Buying Guide

Shared ownership is another way to buy a home. You buy a percentage of the home, either with a mortgage and deposit or a cash share.

The housing association owns the part of the home you don't buy and you pay rent to them on their remaining share value at 2.75%.

Properties are leasehold on a term of 990 years.

You can also carry on buying shares in the future, depending on affordability you can staircase and own the property outright at 100%. 

Who can apply for Shared Ownership?

• First time buyers

• Over 55's 

• Recently separated

• Used to own home but cannot afford one now 

• Existing shared ownership owner looking to move

• MOD serving or recently served in the last 2 years 

• Own a home, want to move but cannot afford home that meets your needs on the open market

• Combined income below £80,000

Rent to Buy allows you to rent a home whilst saving for a deposit to purchase the home at a later time. Rent is set at 80% of the market value, helping you save the remaining 20% towards your deposit. The Rent to Buy scheme runs for 5 years and tenancies are on a an assured shorthold tenancy agreement. 

“The Rent to Buy scheme is perfect for people like us. We’ve been renting for years, but you just feel like you’re paying for someone else’s house, but now we’re working towards buying the place we are living in.”

Mr Nyoni - Rent to Buy resident at Artifex

Next Steps -  How to apply for a property?

To reserve a Willo Homes property on the Rent to Buy scheme all you need to do is follow these five simple steps:

1. Rent to Buy Application Form – Simply request the form, complete and return it to us.

2. Affordability Assessment – We will use an affordability calculator to work out the percentage of your income you will be using for housing costs.

3. Documents – Required to provide:    • Photographic ID   • Last three months’ payslips   • Savings account required for future saving of deposit    • Last 3 months bank statements for all accounts   • Proof of current address

4. Reservation - Once our sales advisor is happy that all information has been supplied and all criteria satisfied, you can reserve the apartment by paying a holding fee of £50.00 which is deducted from the rent on sign up. We will then carry out a tenancy reference check.

5. Move in - Once we have received confirmation that your tenant referencing and credit checks are satisfactory, a sales advisor will contact you to arrange a date to start the tenancy. Prior to the tenancy signing we will require a rent payment in advance and one month’s rent upfront as a security deposit held by DPS. 

Speak to the Willo Homes team for further information.

Open market sale is simply were you buy a home from us outright via traditional sale using either a mortgage or cash.

Please contact the team for further information on any market sale properties that are available.