Shared ownership is a form of tenure virtually unique to the housing association movement.  In simple terms, sharing owners buy a share in their home, usually 25% or 50%.  Most sharing owners raise a mortgage from a bank or building society just as if they were buying a home in the normal way.

The housing association owns the remaining share.  The sharing owner pays rent on this remaining share to the Association.

For example, if you were the sharing owner of a flat valued at £50,000 and you bought a 25% share you would pay a mortgage of £12,500 to the bank or building society.  You would also pay 75% of the rent that would normally be charged on the property to us.

Sharing owners can buy further shares in the property until outright ownership is achieved but are under no obligation to do so.  Similarly, the sharing owner can decide to advertise and sell their share on the open market.