HomeBuy
Buying a home with HomeBuy
HomeBuy enables social tenants, key workers and first-time buyers to buy a share of a home and get onto the housing ladder.
Homebuy is the government’s low cost home ownership scheme. For many people, HomeBuy provides the best opportunity to own a home in the area in which they want to live and work.
There are five HomeBuy products to choose from:
- New Build HomeBuy – you share ownership of your home with a housing association, paying a mortgage on the part you own plus affordable rent on the portion you don’t own
- Open Market HomeBuy – you take out a conventional mortgage to fund part of your property purchase and a low-interest equity loan to cover the rest
- Social HomeBuy – housing association and local authority tenants buy their home on a shared ownership basis or outright, with a discount on the share being purchased
- HomeBuy Direct – you buy a selected New Build HomeBuy property with the assistance of an equity loan
- Rent to HomeBuy – you pay reduced rent on a new build home for up to five years, to help you save for a deposit and purchase the property.
- Home Ownership for People with Long Term Disabilities - 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
- Shared Ownership for the Elderly - this scheme is basically the same as new Build HomeBuy, and is only for people aged 55 or over.
How to participate in HomeBuy
If you are unable to purchase a property on the open market without assistance, you may be eligible for one of the HomeBuy products. Please contact your local HomeBuy agent to find out whether you are eligible and if so, which product is most suitable for you.
Equality impact assessment template - stage one – equality screening - Word (79KB)
Other schemes
Housing association and local authority tenants also have access to the following schemes for buying the home they live in:
- Right to Acquire - for housing association tenants
- Right to Buy or Preserved Right to Buy – for local authority tenants or tenants who have been transferred from a local authority to a housing association.
If you are a social rented tenant, you should contact your landlord to see if you may be eligible for one of these schemes.
Last updated: 19 January 2010