Shared ownership and leasehold : Bournville Village Trust

Shared ownership

Shared owners part-own and part-rent their homes. As a shared owner, you may have purchased a portion of your home and you pay rent to us on the remaining share.

Buying more shares

As a shared owner you may have bought a 25% or 50% share in your home. To buy more shares, we use a system called staircasing.

If you’re a shared owner in Birmingham, each staircasing step is a minimum of 25%. In Telford, you can staircase by minimum of 10% and maximum of 25%. You can’t staircase immediately from 25% to 100%.

Once you’ve decided to buy more shares, please complete the staircasing request form at the bottom of this page, making sure you confirm initial fees have been paid.

The fee is £247.20 (VAT included) which is £180 upfront cost of the valuation fee and £67.20 administration fee.
To complete the form you will need to know the percentage you own and the percentage you would like to staircase to.
The valuation fee is payable by you. The total cost is £780 (VAT included). At the time of you applying to staircase you pay an initial amount of £180.
If you proceed and complete the staircasing a further payment of £600 is payable at completion.
If you decide not to proceed, the £180 is non-refundable.
Once everything is complete, we’ll adjust your rent to reflect the lower percentage we own.

You can understand more about staircasing by downloading and reading our frequently asked questions (FAQs) to aid you in completing the request form.

If you have any questions, please call us on 0300 333 6540 or email enquiries@bvt.org.uk. Our friendly staff can answer your questions and make sure you’re meeting staircasing criteria.

FAQs staircasing

Selling your home

If you’d like to sell your home, you’ll need to contact an estate agent to put your share of the property on the market. Please tell us as soon as possible if you decide to sell your home.

Your purchasers will also need to make sure they qualify to buy a shared ownership home. You can understand more about eligibility at www.gov.uk/shared-ownership-scheme/who-can-apply

Alterations and repairs

As a shared owner you’re responsible for maintaining and repairing your home. We arrange building insurance, but not home contents cover. You must get our permission before making changes to your home, even if they comply with our design guides. To find out more, please go to our home changes and design guides page.

Rent and other charges

As a shared owner, you pay a monthly rent for the percentage of your home we own and you rent. This is on top of any management charge you may pay to us. A convenient and quick way to pay rent is by setting up a direct debit. For more information about this, please go to our make a payment page.

Shared ownership lease extensions

A shared ownership lease typically lasts for 99 or 125 years from the start date written into the lease. Your solicitor should have given you a copy of your lease when you bought your home.

If you don’t have this, you can get a copy from the Land Registry for a small fee. Once there’s less than 70-80 years left on your lease, it can affect the value of your home and may make it more difficult to sell or re-mortgage.

If a shared ownership property is sold, the original lease is transferred to the new shared owner, rather than a new lease being created, so, the time left on the lease remains.

It’s important to remember mortgage lenders are often unwilling to provide a mortgage on a property where there’s less than 85 years left on a lease. This means trying to sell your home with a lease length shorter than this will be more difficult.

There is no statutory right to a lease extension but, where there is less than 90 years remaining on an existing lease, we’ll consider granting extensions on shared ownership leases on a voluntary basis.

The fee is £247.20 (VAT included) which is £180 upfront cost of the valuation fee and £67.20 administration fee.
To complete the form, you will need to know the percentage you own and the percentage you would like to staircase to.
The valuation fee is payable by you. The total cost is £690 (VAT included). At the time of you applying to voluntary extend your lease, you pay an initial amount of £180.00.
If you proceed and complete the voluntary lease extension a further payment of £510 is payable at completion.
If you decide not to proceed with the voluntary lease extension the £180 is non-refundable.

Before completing the application for a shared ownership lease extension, please download and read our Frequently Asked Questions at the bottom of this page. To apply to extend your lease, please complete the form at the bottom of this page.

FAQs shared ownership leases

Leasehold

As a leaseholder you purchase the use of your home (house/bungalow) for a period of time, for example 99 years. You do not own the land the property sits on. You pay an annual ground rent for the use of the land.

During the term of the lease you might be able to buy the freehold, known as ‘enfranchising’. Please note not all leases can enfranchise, please confirm this within your TP1. If you do not enfranchise the lease, at the end of the lease term, you must return the property to the freeholder.

If you are in a leasehold flat you are not able to enfranchise but you will have the right to extend your lease. There is a scheme called ‘collective freehold’ this is where a block of leasehold flat owners join together and apply to purchase the freehold together, having an equal stake in the building and land.

You can understand more about the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, which aims to enhance the rights of leaseholders by making it easier and more affordable to extend leases, purchase freeholds, and gain greater control over property management, by downloading and reading our FAQs.

FAQs Leasehold and freehold reform act

Voluntary and statutory lease extensions

You can understand more about voluntary and statutory lease extensions by downloading and reading our FAQs.

FAQs statutory lease extensions

FAQs Voluntary Lease Extension Scheme

Lease extension request form

Next Steps: Sync an Email Add-On

To get the most out of your form, we suggest that you sync this form with an email add-on. To learn more about your email add-on options, visit the following page (https://www.gravityforms.com/the-8-best-email-plugins-for-wordpress-in-2020/). Important: Delete this tip before you publish the form.

Please select what type of lease extension you would like to request from the choices below.

Shared ownership voluntary lease extension

Statutory lease extension

Name (applicant 1)

First Last

Name (applicant 2)

First Last

Property Address

Street Address Address Line 2 City Postal Code

Contact address (if different to property address)

Street Address Address Line 2 City Postal Code

Email Address (applicant 1)

Email Address Confirm Email Address

Email Address (applicant 2)

Email Address Confirm Email Address

Tel number (applicant 1)

Tel number (applicant 2)

Date you purchased the property (if not known please leave blank)

Start date on lease (if not known please leave blank)

Total years remaining on lease (if not known please leave blank)

Have you paid the initial fee of £247.20 and included the first line of your address?(Required)

Yes

Please provide your payment receipt reference number

Consent(Required)

I agree to the terms and conditions

Shared Ownership Voluntary Lease Extension Scheme (VLES) T&Cs
I am/ we are aware there is no statutory right to extend the term of a shared ownership lease and that Bournville Village Trust will only consider this request if there are less than 90 years remaining on the lease *
I am/ we are aware that the voluntary right to a lease extension only applies:
• Where I/ we own 100% of the leasehold interest in the property *
• The number of years remaining on the lease is less than 90 years*
• Whether there are any recorded breaches.*
I am/we are aware that there are no enforceable timescales through a voluntary lease extension.*
I/ we confirm that we have paid the initial administration fee for the valuation to be carried out. I/we are aware that this is not the full cost of the valuation or Bournville Village Trust’s legal costs. *
I/ we can confirm that I/ we wish to apply for an independent valuation to be carried out to extend the term of my shared ownership lease *
I am/ we are aware that we will be responsible for both Bournville Village Trust’s solicitors’ costs and our own solicitor’s costs in this matter *
I/we confirm to pay the associated legal and valuation costs payable on completion. *
I am/ we are aware that if I/ we decide not to go ahead, all costs incurred will still be payable up to the point I/we withdraw from the process. (You will receive an invoice for the outstanding amount due, which will be payable within 30 days). *
I am/we are aware that there is no formal appeal process if both parties do not agree with the valuation amount.*
I am/we are aware that a Valuer will be appointed to determine the premium payable. I/we are also aware that I/we are be able to obtain our own independent advice from a suitably qualified Solicitor or Valuer before deciding whether to proceed. *
I am/we are aware that Bournville Village Trust reserve the right to reject the application, if agreement cannot be reached.*
I am/ we are aware that any new lease will be granted adding 990 years onto the original term of the existing lease *
By checking the box you are confirming the intention to submit the shared ownership lease extension form, and confirm that the above information is correct to the best of your knowledge *

Statutory Lease Extension T&Cs
I am/ we are aware the right to a lease extension only applies:
• Where I/ we own 100% of the leasehold interest in the property *
• The number of years remaining on the lease is less than 90 years*
• Whether there are any recorded breaches.*
I am/we are aware that there are no enforceable timescales through a lease extension.*
I/ we confirm that we have paid the initial administration fee for the valuation to be carried out. I/we are aware that this is not the full cost of the valuation or Bournville Village Trust’s legal costs. *
I/ we can confirm that I/ we wish to apply for an independent valuation to be carried out to extend the term of my lease *
I am/ we are aware that we will be responsible for both Bournville Village Trust’s solicitors costs and our own solicitor’s costs in this matter *
I/we confirm to pay the associated legal and valuation costs payable on completion. *
I am/ we are aware that if I/ we decide not to go ahead, all costs incurred will still be payable up to the point I/we withdraw from the process. (You will receive an invoice for the outstanding amount due, which will be payable within 30 days). *
I am/we are aware that if I/we are cannot agree on a valuation I/we can apply to tribunal to determine the valuation amount.
I am/we are aware that a Valuer will be appointed to determine the premium payable. I/we are also aware that I/we are be able to obtain our own independent advice from a suitably qualified Solicitor or Valuer before deciding whether to proceed. *
I am/ we are aware that any new lease will be granted adding 990 years onto the original term of the existing lease *
By checking the box you are confirming the intention to submit the ease extension form, and confirm that the above information is correct to the best of your knowledge *

Shared ownership staircasing request form

Next Steps: Sync an Email Add-On

Name (applicant 1)

First Last

Name (applicant 2)

First Last

Property Address

Street Address Address Line 2 City Postal Code

Contact address (if different to property address)

Street Address Address Line 2 City Postal Code

Email Address (applicant 1)

Email Address Confirm Email Address

Email Address (applicant 2)

Email Address Confirm Email Address

Tel number (applicant 1)

Tel number (applicant 2)

Date you purchased the property (if not known please leave blank)

Start date on lease (if not known please leave blank)

Total years remaining on lease (if not known please leave blank)

Have you paid the initial fee of £247.20 and included the first line of your address?(Required)

Yes

Please provide your payment receipt reference number

What percentage share of the property do you currently own?

What percentage would you like to request to increase by?

What is the total expected percentage share to be owned?

If you are requesting to increase to 100%, would you like to purchase the freehold?

Yes

Published on: Wednesday July 3, 2024