Buying your bpha rented home

If you hold an intermediate tenancy with us and your home is a Rent to HomeBuy property, you may be able to buy your home.

If you qualify, you will be given advice from our independent mortgage advisors on affordability to buy the home, but should also seek independent advice for the ongoing costs of running and managing the home before deciding to buy.

The purchase price of your home is decided by an Independent Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyor’s (RICS) valuer and your affordability assessment will determine what share of the home you can buy to become a shared owner. If affordable, you may be able to buy 100% of the property.  

Discounts for this product are not allowed. This is because eligible applicants will have already benefited from a subsidised rent which means it is often less than the rent you would expect to pay for a similar property on the open market. This helps tenants to save a deposit to put towards buying the home.

To find out if you and your home qualify, please get in touch.

For properties that were grant funded between 2021 and 2026, some of our social and affordable rent tenants may be able to buy their home and become a shared owner. Both you and the property must be eligible for this scheme.

For you to be eligible, you must:

• Hold an Assured Tenancy or an Assured Shorthold Tenancy for a fixed term of at least 2 years
• Have been a social or affordable housing tenant for at least 3 years
• Not be in arrears or be subject to legal proceedings
• Qualify for shared ownership.

There are some instances where this is not permitted, such as:

• The property is a specialist home
• Legal impediments (for example we cannot offer the required shared ownership lease term)
• Substantial repairs or remediation is required.

Shared ownership is buying a share of your home and paying rent on the share that you do not own. You will go from being a tenant to leaseholder and bpha will remain the landlord. You will be granted a lease in place of your tenancy agreement which will set out the obligations for you and for us. 

The share that you buy will be decided by one of our panel of independant mortgage advisors, they will work with you to discuss affordability and will consider mortgage costs, service charges and the rent you will be paying.

Once you become a shared owner, you can apply to buy further shares (known as staircasing) which will reduce the rent that you pay to us as you build more equity in your home.

To be eligible for Shared Ownership you must:

• Be over 18 years old
• Have a household income of less than £80,000
• Be unable to afford a similar home on the open market
• Meet the requirements of our shared ownership policy.

You can find out more about shared ownership here.

You can find out more about Right to Shared Ownership here.

To find out if you and your home qualify, please get in touch.

Customers who have an assured tenancy may have the Right to Acquire their home. This means they can become the owner of their home and benefit from a discount on the sale price.

The discount is set between £10,000 and £16,000 and the amount can be applied to a qualifying application depending on the location of the property.

To qualify for Right to Acquire you must:

• Live in an eligible property
• Have held an Assured Tenancy for the property for a minimum of 3 years
• Use the property as your main or only residence.

Preserved Right to Buy allows eligible customers to buy their home from us with a discount of up to 50% of the property’s value.

The discount applied considers the property type, location and how long you have been a public sector tenant.

To be eligible for the Preserved Right to Buy, you need to have been a continuous tenant with bpha since being transferred to bpha as a tenant from the local authority. Eligible applicants will hold a Protected Assured Tenancy with us.  

Whilst the principles of this scheme are similar to the Right to buy scheme, there are some differences and as a Housing Association we can only offer the Preserved Right to Buy.

Once you have considered your home buying options, the next step is making sure it’s an affordable option for you. To buy a home, you need to have a deposit, typically from 5% of the value of the property, and it’s possible that you may need a mortgage.

We recommend that you speak with an Independent Mortgage Advisor, who can take you through what’s involved. We have a panel of dedicated advisors who can support you.

You should also know about the costs you may have to pay during the process of buying a home, which can include, but are not limited to:

• Mortgage arrangement fees
• Valuation costs
• Solicitor fees
• Stamp Duty Liability Tax
• Moving costs

Ongoing costs as a homeowner are usually higher than if you are a tenant, so it is also important for you to consider how affordable this will be for you, before deciding to buy a home. This guide from Which? is a really useful read.

When you have considered the costs and affordability of buying a home, you can get in touch with us to find out if you are eligible for any of the Government backed schemes.

For any questions you have about buying more shares in your home, please contact our Homeownership Team.

Call us on 01234 674070 (9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, exc. Bank holidays) or email [email protected]