This page answers some of the most frequently asked questions about selling your shared ownership home. If you don’t find what you need here, please call Hastoe’s Sales Team on 0800 783 3097 or email sales@hastoe.com.
The shared ownership home you purchased from Hastoe must be sold through Hastoe in the first instance. Your shared ownership lease gives Hastoe a set period of time to find a buyer for your share. You can choose to sell your share at any time.
We will do our very best to find you a buyer quickly by marketing your property on online property websites, Share to Buy and Zoopla. There is a four, eight or twelve-week nomination period (as detailed in your lease) during which we exclusively market your home. During this period, you are unable to instruct an estate agent.
When selling your share, you will need a RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) valuation before the property can be advertised. The valuation confirms how much your home is worth and determines the value of your share. The property must be advertised at this price.
The selling process in 10 steps
- Initial enquiry and desktop valuation
- RICS valuation and marketing documents
- Viewings
- Formal offer to the buyer
- Instruct solicitors to start the legal process
- Sales pack is issued
- Buyer’s mortgage offer received and approved by Hastoe
- Conveyancing enquires
- Exchange of contracts
- Completion!
Initial enquiry
Before starting the selling process, Hastoe aim to provide you with as much information as possible about the current market and property values in your local area. Under your instruction, Hastoe can provide a desktop valuation, which includes information on similar local properties and recent sale prices. This free service can help you decide whether you would like to proceed.
To request a desktop valuation, please email sales@hastoe.com with your full name and property address.
Please note that the desktop valuation is intended only as a guide to help you decide whether to go ahead with a RICS valuation. It is not a guarantee of value.
RICS Valuation
If you wish to proceed, you will need to instruct a RICS valuation. We can provide you with a list of surveyors, although you may choose any RICS certified surveyor.
The estimated cost of a RICS valuation is around £300, although this varies by surveyor. Once you receive the valuation, please email a copy to the Sales Team.
If you are unhappy with the valuation, you must raise this directly with the surveyor. You will usually need to provide evidence that the value is incorrect, such as three comparable properties sold within the last three months.
Why can’t I use an estate agent valuation initially?
Estate agent valuations cannot be used to market your property during the nomination period. This is because estate agents have a vested interest in securing your business and may provide inflated valuations. Under the terms of your lease, we cannot accept offers on your share below the full market value during the nomination period.
Home improvements
If you’ve made major improvements to your home, such as adding a bedroom or converting a loft, you may be able to recover the cost of these works when you sell the property, in addition to receiving your share of the sale price. Whether this applies depends on the terms of your property lease. You must have obtained written permission from Hastoe for the improvements to qualify.
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
It is a legal requirement to have a valid EPC when selling your property. If your property is less than 10 years old, you may already have one.
You can check or obtain an EPC at www.epcregister.com. If you do not have a valid EPC, it is your responsibility to arrange one. Please send us a copy once issued.
Property information and photos
We will also ask you to complete a property checklist so we can advertise your property to its full potential. This will include key property features and room details and dimensions.
We will also need photos of your property. The photos must be taken in landscape mode and sent to us in JPEG format.
Top tips for taking photos
- Capture as much space in each room as possible
- Tidy any garden areas (e.g. mow lawns)
- Remove evidence of pets
- Tidy children’s toys
- Close cupboards, wardrobes and toilet seats
- Remove rubbish, hanging washing and clutter
- Focus on interesting details (e.g. the condition of a wood floor or fireplace)
- Turn on lights and turn off TVs
- Open curtains and blinds
Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks
To comply with Anti‑Money Laundering regulations, we must verify your identity and address before marketing your property. Acceptable proof of address includes a utility bill, bank statement, council tax statement, driving licence, or similar official document confirming that you live at the property.
For identity verification, we can accept a passport, driving licence, or an EEA member state identity card.
Both documents will need to be certified by a valid authority.
Marketing your property
Once all required documents are received, we aim to begin marketing within two working days.
We will advertise your home on Share to Buy and Zoopla. For rural properties, we will also contact the Parish Council and Local Authority and request they advertise through any other available avenues they have access to.
Applications will be assessed on a first come first served basis in line with our first come first served policy. If your home is in a rural area, applications will be assessed in line with the local connection criteria.
Nomination period
Hastoe’s ‘nomination period’ will start on the day that we receive all the documents required to sell your home. This lasts four, eight or twelve weeks, depending on your lease.
Restricted properties
Some homes may be a ‘restricted property’. This means there are certain local connection criteria the potential buyers must meet, such as:
- Currently a resident in the parish/village
- A previous resident in the parish/village but were forced to move away because of lack of affordable housing
- Have close family who live in the parish/village (parents, children or siblings)
- Have permanent, full-time employment in the parish/village
If we are unable to find a suitable local buyer, eligibility may widen to the district or beyond, depending on the agreement with the Local Authority.
Restricted properties are usually capped at 80% ownership to preserve affordability for local people. If you are unsure if your home is classed as a ‘restricted property’, please ask a member of the sales team.
Potential buyers during the nomination period
When we receive an application from a potential buyer, we will assess them to ensure they are eligible and can afford your property. If they pass our assessments, we will contact you to arrange a viewing.
If we are oversubscribed for your property, we will use an allocation process to ensure the property is offered to those with the strongest local connection (if applicable) and the highest housing need first. If they decide not to proceed after viewing, we will offer a viewing to the second highest applicant and so on.
If there is no local connection, we will assess applications based on our first come first served policy.
If the viewing is successful, the prospective buyer must inform Hastoe immediately so we can issue a formal offer pack and complete final affordability sign off.
If one of Hastoe’s nominees buys your house, we charge an administration fee as detailed in your lease. This is typically 0.25% of the full market value or 1% of the share price. This will be less than you would pay an estate agent.
Potential buyers after the nomination period
Once Hastoe’s nomination period expires with no successful applicants, you are free to advertise your property with an estate agent of your choice. We will still carry on marketing your property and will direct any eligible applicants to you to arrange a viewing.
You no longer need to market based on the RICS valuation, you can market at the figure you like. If you find a potential buyer, we still need to approve them and they will need to complete our application form to allow us to complete relevant eligibility checks and an affordability assessment.
It is essential that you ensure any estate agents or third-party marketing tools are aware that your property is a shared ownership property and carries certain restrictions. We will request the contact details of your chosen agent to ensure we can pass the necessary information over to them to include in their marketing.
If a viewing is successful, the prospective buyer must inform Hastoe immediately so we can issue a formal offer pack and complete final affordability sign off.
Property under offer
Once an interested applicant has viewed your home and confirms they would like to proceed, the property is ‘under offer’ - congratulations! You’re now on your way to selling your home. This is usually the point where you will be able to have offers accepted on an onward property. We will send you a letter to confirm your home is now under offer.
At this point, you and the purchaser/s will need to appoint a solicitor to process the sale. Please refer to our panel of solicitors who have extensive knowledge of shared ownership sales. You do not need to instruct one of our panel solicitors, we simply suggest instructing a solicitor who understands the shared ownership scheme.
We will also issue the buyer with a formal offer pack to complete and return to us.
Sales pack
Once you have formally instructed your solicitor, please provide us with their details so we can provide them with the sales pack for your property. The fee breakdown can be found on our website. The sale pack will usually include:
- Memorandum of sale
- Sales pack information document
- Your lease
- 5 years of rent review letters
- 5 years of service charge statements
- Buildings insurance policy
- Up to date statement of account
Once the sales pack has been issued to your solicitor, the sale will progress through solicitors until completion.
When you sell your shared ownership home, you are dealing directly with your buyer and their solicitor. The buyer is purchasing the share you own and Hastoe are retaining their interest in the property. Your solicitor will manage the legal work required to sell your lease.
Exchanging contracts
Hastoe usually anticipate that exchange will take place within 16 weeks of contracts being issued but this can be longer or shorter depending on how quickly the solicitors handle the transaction, how quickly the buyer’s mortgage is received and whether you are making an onward purchase.
The exchanging and signing of contracts will be conducted through your solicitors. You will then be given a date for completion which is when you will need to vacate the property and hand over the keys.
Once we have been notified that contracts have exchanged, we will issue rent apportionments to your solicitor and the buyer’s solicitor in preparation for completion.
Completion
Completion and the handing over of keys will take place on the date agreed with the buyer. This is the point when all fees are paid to Hastoe, the solicitors and lenders. After completion has taken place, please remember to cancel any direct debits and rent payments. We also recommend that you take your meter readings when you leave.
Hastoe are not involved with handing over the keys. This is for you to arrange with your buyer directly. Most sellers meet their buyer at the property once they have received confirmation of completion. If this is not feasible, you can ask your solicitor to send the keys out on your behalf.
If you have paid a full month’s rent, we will issue you a refund following completion.
What happens next?
If you wish to sell, require a desktop valuation or have any questions, please contact a member of the Sales Team via email sales@hastoe.com or call 0800 783 3097. Our office hours are Monday to Friday, 9am - 5pm.
