Selling a property purchased through a Help to Buy scheme

There are different ways to purchase using the Help to Buy scheme and depending on which scheme that you have used will determine the process if you need to sell.

If you purchased your home with an Equity Loan

You can sell your home at any time and when you do so the Equity Loan and mortgage will need to be repaid on the completion of the sale.

You will need to contact the National Post Sales Agency, who will appoint an independent valuer who will decide what your property is worth.

You can then sell the property on the open market at the price agreed by the independent value. The agency will not agree to release the property for any less than the market valuation price.

When you sell the property, you will need to repay the value of the loan as a percentage of the final sale price. If the property is sold above the market value, then you will need to repay the percentage of the actual sale price.

If you are selling your current home, you will need to complete this sale before you will be able to secure another Help to Buy Equity loan if they are available.

Selling a Shared ownership property

If you wish to sell your home under the shared ownership, you must first notify your Housing Association (HA) or Registered Provider (RP) and they will talk you through the sale process.

You will need to pay for a valuation to be undertaken by an approved surveyor and your HA or RP will be able to provide you with a list of qualified surveyors.

You cannot market the property on the open market until you have gone through a ‘Nomination period’ where the HA or RP will seek to find a buyer from their waiting list of prospective buyers who are looking for a resale home. The price from the valuation report will be used as the market value.

If this process does not find a suitable buyer, the HA or RP will confirm the sale value with you and then you can market the property through an Estate Agent on the open market.  You can sell the property for the valuation report or more but cannot sell it for less, unless you are able to cover the shortfall in value.

If you are selling on the open market you can either sell your share for the full value of the property. If you only own a share but want to sell 100% you have the option to do ‘back-to-back’ or simultaneous staircasing where you purchase and immediately sell the remaining share of the property that you don’t yet own on the completion of the sale.