Affordable housing schemes

With as little as a 5% deposit, your client can buy a property with an Equity Shareholder (eg Builder, Local Authority, Housing Association) who can provide a deposit of up to 50%, secured by way of a second charge.

What you need to know:

• Your client needs a minimum deposit of 5% of the full purchase price of the property, this must come from either the applicant's own resources, a gift from family or friends, or a combination of these.
• The Equity Shareholder provides a loan of up to 50% secured by a second charge on the mortgage. More information on Equity Shareholders we accept can be found under Lending Criteria.
• LTV is based on the open market valuation of the property, not your client's share.
• There mustn’t be a requirement to repay the loan within five years. Also, interest must not be charged during this period.
• Includes Equity Share Loan schemes such as Help to Buy England/Scotland/Wales.
• Your client’s mortgage term can’t extend beyond the date that the repayment of the Equity Loan first becomes due.

For more information about the Equity Share Loan scheme, read our Equity Share Loan lending criteria.

Customer applications for Help to Buy loans in Scotland closed on 31 March 2021.

Customer applications for Help to Buy loans in England closed on 31 October 2022. The deadline for completion is 31 May 2023.

Help to Buy in Wales has been extended to 2025.

Check our New Build hub to see how we support the scheme, or the Welsh Government guidance for full eligibility and application details.

For more information about the Equity Share Loan scheme, read our Equity Share Loan lending criteria.

The Forces Help to Buy (FHTB) scheme was introduced in April 2014 to allow service personnel to borrow an interest-free loan of up to 50% of their salary (to a limit of £25,000) which they can then use towards their deposit.

What you need to know:

• The loan is paid back over ten years through their monthly salary.
• This is intended to help more serving men and women buy their first home or buy a new home if they're assigned elsewhere. 
• Forces Help to Buy can be used in conjunction with a Help to Buy Equity Loan or a Shared Ownership scheme. The loan does not count towards the minimum deposit requirements.
• Forces Help to Buy can't be combined with Genuine Bargain Price, Right to Buy or Restricted Resale Price.
• A maximum of two FHTB loans can be used per application.
• To find out more about our Forces Help to Buy criteria, read our Lending Criteria

Find out more about the scheme on the gov.uk website.

Please note: The Land Registry must show the legal owner of the security property to be the Shared Ownership provider. A case will not be able to complete unless this is the case.

Using this scheme, your client can buy a share in a property under a lease, usually from a registered social landlord (Housing Association or Local Authority), who will own the remaining share.

What you need to know:

• Your client must purchase at least a 25% share of the property.
• We’ll lend up to 90% for your client to purchase their initial share.
• Your client will normally pay rent on the remaining share of the property to the other shareholder.
• When assessing affordability, the shared ownership rental figure must be included as a monthly outgoing.
• Shared Ownership mortgages are available on all of our standard products.
• We’ll consider Shared Ownership leases when staircasing is capped (eg if the maximum share a client can own is limited to 80%).

Example based on a 75/25 split (25% owned by shared ownership landlord)

• Full price/value of £100,000
• Amount retained by shared ownership landlord £25,000
• Price/value of the share £75,000
• Maximum loan available £67,500 (90% of £75,000)
• Minimum deposit of 10% required – 10% is £7,500

For more information about our Shared Ownership scheme, read our Shared Ownership lending criteria.

If your client is a tenant of a local authority property, they could purchase the property with a Right to Buy Purchase.

What you need to know:

• We can lend up to 100% of the discounted purchase price.
• We can also lend additional amounts for home improvements and up to £500 for legal fees.
• Debt consolidation isn’t available on Right to Buy properties.

For more information about the Right to Buy Purchase scheme, read our Right to Buy Purchase lending criteria.