This provides you with an idea of the processes for buying, selling or improving your home.

1. HOW CAN I BUY MORE SHARES?
2. CAN I MAKE ALTERATIONS OR IMPROVEMENTS?
3. HOW DO I SELL MY SHARE?
4. WHAT HAPPENS IF MY CIRCUMSTANCES CHANGE?

This process of increasing your ownership is commonly known as ‘staircasing’.

If you bought your property from new you can “staircase” after 12 months, or 3 months if you bought a property from an existing shared owner. When you buy extra shares your property will be re-valued by an independent surveyor to establish its current market value, excluding your improvements. You must pay for this valuation and we have a number of approved surveyors that you may choose from. The typical cost of this valuation is between £120 - £180.

When you buy more shares your monthly rent payment will decrease. So for example, if you currently own a 50% share and you buy another 25% share your rent will halve.

You don’t have to buy any further shares if you don’t want to or can’t afford it, we are happy for you to stay with your initial percentage. However if you buy more shares the minimum increase is 10% with further increases of 5% until you reach 100% ownership.

The valuation is valid for 3 months from the date the surveyor visits your home – you therefore have 3 months to complete any staircasing before a revaluation is required.

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Yes. However, the Association must approve plans prior to any work being completed.

This work must be carried out by a qualified competent contractor but we will not unreasonably withhold our consent to any work that adds value to your home. As with all major improvements and additions such as Conservatories, loft conversions, installation of new windows or a satellite dish you should seek the approval of your local authority’s planning department and building control section. Once you have their approval you should contact us to sign off your intended works. You should never commence works before you have approval.

Any improvements you make will be disregarded for valuation purposes when you exercise your right to purchase further shares in your home.

If you live in certain areas of our region you may be able to have repairs or improvements carried out by one of our Care & Repair agencies. This will depend on your circumstances and further information can be found by going to our Care and Repair pages.

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You must notify the Association that you wish to sell your property.

If you own the property outright, you can sell as you wish. However you must offer the property to Three Rivers before you place it on the open market. This is for the first 21 years of you owning the property outright. You have an obligation to offer the property back to us but we don’t have to buy the property if, for example, we can’t afford to pay its current market value.

As you own a share in the property you can only sell what you own. The price of your share must be set by an independent qualified valuer as instructed by Three Rivers and this will include any improvements you have made to your home. As with buying more shares you need to pay for the valuation and again the costs are between £120 and £180. We have an obligation to find you a buyer within the first 8 weeks of you agreeing to sell your property. After this date you may market the property on the open market via an estate agent.

Regardless of whoever finds you a suitable buyer the applicant must go through the interview process and meet the current criteria for Shared Ownership to be accepted by the Association.

We currently provide our selling service for free, including a ‘for sale’ board and internet advertising, however you will have to pay our solicitors reasonable costs for the transfer of our lease to the new owners. If you instruct an estate agent than you will also be responsible for paying their fees whilst you must also produce a Home Information Pack, where appropriate.

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For some shared owners circumstances change and you may find that your income from employment decreases or you may even be made redundant/unemployed. If this happens please contact us in confidence to discuss your problems.

For many of our customers there are Benefits that will help people in difficult circumstances and we have a benefits advice service that could also be of assistance.

We also have a voluntary scheme that may enable our current shared owners to reduce the share that they own to an affordable level if they are threatened with repossession or other financial problems. This scheme, called Flexible Tenure, means that we could purchase anything from 10% to all of your share to reduce your monthly outgoings when your circumstances change. If we bought all of your share back you would be able to stay in your home on an assured tenancy at an affordable rent as long as you didn’t breach the terms of your tenancy.

This scheme is also open to customers in properties specifically for people over the age of 55 who need to pay for major repairs and are unable to afford them due to low incomes. Please read the flexible tenure policy for more information.

As this scheme is complicated space does not allow a full explanation of all the terms and conditions and you should contact your Neighborhood Services Officer or Pauline Neave on 0191 375 3729 or Pauline Neave to discuss your circumstances.

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