How do I sell my shared ownership home?

What is shared ownership, and what am I actually selling?

Shared ownership is a scheme where you buy a share of a home and pay rent to a landlord on the share you do not own. GOV.UK puts the share you can buy at between 10% and 75% of the full market value, most commonly between 25% and 75%.

When you sell, you are assigning your lease and your share to a new buyer. You are not selling the whole property unless you have staircased to 100%. Staircasing is the process of buying further shares in your own home, which reduces the rent you pay on the landlord's share.

GOV.UK is clear that if you own 100% of your home you can usually sell it on the open market in the normal way, through an estate agent. Everyone below 100% goes through the process set out below.

What are the steps, in order?

1. 1. Read your lease and find the nomination period

   The nomination period is the length of time your landlord has the exclusive right to find a buyer. Your lease states whether yours is 4, 8 or 12 weeks. Everything else in your timeline hangs off that number, so find it before you do anything else.

2. 2. Get a RICS valuation

   You must get a valuation from a surveyor registered with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and the sale price is based on it. Your landlord may offer a panel of surveyors, and you can normally choose your own instead. You pay for it.

3. 3. Give your landlord formal notice that you want to sell

   This is the moment the clock starts. Send it in writing, keep a dated copy, and ask the landlord to confirm the date the nomination period ends. That date is the one you will be planning around.

4. 4. Let the nomination period run

   During this window the landlord markets your home to its own waiting list of eligible applicants. You cannot instruct an estate agent while it is running. Keep the home viewable and respond quickly to viewing requests, because this is the cheapest route to a sale for you.

5. 5. Instruct your own agent if the window closes without a buyer

   Once the nomination period ends without a sale, you can put the home on the open market through an estate agent of your choosing. Any buyer still normally has to be approved by the landlord and meet the scheme's eligibility rules.

6. 6. Watch the valuation clock

   A RICS valuation report is normally valid for three months. If the home has not sold by then you will usually need a fresh one, at your cost. Diary the expiry date the day you get the report.

7. 7. Assignment, exchange and completion

   Your solicitor deals with the landlord's solicitor to assign the lease to the buyer. The landlord's assignment fee is usually taken from the sale proceeds at completion rather than paid up front.

How long does the nomination period last?

GOV.UK states that the nomination period is 4, 8 or 12 weeks depending on the lease. There is no single national figure, which is why two neighbours in the same block can be given different answers.

What does it cost to sell a shared ownership home?

More than a standard sale, because the landlord charges for its part of the process. The figures below are the typical ranges published by the HomeOwners Alliance, and your lease and landlord decide the exact numbers.

What is normal here, and what needs attention?

• Normal: the nomination period passing with no buyer. Waiting lists move at their own pace and plenty of shared ownership homes sell on the open market afterwards.
• Normal: a valuation that comes in lower than you hoped. The surveyor is valuing the whole property, and your share is a percentage of that figure.
• Normal: the landlord's solicitor being slower than yours. Assignments sit in a queue.
• Needs attention: a landlord that has not confirmed the nomination end date in writing. Without it you cannot plan and you cannot prove when you are free to instruct an agent.
• Needs attention: a valuation approaching three months old with no buyer agreed. Order the re-valuation before it lapses rather than after.
• Needs attention: a buyer who has not yet been through the landlord's eligibility check. Approval is not automatic and it is not yours to give.

How do I keep control of the process?

Judge a buyer by what they have spent, not by what they have said. A shared ownership buyer who has passed the landlord's eligibility check, had their affordability assessed and instructed a solicitor is committed. One who has only viewed twice is not.

Keep your own spending in step with theirs. Line up a conveyancer early, because that costs little and keeps momentum, but hold off on the larger irreversible moves until your buyer is financially in. Around one in four agreed UK sales still falls through, and a shared ownership chain has an extra approval stage in it.

The nomination period is not a delay you have been given. It is a deadline you can plan around, as soon as you know the date it ends.

What should I do first?

Find the nomination period in your lease today, then book the RICS valuation. Those two facts set your whole timeline and both are within your control.

If the nomination period ends without a buyer, you will be choosing an estate agent under time pressure with a valuation already ticking. ValuQ gives UK homeowners free, side-by-side property valuations from competing local estate agents, so you can line up who you would use before you need them, without handing your details to anyone until you choose to.