Shared Ownership Eligibility: Who Qualifies?

Shared ownership is the largest affordable home ownership scheme in England, and for buyers priced out of full ownership it can cut the deposit needed from tens of thousands of pounds to a four- or five-figure sum. But its affordability rules are unusual: you are assessed twice, by two different organisations, and your monthly budget has to cover three separate costs — mortgage, rent and service charge.

This guide walks through eligibility, deposits, both affordability assessments, a fully worked monthly-cost example, and the staircasing rules that let you grow your share over time.

How shared ownership works

With shared ownership you buy a share of a property — between 10% and 75% under the newer model leases, while older leases typically start at 25% — and pay a subsidised rent to a housing association (or other provider) on the share you don't own.

Rent on a new home is usually 2.75% a year of the value of the provider's retained share (the limit is 3%, or 2.75% in London), divided into monthly payments. It is reviewed every year, by up to CPI plus 1% on leases granted from 12 October 2023 or RPI plus 0.5% on older ones. On a resale it starts at whatever the previous owner was paying, which can be more after years of increases; our shared ownership rent guide covers both. You take out a normal mortgage, but only on the share you are buying — which is what makes the deposit and income requirements so much lower than buying outright.

You are a leaseholder of the whole property from day one: you live in all of it, you decorate it, and you are responsible for maintaining it, even though you only own a slice. Shared ownership sits alongside the other routes covered in our first-time buyer schemes guide, and it is worth comparing it against them before committing.

Who is eligible

In England you can buy through shared ownership if both of these are true:

• Household income of £80,000 or less (£90,000 in London), gross, with all buyers' incomes counted.
• You can't afford the deposit and mortgage payments for a home that meets your needs on the open market.

One of these must also apply: you are a first-time buyer; you used to own a home but can't afford to buy now; you are forming a new household (for example after a relationship breakdown); you are an existing shared owner moving; or you own a home and want to move but can't afford a suitable one. If you own a home, you need an accepted offer and a memorandum of sale when you apply, and the sale must complete on or before the day you complete your shared ownership purchase. Some homes also need a local connection.

There is no national property price cap in England — unlike the First Homes scheme. The limit is on your income, not on the home's value.

These are England's rules. Wales (Shared Ownership – Wales: £60,000 household income cap, 25–75% initial share, first-time buyers or new households, not existing owners), Scotland and Northern Ireland (Co-Ownership, with a property value limit) run their own schemes.

How much do I need to earn for shared ownership?

There is no national minimum income. The £80,000 (£90,000 in London) figure is a ceiling. The lowest income that works is set by the two affordability checks, so it depends on the price, the share, the rent, the service charge and what else you spend each month.

In these examples it is the housing association's test, not the lender's, that sets the floor. Outside London it takes your take-home pay, deducts your credit commitments, the service charge and the rent projected five years ahead (2.75% of the unsold share becomes about 3.51%, or 3.68% on an older RPI-based lease), and expects the mortgage payment to be no more than about 30% of what is left. On a £300,000 home with a 40% share, that means take-home pay of about £3,020 a month, or a salary of roughly £45,500 for one earner.

Illustration, not a pass mark. A 5% deposit on the share, a repayment mortgage at 5.75% over 25 years, rent at 2.75% a year of the unsold share, a £100 a month service charge and no other credit commitments. Salaries use 2026/27 income tax and National Insurance for one earner in England with no pension contributions. The lender column uses about 4.5 times income after a year's rent and service charge. Rounded up.

Three things move these figures. Credit commitments, such as a car finance payment, come off before the 30% is worked out, so they raise the income needed. After the mortgage, the adviser also deducts your essential spending (council tax, bills, food, travel) and checks you keep the minimum surplus the provider sets, which can push the figure higher. And the mortgage can be more than 30% where the adviser and you agree it is affordable, though the housing association decides.

London uses a different test: the GLA's guide compares total housing costs (mortgage, rent and service charge) with net household income, normally 25% to 40%. Two people buying together have their incomes added, which is why joint buyers often clear the floor on a share one buyer couldn't. To see what lenders could lend on your own figures, use the shared ownership mortgage calculator.

The deposit: a percentage of the share

This is the scheme's biggest affordability lever. Your deposit is typically 5-10% of the share you are buying — not of the full property value.

On a £300,000 home, a buyer purchasing a 40% share (£120,000) needs a deposit of £6,000 at 5% or £12,000 at 10%. Buying the same home outright with a 10% deposit would require £30,000. A Lifetime ISA can be used toward the deposit too, including the 25% government bonus, provided the full property price is within the £450,000 LISA cap. From April 2029 a new First Time Buyer ISA replaces the Lifetime ISA for new savers, with the same £4,000 a year limit and 25% bonus, paid when you withdraw to buy a first home of up to £450,000. Until then you can still open a LISA, and if you already have one you can keep paying into it under the current rules afterwards, though you can pay into only one of the two accounts in any tax year. See our guide to how deposit size affects borrowing for how deposit bands change your mortgage options more generally.

The double affordability check

Shared ownership applicants are assessed twice, and the two checks answer opposite questions.

1. The housing association's assessment. Before you can reserve a home, the provider (or its appointed mortgage adviser) runs an affordability assessment following the Homes England method. Outside London, the adviser starts from your net household income, takes off your credit commitments, the service charge and the rent — projected five years ahead with inflation, not today's figure — and your mortgage payment should then be no more than about 30% of what is left. After everyday essentials there must still be a minimum surplus, which each housing association sets for itself. In London, the GLA's Capital Funding Guide sets the test instead: total housing costs (mortgage, rent and service charge) should normally be between 25% and 40% of net household income, and no more than 40% unless the adviser and lender agree and the housing association approves. Homes England no longer publishes a calculator of its own, so each adviser uses their own tool built on that method. The assessment also works the other way: it checks that you are buying the maximum share you can sensibly afford, so you can't deliberately buy a small share and bank the subsidy if your income supports more.

2. The lender's assessment. Your mortgage lender then runs its own full affordability check on the mortgage for the share you are buying — income, outgoings, credit commitments and stress-tested rates, exactly as with any mortgage. Crucially, lenders count the rent and service charge as committed expenditure, so they directly reduce what you can borrow on the share.

Passing one check does not guarantee passing the other, and lenders differ in how they treat the rent in their calculations — which is why checking several lenders matters here just as much as with a conventional purchase.

Worked example: true monthly costs

The mistake to avoid is budgeting for the mortgage alone. Your real monthly cost has three parts. Here is a 40% share of a £300,000 property in numbers.

Compare that with renting the same property or buying it outright and shared ownership often lands in between: more monthly outlay than the mortgage-only headline suggests, but a fraction of the upfront deposit, and part of every month's payment building equity in your share.

Staircasing to a bigger share

Staircasing is buying additional shares after you move in. Each time you staircase, your mortgage grows (or you pay cash), your rent falls because the provider's retained share shrinks, and at 100% the rent disappears entirely.

• New model leases (used on most schemes since 2021) allow gradual staircasing in steps as small as 1% per year, with reduced fees and a simplified valuation, alongside traditional larger jumps.
• Each staircase needs a valuation — you buy the extra share at the property's market value at that time, not at your original purchase price. Rising markets make staircasing dearer; falling markets make it cheaper.
• Older leases typically require minimum 10% steps and may involve higher transaction costs each time.

If your plan is to staircase quickly, factor the valuation, legal and mortgage costs of each step into your comparison with simply buying a cheaper home outright. Try your own numbers below — the full calculator adds staircasing steps and puts buying outright and renting side by side.

Which lenders do shared ownership

Not every lender offers shared ownership mortgages, but the list is healthy and includes major names. At the time of writing, lenders commonly active in shared ownership include Halifax, Nationwide, Santander, Barclays, Leeds Building Society and Skipton, alongside a number of smaller building societies that specialise in the sector.

They differ on minimum share sizes, maximum loan-to-value on the share, how they treat the rent in affordability, and whether they lend on specific developments. Two lenders looking at the same application can return noticeably different maximum loans — so compare before you reserve a plot, not after.

Watch-outs before you commit

• Service charges count against you. Both affordability checks include them, and they tend to rise over time. A high-charge development can erode the scheme's affordability advantage.
• Budget for the rent to rise. It is reviewed every year, by up to CPI plus 1% or RPI plus 0.5% depending on when the lease was granted, and it rarely falls.
• Resale nomination periods. When you sell, the housing association first has a set time to find a buyer: 4 weeks on the newer leases, usually 8 (12 on some) on older ones. Our guide to selling a shared ownership home covers the rest.
• You repair the whole home. Despite owning a share, you are responsible for maintenance — though on the newer leases the landlord covers essential structural and external repairs for the first 10 years, and you can claim up to £500 a year towards some others.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a property price cap for shared ownership?

No. Unlike the First Homes scheme, shared ownership has no national property price cap in England. The caps that apply are on household income — £80,000 or less (£90,000 in London) — not on the price of the home.

Is there a minimum income for shared ownership?

There is no national minimum income. The lowest income that works depends on the price, the share, the rent, the service charge and your other commitments. The housing association's test usually sets the floor: outside London, the mortgage payment should be no more than about 30% of your take-home pay after credit commitments, the service charge and the rent projected five years ahead. On a £300,000 home with a 40% share, that is take-home pay of about £3,020 a month, roughly a £45,500 salary for one earner, before essential spending and the provider's minimum surplus are checked.

What income counts toward the £80,000 limit?

The limit applies to gross household income — broadly everything the household earns before tax, including salary, self-employed income, and usually regular overtime, bonuses and some benefits. If two of you are buying together, both incomes count toward the £80,000 (£90,000 in London) cap.

Can I staircase to 100% ownership?

Usually, yes — most shared ownership leases allow you to staircase to full ownership, at which point you stop paying rent entirely. Newer model leases also allow gradual staircasing in 1% steps with reduced fees. A minority of leases (for example in some rural protected areas) cap the maximum share, so always check the lease before you buy.

Is shared ownership cheaper than renting?

Often the monthly cost is comparable to or below local market rent, and part of your payment builds equity in your share rather than going entirely to a landlord. But you must compare the full monthly cost — mortgage plus rent plus service charge — not just the mortgage, and remember that as a leaseholder you are responsible for maintenance costs too.

What deposit do I need for shared ownership?

Typically 5-10% of the share you are buying, not of the full property value. For example, a 10% deposit on a 40% share of a £300,000 home is £12,000 — compared with £30,000 for a 10% deposit on the whole property.

Last updated: October 2026