Right to Buy Scheme: Housing Associations – Parliamentary Written Answer

Mr Roger Godsiff:  To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether housing association tenants who part-buy their properties under shared ownership will be able to use Right To Buy to purchase either a share or all of that property.

Brandon Lewis: As is the case with the existing Right to Buy, the agreement with housing associations and the National Housing Federation to extend Right to Buy discounts to housing association tenants will not apply to those people who already own a share in their home, including those who purchased their home under shared ownership.

Government Announces New Shared Ownership Criteria

The government has announced it is relaxing the criteria for those who can apply for the shared ownership scheme. This will mean that from April 2016, 175,000 more people will be eligible for homeownership across the country. Thousands across the country could now require a deposit of as little as £1,500 under new the measures, which allows people to part buy and part rent their home. It is part of government plans to help a million more people into homeownership, including investing £4 billion to build an additional 135,000 shared ownership homes. Read more on 24dash.

Shared Home Ownership Scheme To Be Extended By Tories

David Cameron is to announce an easing of the rules of the shared home ownership scheme to allow people to benefit more than once as they move up the property ladder. The prime minister will pledge to end the heavy restrictions on the scheme. In a speech the prime minister will say that the shared ownership scheme will benefit an extra 40,000 people – up from 135,000 to 175,000. He will say that current rules preventing people from benefiting from the scheme to “part-buy, part-rent properties” more than once will be scrapped. The change will mean that as people have children, or their circumstances change, they will be allowed to use the scheme to move up the property ladder. Rules which limited the scheme to key workers will also be scrapped. Read more on the Guardian website.