Selling your Shared Ownership home

Selling your Shared Ownership home

If you’re thinking about selling your Shared Ownership home, we’re here to support you every step of the way.

As your home is leasehold, there are a few important steps to follow before you can market and sell your property. We’ll guide you through the process so you know what to expect.

Important things to know 

• If you own less than 100%, you must inform LiveWest before selling.
• Your lease may include requirements that affect how your home is sold.
• Buyers must meet Shared Ownership eligibility criteria, affordability and LiveWest’s policies. 
• These requirements can affect who can buy your home and how long it may take to sell.

Costs to consider

There are costs involved in selling your home. These may include:

• Estate agent fees.
• Legal and conveyancing fees.
• An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), where required.
• Leasehold administration fees (such as information packs).

Steps to selling your home

1. Contact the Resales team

Before taking any action, please contact our Resales team. We will:

• Review your lease.
• Check your remaining lease length.
• Identify any requirements or restrictions.
• Explain the next steps.

Lease length is important, as shorter leases can affect your home’s value and how easy it is to sell.

2. Apply to sell

You can choose your own estate agent to market your home and help you find a buyer.

We recommend choosing an estate agent with experience of selling Shared Ownership homes, as they will understand the process and be able to support you throughout your sale. Your estate agent should help with:

• Creating an accurate property listing and arranging photographs.
• Managing viewings and sharing feedback with you.
• Negotiating the sale price with potential buyers.
• Progressing the sale and keeping things moving.
• Communicating with your buyer and solicitor.
• Keeping LiveWest updated on the progress of your sale.
• Agreeing a completion date.
• Arranging the handover of keys on completion day.

Please note that while some online estate agents may charge lower fees, they may not provide all of these services. In these cases, you may need to take on more of the responsibilities yourself.

To start the process, you'll need to complete an application form with your details and the details of your chosen estate agent. When you submit your application, you'll also need to provide a market appraisal of your home.

3. Market Your Home

Before your home can be marketed, you'll need:

• An agent pack from LiveWest*
• A valid Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). If your EPC has expired, you'll need to arrange a new one. Your estate agent can advise you on this.

*What is the agent pack?
Once we've received your completed application, we'll prepare the information your estate agent needs to market your home. This includes key details they must share with potential buyers and confirms the information that should be included in your property listing.
We aim to send the pack to your estate agent within 10 working days of receiving your completed application, provided we've received all the information we need.

Your estate agent will:

• Market your home.
• Arrange viewings and provide feedback.
• Present suitable buyers and negotiate offers.
• Help progress the sale through to completion.

4. Buyer application and approval

Once you've accepted an offer:

• You or your estate agent will need to confirm the buyer's details and the offer you've accepted.
• The buyer will need to complete an online application form.
• Their mortgage broker will carry out an affordability assessment and submit the relevant information to us.
• We'll review the application and confirm whether it has been approved.

The sale can only progress once the buyer has been approved. 

After approval, we'll contact you to request your solicitor's details so that we can prepare the Memorandum of Sale.

5. Legal (Conveyancing) Process

Once the Memorandum of Sale has been issued, LiveWest will support the sale by:

• Issuing the LPE1/management pack (fees apply).
• Reviewing and approving the buyer's mortgage offer, where applicable.
• Assisting with responses to any solicitor enquiries.
• Providing a statement of account to the solicitors so that any rent and service charge apportionments can be calculated.

Please note that any external management company involved in your home may charge separate fees for providing its management pack.

Your solicitor and the buyer's solicitor will agree an exchange date and completion date and will keep you informed once these have been confirmed.

Understanding the risks

Selling a Shared Ownership home can take time, and there are some factors to be aware of:

• Your sale depends on the buyer meeting eligibility and affordability requirements
• Delays can happen during the application, mortgage or legal process
• Lease length can affect your home’s value and demand
• Sales may fall through if circumstances change

Your responsibilities

As the seller, you are responsible for:

• Instructing an estate agent
• Providing accurate and up-to-date property information
• Keeping up with mortgage, rent and service charge payments until completion
• Working with your solicitor to progress the sale

We’re here to help

Our Resales team is here to support you at every stage of the process and answer any questions you may have.