Skip to main content
N I Direct government services

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
  • Contacts
  • Help
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • RSS

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Property and housing
  3. Buying, selling and renting a home
  4. Home ownership schemes

Equity sharing

Tenants in social housing can buy part of their home, if they cannot afford to buy their home in full. They and their social housing landlord own equity in the property.

House sales scheme

Under the House Sales Scheme, eligible tenants of social housing landlords have the right to buy their homes at a discount. They're tenants of the Housing Executive or registered housing associations.

This scheme will close for tenants of registered housing associations in Northern Ireland on 28 August 2022. Such tenants will however be able to make an application to buy their homes up until midnight on 27 August 2022. Tenants should contact their landlord for further information.  Tenants of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive are not affected by the ending of the scheme, and will still be able to access the Housing Executive’s Right to Buy scheme.

Equity sharing your home

Equity sharing is part of the House Sales scheme. The process follows the same rules as buying all the property from the Housing Executive or a housing association.

Buying part of your home

If you can't afford to buy the entire property, you can apply to buy what you can afford. You must buy at least 25 per cent of the property's equity. You can increase your equity share at any time, which is known as 'staircasing'.

If you are buying a housing association property, you need to provide independent financial evidence showing the maximum equity that you can afford.

If other family members want to buy the property jointly with the tenant, the landlord will take into account their finances to work out what they can afford.

Leaseholder of the property

When you buy part of the property, you're the leaseholder and no longer a tenant. 

For more information, contact the Housing Executive or your housing association:

  • Housing Executive
  • Housing associations

Discount

You're entitled to discount based on the part of the property you buy. This will be awarded at the maximum discount available to the tenant or the scheme maximum of £24,000, whichever is lower.

Discount is only awarded to a tenant and not a leaseholder.

Leaseholder responsibilities

Rent

The leaseholder pays reduced rent, calculated on the amount of equity retained by the landlord. The rent will be reduced to cover maintenance of the property.

When the amount for maintenance is agreed, this stays the same while the leaseholder pays rent.

Rates

The leaseholder is responsible for paying rates. They should pay rates directly to Land & Property Services (LPS) as the landlord won't collect rates on their behalf.

Service charges

For flats or maisonettes, the buyer or leaseholder must also pay an annual service charge.

Maintenance and repairs

The leaseholder is responsible for maintenance and repairs, regardless of how much equity they buy.

For more information on the House Sales Scheme including equity sharing, contact the Housing Executive or your housing association:

  • Housing Executive
  • House sales and equity sharing guide for tenants

More useful links

  • Mortgages
  • Home and housing options
  • Advice NI
  • Housing Rights 

More useful links

  • Student housing
  • Home and housing options
  • Safety at Home
  • Fire Prevention
  • Tax on property and rental income - HMRC website
  • Planning for buying a home - Money Advice Service website
Share this page Share on Facebook (external link opens in a new window / tab) Share on Twitter (external link opens in a new window / tab) Share by email (external link opens in a new window / tab)

Home ownership schemes

  • Co-Ownership
  • Equity sharing
  • Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme
  • House sales scheme
  • Low-cost home ownership schemes
  • Rent to Own

Translation help

How to translate this page

Help improve this page - send your feedback

What do you want to do?
Report a problem
Which problem did you find on this page? (Tick all that apply)

Messages

You will not receive a reply. We will consider your feedback to help improve the site.

Don't include any personal or financial information, for example National Insurance, credit card numbers, or phone numbers.

What is your question about?

What to do next

Comments or queries about angling can be emailed to anglingcorrespondence@daera-ni.gov.uk 

If you have a comment or query about benefits, you will need to contact the government department or agency which handles that benefit.  Contacts for common benefits are listed below.

Carer's Allowance

Call 0800 587 0912
Email 
dcs.incomingpostteamdhc2@nissa.gsi.gov.uk

Discretionary support / Short-term benefit advance

Call 0800 587 2750 
Email 
customerservice.unit@communities-ni.gov.uk

Disability Living Allowance

Call 0800 587 0912 
Email dcs.incomingpostteamdhc2@nissa.gsi.gov.uk

Employment and Support Allowance

Call 0800 587 1377

Jobseeker’s Allowance

Contact your local Jobs & Benefits office

Personal Independence Payment

Call 0800 587 0932

If your query is about another benefit, select ‘Other’ from the drop-down menu above.

Comments or queries about the Blue Badge scheme can be emailed to bluebadges@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk or you can also call 0300 200 7818.

For queries or advice about careers, contact the Careers Service.

For queries or advice about Child Maintenance, contact the Child Maintenance Service.

For queries or advice about claiming compensation due to a road problem, contact DFI Roads claim unit.

If you can’t find the information you’re looking for in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) section, then for queries about:

  • Restrictions or regulations — contact the Department of Health
  • Travel advice (including self-isolation) — contact the Department of Health
  • Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations — contact the Department of Health or Public Health Agency

If your query is about another topic, select ‘Other’ from the drop-down menu above.

For queries about your identity check, email nida@nidirect.gov.uk and for queries about your certificate, email covidcertni@hscni.net.

For queries or advice about criminal record checks, email ani@accessni.gov.uk

Application and payment queries can be emailed to ema_ni@slc.co.uk

For queries or advice about employment rights, contact the Labour Relations Agency.

For queries or advice about birth, death, marriage and civil partnership certificates and research, contact the General Register Office Northern Ireland (GRONI) by email gro_nisra@finance-ni.gov.uk

For queries about the High Street Spend Local Scheme,  email HSSS.mail@economy-ni.gov.uk.

For queries about:

  • Car tax, vehicle registration and SORN
    contact the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Swansea
     
  • Driver licensing and tests, MOT and vehicle testing
    contact the Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA), Northern Ireland

If your query is about another topic, select ‘Other’ from the drop-down menu above.

For queries about your identity check, email nida@nidirect.gov.uk.

 

For queries or advice about passports, contact HM Passport Office.

For queries or advice about Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs), including parking tickets and bus lane PCNs, email dcu@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk

For queries or advice about pensions, contact the Northern Ireland Pension Centre.

If you wish to report a problem with a road or street you can do so online in this section.

If you wish to check on a problem or fault you have already reported, contact DfI Roads.

For queries or advice about historical, social or cultural records relating to Northern Ireland, use the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) enquiry service.

For queries or advice about rates, email LPSCustomerTeam@lpsni.gov.uk

For queries or advice about  60+ and Senior Citizen SmartPasses (which can be used to get concessionary travel on public transport), contact Smartpass - Translink.

If you have a question about a government service or policy, you should contact the relevant government organisation directly.  We don't have access to information about you.

Related sites

  • gov.uk
  • nibusinessinfo.co.uk

Links to supporting information

  • Accessibility statement
  • Crown copyright
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • RSS