HomeBuy

Buying a home with HomeBuy

HomeBuy enables social tenants, key workers and first-time buyers to buy a share of a home and get onto the housing ladder.

Homebuy is the government's low cost home ownership scheme. For many people, HomeBuy provides the best opportunity to own a home in the area in which they want to live and work.

There are five HomeBuy products to choose from:

• New Build HomeBuy - You share ownership of your home with a housing association, paying a mortgage on the part you own plus affordable rent on the portion you do not own
• Open Market HomeBuy - you take out a conventional mortgage to fund part of your property purchase and a low-interest equity loan to cover the rest
• Social HomeBuy - housing association and local authority tenants buy their home on a shared ownership basis or outright, with a discount on the share being purchased
• HomeBuy Direct - you buy a selected New Build HomeBuy property with the assistance of an equity loan
• Rent to HomeBuy - you pay reduced rent on a new build home for up to five years, to help you save for a deposit and purchase the property.

How to participate in HomeBuy

If you are unable to purchase a property on the open market without assistance, you may be eligible for one of the HomeBuy products. Please contact your local HomeBuy agent to find out whether you are eligible and if so, which product is most suitable for you.

Other schemes

Housing association and local authority tenants also have access to the following schemes for buying the home they live in:

• Right to Acquire - for housing association tenants
• Right to Buy or Preserved Right to Buy - for local authority tenants or tenants who have been transferred from a local authority to a housing association.

If you are a social rented tenant, you should contact your landlord to see if you may be eligible for one of these schemes.

Each Local HomeBuy Agent acts as a first point of contact for families and single households seeking to buy a home through the HCA's HomeBuy affordable home ownership products. Agents will first establish whether applicants meet eligibility criteria before assessing applicants' financial circumstances to ensure that they can afford home ownership longer term. Local HomeBuy Agents will also help people to think about their housing options and assist them to make the right choice to meet their housing needs.

A total of 15 organisations, all of which are registered social landlords, have been appointed to cover the 37 zones across England. Two organisations have been appointed as Agents for the first time - Time2Buy, a locally based partnership that will cover the Tees Valley and County Durham zone, and a partnership between Sovereign and West Country Housing who will cover the whole of the South west region.

The new network of HomeBuy Agents takes effect as of 1st April 2009

London	North London	Metropolitan
	West London	Metropolitan
	East London	Metropolitan
	South West London	L&Q
	South East London	L&Q
South East	Berkshire & Oxfordshire	Catalyst
	Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes	Catalyst
	Kent	Moat
	Sussex	Moat
	Hampshire	Swaythling
	Surrey	Catalyst