Guide to selling your Shared Ownership home

Quick links

• Notice of sale
• Valuing your home
• Marketing your home
• Accepting a purchaser
• The sales process
• Completion of the sale
• Cost and fees
• Frequently asked questions

You will be asked to complete and return the notice of sale form,this can be returned via email to assignments@amplius.co.uk. The form will need to be signed by all parties named on the Shared Ownership Lease, along with a copy of your RICS Open Market Valuation report and your upfront part payment of £100 towards the administration fee payable for selling your home.

You will need to arrange and provide a RICS Open Market Valuation Report confirming the current value of your home. This must be undertaken by a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), and you will be responsible for covering the cost of the valuation report. You can find a range of surveyors at www.ricsfirms.com. This valuation report is valid for an initial period of three months, we will agree to extend the valuation up to a maximum period of 6 months, if required to allow time for the sale of your home to complete (9 months from original date of issue).

Your purchaser may wish to purchase a greater share than you own or to purchase the property outright on a freehold basis, should your lease allow. In these circumstances a ‘back-to-back’ staircasing sale will be undertaken to allow you to sell a higher share. The RICS Valuation will be used to confirm the staircasing premium due to Amplius.

If your purchaser wishes to buy a higher share than you own, and the sale takes longer than nine months to complete, we may at our discretion, refer to your purchasers Mortgage Valuation to determine the premium due to Amplius, alternatively, an updated valuation report may be required and you will be liable to cover any additional cost.

Please note the valuation must include the below points:

• Provide evidence of comparable property sales
• The term of your lease and remaining years
• The market value of the property with any improvements you may have conducted since you initially purchased (Please note general improvements and upgrades, including decorating, flooring, landscaping etc. will not be taken into consideration)
• The market value without improvements
• Any restrictions relating to your lease for example Designated protected area lease or staircasing restrictions
• The current percentage you own.

There are fees due to Amplius upon the sale of your home which are detailed within your lease in which we will confirm to you.

To assist you in selling your home Amplius may agree to waiver the nomination period stipulated within your Lease. Allowing for your chosen Estate Agent to target a wider buying audience, advertising your share for sale along with promoting that further shares can be purchased including the Freehold should your lease allow (we will be able to confirm this prior to you marketing your home. We may be unable to waive the nomination period if your home is situated in an area with Low Affordable Home Ownership properties.

We will provide all the below required information to your Estate Agent to support the marketing of your home:

• Important Information for Shared Ownership Buyers – resales
• Guide to Shared Ownership
• Your guide to purchasing a pre loved Shared Ownership home
• Key Information Document 1 (KID1)
• Shared Ownership Application Form & Local Connection Form (if applicable)

The Estate Agent should inform
potential buyers of the following:

• The remaining term of the lease Any qualifying age criteria within the Lease
• The cost of the ongoing monthly rent including Buildings Insurance, Management Fees, and any service charge payments. (if purchasing shared ownership)
• The cost of the ongoing Management Fees and service charge payments. (if purchasing outright and the property has associated communal areas).

Please note under current Government legislation, you will also need to organise an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) prior to the property being marketed. Please ensure to speak with your estate agent regarding this. This will need to be instructed by yourself or your chosen Estate agent and carried out prior to the marketing of your home.

You must ensure to inform your estate agents If your lease has restrictions i.e staircasing. We will inform you if any restrictions apply.

All potential purchasers will be required to complete and submit an application form to Amplius via the estate agent; this is to confirm that they meet the affordability and eligibility criteria for Shared Ownership. The completed application form and documents will be assessed and Amplius will notify your estate agent of the outcome. Should we receive more than one application, these will be assessed in accordance with Amplius First Come First Serve policy.

All applicants will be assessed in line with Homes England Capital Funding Guide (CFG), Amplius Minimum Surplus Income Policy, and First Come First Served Policy. All applicants applying for Shared Ownership will be required to undertake a Financial Assessment with an Independent Financial Advisor who will determine their financial position and what share is affordable to them. In any instances where an applicant does not meet the requirements of the Minimum Surplus Income Policy and Regulator eligibility requirements, we will be unable to proceed with their application and will inform the estate agents of this outcome.

As you are aware Amplius may agree to waiver the nomination period within your lease, allowing you to sell your property on the open market at a price above, below or the same as the RICS Valuation. In these instances if your home is sold outright (should your lease allow), you will be liable to pay back to Amplius the open market valuation amount for the equity in our ownership. For example: you own a 50% share, and your home is valued at £200,000. Your share is worth £100,000 and our share is worth £100,000. You would be liable to pay back to Amplius £100,000 for our 50% share in the property. This is dealt with as one transaction by the solicitors acting on the sale.
NB: if your Valuation Report includes improvement works you have undertaken, then you would pay back to Amplius the amount for our share based on the figure 'without improvement works'.

If you secure a purchaser for the freehold interest in your home (should your lease allow), then they will not be required to complete a Shared Ownership application form and we would only require a copy of the Memorandum of Sale from your estate agent to allow for solicitors to be instructed. If your home is sold outright, there may still be ongoing service charges payable after the sale completes. We will notify your estate agent of these at the time to inform your purchaser of all ongoing costs.

Your purchaser will be required to pay a reservation fee to Amplius to confirm their intention to buy your home, this will not apply if your purchaser is purchasing the freehold.

Once a purchaser has been accepted, you will both be required to instruct a solicitor to act on your behalf.

Your estate agent will provide all parties with a Memorandum of Sale confirming the sales details, this is then used to instruct solicitors, so please ensure your estate agent provides this at the earliest opportunity to avoid any delays.

Amplius will instruct our own solicitors to act as an administrator on your sale. Once our solicitor is instructed, we will work with them throughout the conveyancing process and provide them with the required information, ensuring legal documents are completed and signed correctly. Solicitors acting on behalf of both you and your purchaser will have their own obligations to complete throughout the conveyancing process.

We would request that you keep in regular contact with your solicitors to obtain updates. The legal process can take around 12 - 16 weeks to complete, please note this can vary on a case to case basis.

Under the terms of your Shared Ownership lease, there are several fees which will be required:

• The RICS valuation fee
• Your estate agent's fees
• Your legal costs
• Amplius’s legal fees – as detailed within the lease
• Amplius's administration fee* as detailed within the lease, this is normally set a 1% of the current share value at the time of the sale (*A £100 non-refundable deposit is due upfront when placing your property on the market).

Please ensure prior to incurring any costs, that you are committed to selling your home before proceeding as these costs are non-refundable.

If you own a house and staircase to 100 percent ownership, you'd no longer be a leaseholder and would become the ‘freeholder’ and own the home outright.

You wouldn’t need to pay a rent to us, but you may still have to pay a service charge. If applicable, this could be to cover the costs and upkeep of external shared communal areas. Any ongoing costs would be confirmed to you prior to you deciding to proceed. As you'd be the freeholder, all restrictions of the lease would fall away and you can carry out any improvements to the property and when the time comes, sell your home on the open market to a purchaser of your choice, benefiting from the full sales proceeds. You'd also be responsible for providing both buildings and contents insurance for your home.

If you own an apartment and staircase to 100 percent ownership, you'd be purchasing the full leasehold interest. However, the terms and conditions relating to the Shared Ownership lease would no longer be applicable.

You'd still be liable to pay a service charge to us for the upkeep of internal and external communal areas and we'd continue to arrange buildings insurance cover for your home. You'd need to arrange your own contents insurance.

If you live in a rural location and your lease is a ‘Designated Protected Area lease’, you're able to buy the 100 percent leasehold interest in your home, but not the freehold, which is retained by us. Under the terms of your lease, there's a ‘Buy Back Clause’. This means that once you staircase above 80 percent ownership in your home, and wish to sell in the future, we'll have to buy the property back from you. We'll then sell this on a Shared Ownership basis, ensuring affordable homes remain available in rural areas. If you hold a ‘Designated Protected Area lease’ we'll provide further information to you to help you through the process.