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Buying more shares in your home

If you already own part of your home through a shared ownership scheme and want to increase your share, then this is possible through a process called 'staircasing'.

Checking the value of your home

There are a few things to consider before you buy more shares. Firstly you'll need to check the approximate value of your home. You can do this by:

Looking at local property papers and local estate agent windows
Looking on the internet, there are lots of sites: www.nethouseprice.co.uk or www.zoopla.co.uk

Once you have an idea of the value of your property, you can calculate how much extra shares might cost. For example: If the property value is £200,000 the cost to purchase a further 50% share is £100,000 and a further 25% share would cost £50,000.

Think about how your monthly payments will change?

If you staircase up to 100% you'll no longer pay rent. If you staircase to less than 100%, there'll still be rent to pay but it'll be reduced depending on the percentage of the property you own.
If you pay a service charge it will remain the same
If you extend your mortgage to buy more shares, your monthly payments will increase.

To see what your new mortgage could be you can use an online mortgage calculator or talk to an Independent Financial Advisor.

Ready to go ahead?

If you have decided that you want to buy more shares in your home, then you need to do the following:

Complete our SC2 form
Our SC2 form allows us to collect the information we need to update our records we hold about your home. Please make sure that you list any improvements that have been made to the property (you may need to provide receipts/invoices for this work at a later stage in the process).

Download our form

Once you’ve filled in the SC2 form you need to return it back to us. You can scan it in and send by email at staircasing@optivo.org.uk or return in the post with a cover letter to:

Optivo – Staircasing & Resales team (first floor)
Grosvenor House (first floor)
125 High Street
Croydon
CR0 9XP

Your home is valued
Once we've received your form we'll contact you to take the admin payment of £240. After we've received this payment we'll then contact a surveyor (RICS qualified) and ask them to contact you to arrange a convenient time to value your home. You will be responsible for paying the valuers fees (the valuer will provide you with the cost details).

Review your valuation report
A copy of the final valuation report will be sent to you to be reviewed. This will also make it clear the price of the shares you wish to buy and confirm what your new monthly rent and service charge payments will be once you have been through the Staircasing process.

Confirm you wish to proceed
We will ask you to confirm you wish to proceed with the Staircasing process by completing and returning a SC6 acceptance form.

You can scan this in and email it to us at staircasing@optivo.org.uk or send in the post with a cover letter to:

Optivo – Staircasing & Resales team
Grosvenor House (first floor)
125 High Street
Croydon
CR0 9XP

Final steps
Once we've received your SC6 form and have given our approval to proceed, it's then a matter of finalising your mortgage offer with your lender. Our Legal Team will then work with your solicitor to complete the process.

Homeowner living in an apartment block?

If you’re planning to change your mortgage, are thinking of selling, or want to buy more shares in your home, you need to consider that many lenders have now made changes to their conditions.

Read our information for homeowners on remortgaging, selling, and staircasing.

What happens when it comes to selling my home?

The process for selling your property is nice and straighforward - find out more about selling your home.

Also in this section:

About Shared Ownership
- What is Shared Ownership?
- Selling your home