• Home
• About Us
• News
• FAQs
• Links
• Contact

• A to Z of Services >
• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P
• Q
• R
• S
• T
• U
• V
• W
• X
• Y
• Z

Housing

Low Cost Homeownership

Whether you are a council or housing association tenant, key worker or first-time buyer there are a range of schemes available to help you get your foot on the property ladder. Use this guide to work out what schemes may be available to you.

Who is Eligible?

There are many different ways you can get help buying a home if you cannot afford to buy. Each individual scheme will have its own criteria – so check the details of each scheme with your landlord or the relevant HomeBuy agent. You may be eligible if you are:

• a council tenant
  
• a housing association tenant
• those who are on the housing register, waiting for a council or housing association home to rent
  
• a key worker (eg teacher or police officer)
  
• first-time buyers who can’t afford to buy a property, as identified by the Regional Housing Board

Types of Schemes

Discount schemes
These are offered by social landlords (council and housing association tenants) to give their tenants the chance to buy their rented home at a discount, which is calculated according to where you live.

The three main discount schemes are ‘Right to Buy’ for council tenants, ‘Right to Acquire’ for housing associations tenants and the Social HomeBuy scheme. Follow the links below for more information on the schemes.

• The Right to Buy scheme – help to buy your council home
• Right to Acquire - help to buy your housing association home
• Social HomeBuy – help to buy a share of your council or housing association home if your landlord if participating in the scheme

HomeBuy

The HomeBuy scheme, launched in April 2006, enables social tenants, key workers and other priority first time buyers to buy a share of a home and get a first step on the housing ladder.

There are three HomeBuy products based on equity sharing to offer people a choice in the type of home they can buy. These are:

• Social HomeBuy enables tenants of local authorities and housing associations to buy a share in their current home at a discount
  
• New Build HomeBuy enables people to buy a share of a newly built property paying a rent on the remainder (this includes the First Time Buyers Initiative which uses public sector land)
• Open Market HomeBuy enables people to buy a property on the open market with the help of an equity loan

The scheme helps the following priority groups:

• tenants of councils and housing associations, and those who are on the housing register, who are a priority for  a council or housing association home to rent
• Key workers: those working in the public sector in health, education or community safety - such as teachers, nurses and police officers - in areas where high house prices are affecting recruitment and retention. Any assistance will need to be repaid if participants leave qualifying employment
• First time buyers: households who can't afford to buy their own homes, who have been identified as eligible for assistance by the Regional Housing Boards

If you are inetersted in HomeBuy then please click here to go to the Keyhomes East web page.

Ownhome

Ownhome is a new equity loan scheme, under the Open Market Homebuy banner.  It is in addition the above mentioned schemes offered by Keyhomes East.

Please click on the below documents for further information about this scheme.

Ownhome poster - DOWNLOAD

Ownhome Flyer - DOWNLOAD

Ownhome Brochure - DOWNLOAD

SERVICES A-Z

RELATED PAGES

RELATED LINKS