Selling your home as a shared owner

If you own your home outright (100% ownership) you can sell your home without any restrictions. You don't need to contact us before the sale. 

If you are a shared owner who owns less than 100% of your home, you must inform us in writing of your intention to sell your property. The Sales and Marketing Team will then guide you through the process of selling your home. 

Selling your home if there is cladding on the building

For our new build developments before we complete them they have to be signed off as complete and fully by both Building Control and the National House Building Council (NHBC). Both organisations carry out regular inspections to sign off the building at key stages, particularly the NHBC who provide insurance cover for the property.
 
The regulations on compliant cladding changed following the Grenfell tragedy with the government issuing a range of new building control advice notes. Advice Note 14 issued in December 2018, banned combustible materials from new buildings over 18m tall and directed building owners to assess the risk of cladding to existing buildings over 18m.
 
Following  Advice Note 14, mortgage lenders and valuers began to request independent certification on external wall systems for blocks over 18m, applying a nil valuation until this certification was provided.  Many mortgage providers then started to apply the same criteria to buildings under 18m, despite the Advice Note at that time being specific to tall buildings.  
 
This has put significant pressure on landlords to be able to instruct inspections, due to a severe shortage of suitably qualified specialist surveyors and contractors to suddenly resource the large number of surveys required.
 
There was also uncertainty as to the nature of the certification required, which RICS responded to by producing the EWS1 form in December 2019. Surveys to demonstrate cladding compliance existed before the EWS1 form was produced, but now affects thousands of homes awaiting a new mortgage or re-mortgage as regularly reported in the national press.   
 
The Government issued a further advice note in January 2020 consolidating all previous advice notes on fire safety and formally included the requirement to inspect cladding on all buildings regardless of height, which puts further pressure on the limited resources available to comply with this directive.
 
Like most registered housing providers, Origin will be reviewing its buildings in order of perceived risk including buildings containing leaseholders and this is likely to take many years to complete.  

Are there any restrictions on selling?

There may be a number of restrictions associated with selling your home. If there are any, you should be able to find them in your lease. Alternatively, you can contact us directly to find out.

What are the costs involved?

As with all property sales, you will have expenses to pay. Some of the expenses you will have to pay are:

• marketing fee - we will charge a fee of 1.5% of the value of your share plus VAT. Also, we charge a non-refundable marketing fee of £350, which will then be deducted from the final invoice once the sale goes through.
• valuation fee - to establish how much your property should be sold for you will need to have your home valued. You can either use our own panel of valuers or choose your own valuer - provided they are  RICS-qualified. We will need to approve them and we must instruct them and receive a satisfactory valuation report. Also, it is important to remember that valuation is only valid for 3 months. If you cannot make a sale within this time, you will need to have the property valued again. 
• legal fees -  selling your home will involve changes to your existing lease which will require the professional services of  a solicitor. The solicitor will have disbursements and professional fees for acting for you. 
• Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) - an  EPC will normally cost in the region of £50-£100. We can recommend an EPC provider or you can visit the domestic EPC register and choose one yourself. 
• assignment fees - a fee we charge for dealing with your purchaser's solicitor's queries.

You may also be required to pay mortgage fees or pay penalty charges to your existing lender if you sell your home before the end of the product end date. 

Also, if you have any arrears these must be cleared before completion of the sale.

What if you cannot sell my property?

After you've told us that you would like to sell your home, we have eight weeks to market it. If we can't sell during that time, you can choose an estate agent to find a buyer. 

The initial £350 marketing fee covers the eight-week marketing period and is non-refundable. 

If you use an estate agent, you will be fully responsible for the fees the estate agent charges for their services.