Can You Sell a Shared Ownership Property? A Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Decide to Sell

You don’t need to have staircased (bought more shares) before selling. Whether you own 25% or 75%, you can put your share on the market. If you already own 100%, you’ll sell just like any other homeowner. If you're still a shared owner, contact your housing association first to notify them of your intent to sell.

Step 2: Contact Your Housing Association

Most shared ownership leases give your housing association “first refusal.” That means they have the right to try to find a buyer before you take it to the open market.

Typically, they’ll market your home for 4–8 weeks.
If they find a buyer, great, you move forward with the sale.
If not, you’re usually free to sell your share through an estate agent, and can often be sold at either the share price, or the full 100% price.

Some housing associations 'waive' their 'first refusal' rights and you'll be able to market your home with which agent you choose. It's worth noting not all highstreet estate agents understand the details of how shared ownership works, so make sure this is clear before you instruct an agent. There are specialist agents, including one of our campaign members, Keaze, who specialise in resale services for shared owners.

Step 3: Get a Valuation

Before selling, you’ll need an independent valuation to determine your property’s current market value. This isn’t the same as an estate agent’s guess - housing associations require a professional RICS-accredited surveyor.

The valuation sets the price for your share. For example:

If your home is worth £300,000 and you own 50%, your share is worth £150,000.

Step 4: Find a Buyer

Buyers must meet the same eligibility rules you did (income caps, eligibility and affordability etc.) if selling your share, not the full 100%. Don’t worry, the housing association will handle checks. If you’re selling on the open market, your estate agent will work alongside the housing association to keep things moving.

Step 5: Complete the Sale

Once a buyer is found, the process looks similar to a normal house sale: solicitors are involved, contracts are exchanged, and you hand over the keys. If you’ve staircased to 100%, you can sell the home outright on the open market like any other property.

It's worth noting when selling your shared ownership home, it's likely you'll be in a 'chain' if moving onto a new home you're purchasing. A chain and how many transactions are involved in it will affect how long it takes for the sale to complete, so keep this in mind before arranging removals vans and changing your address on your bank account; the average sale in the UK takes around 4 to 6 months on the open market.

Things to Consider

Costs - You’ll pay for the valuation, solicitor’s fees, and any admin charges from the housing association.
Timing - It can take a bit longer than a standard sale, especially if the housing association has a marketing period.
Equity - If your home has increased in value, you’ll benefit from that gain on the share you own, but if it's decreased, this will also affect your equity (just as it would with a 'normal' sale).
Your lease - buying a shared ownership home means it's a type of leasehold property, and the number of years remaining on your lease may impact its' saleability. New shared ownership homes are typically 990 year leases so you won't have any issues here, but some older leases would have been 125 or 99 years initially.