key with metal house ornament hanging from open door

Currently there is a Shared Ownership Code which is being piloted from November 2024 to March 2025. The code aims to standardise best practices and consumer protection. It is to cover all organisations that interact with shared owners to ensure transparency, fairness and improved support for marketing, purchasing and management of shared ownership homes.

The new Shared Ownership Code is to launch in the Spring 2025.

The mains points of the code are as follows:-

  • 14 day cooling off period – RP’s will be asked to offer a mandatory 14 day cooling off period that will allow prospective shared owners to cancel their agreement and receive a full refund of the reservation fee – this must be clearly communicated before payment.
  • Transparency of fees – RP’s are to be asked to clearly publish and state all fees associated with the shared ownership purchase journey upfront – the current pilot is to determine if a common set of fees can be categorised.
  • Defects liability period extension – RP’s will be asked to extend their defects period to 24 months to accord with industry standards – this is to be introduced over time to allow for negotiations in contracts with developers.
  • Service charge transparency – RP’s will be asked to provide a service charge information document which is to show a range of potential service charge changes and an asset management plan.
  • Service charge affordability – RP’s across England will be asked to follow the GLA Service Charges Charter which is aimed to assist the experience of leaseholders in respect of service chare and for RP’s to collaborate with freeholders/managing agents on service charge affordability.
  • Trained support staff – RP’s will be asked to ensure staff are adequately trained to assist shared ownership purchasers in managing their experience in particular in respect of third parties such as managing agents
  • Lease extensions – RP’s will be asked to offer lease extensions to customers
  • Improved CORE Data reporting – RP’s will be asked to submit staircasing data to the CORE System irrelevant whether there is grant funding or not.

The code is voluntary and refinements are expected. Further details will be provided in due course.