
How to Apply
Your Local HomeBuy Agent will be able to assist you by determining your eligibility (including a headline affordability check to ensure that you can sustain a mortgage long term), and will be able to direct you to specialist RSLs who will be able to assist you through the process of purchasing a home on the open market.
Last updated: 24 June 2010