To maximise the support available to residents, the following scheme terms have been approved:

  • A minimum deposit of 5% of the full purchase price to access the scheme, will be required by applicants.

 

  • The maximum amount of shared equity percentage the Council may contribute:

Occupiable housing should be no more than 20%,

Registered empty properties is 40%, reflecting the higher costs in bringing empty homes back into substantive use.

At future points occupiers can re-mortgage to staircase out of the scheme.

 

  • The maximum house price of £300,000 is set for 2023/24. The value of this price cap will be reviewed annually at the start of financial year.

 

  • Priority will be given to proposals whereby bringing back an empty home into substantive use.

 

  • The scheme will be managed on a first come, first served

 

  • Participation in this scheme does not prohibit householders from accessing other support such as empty property grants etc., but cannot be used alongside to purchase Discount For Sale (DFS) properties.

 

  • Repayment

 - a requirement to repay the cash amount loaned OR the equivalent percentage of value of the property at the time of repayment, whichever is higher and;

- the Council loan can be for a period no longer than the period of the associated mortgage.

Staircasing

Staircasing intervals at years 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 with the flexibility to allow applicants to come forward before these points if they are in the financial position to do so.

Applicants will only be allowed to repay their equity in increments of 5%.  This is to enable better transparency of equity outstanding owed and to not allow repayment in ‘drips and drabs’ which will be an administrative burden on the Council and increase the difficulty of monitoring.  To be clear this means applicants can in any one instance of staircasing repay 5%, 10%, 15% or 20% of the equity on their property (20% being full repayment when not considering empty properties).

At these intervals, if there is a request to purchase equity from the LA there will be a requirement for a valuation to ascertain the market value. Once this is agreed the applicant will be required to purchase the percentage equity based on the current market value or percentage of amount borrow, whichever is the greatest to protect the LA’s interests.