After you buy your home, you can purchase more shares in your property via a process known as staircasing. Your lease will tell you the minimum percentage you can buy, but this is normally at least 10%. For example, if you own 50% of your property, you can staircase to 60%.

Any additional shares you purchase are based on the current market value of the property. An independent valuation will need to be carried out by a RICS independent surveyor at the time of your application to determine this. Once you staircase to 100% ownership you will no longer pay rent, but you may have to pay ground rent and service charges if you own a flat, or estate maintenance charges if you own a house.

Some properties limit the maximum equity you can purchase to ensure the availability of affordable Shared Ownership homes in an area; for example, properties within a designated protected area are limited to 80% ownership. You should check your lease to see if this applies to your property.

If you are a shared owner and want to purchase more of your property, this is known as staircasing.  By staircasing up you will own a greater proportion of your property and pay less rent.  You can stair case up to 100% at which point you will become the owner of the property.  You will need to refer to your current lease to find out when and how many times you can staircase up.
Your additional shares will be based on the full current market value of the property so you may need to carry out a valuation from NLM approved valuers.

For further information read our guide to staircasing. Alternatively, please contact the NLM on 020 8815 4200