Accessing Affordable Housing

There are a number of affordable housing options available to people in Islington. 

HomeBuy Schemes

New Build HomeBuy

New Build HomeBuy, formerly known as Shared Ownership, was introduced to help people who cannot afford to buy a home outright.

Through this scheme you buy a share of a property and pay rent on the remaining share you do not own. The size of the share you purchased will depend on your income and savings. Normally applicants buy a 50% share but you may purchase as little as 25% or as much as 75%.

Gradually, you can buy further shares and eventually own your home outright, which is called “stair-casing”.

Anyone who cannot afford to buy a suitable home on the open market can apply. However, priority will normally be given to:

• existing public sector tenants, or
• those on local authority or social landlord’s waiting lists that have been nominated by their local council as being in housing need
• Key public sector workers
• First time buyers

Generally you will need to earn around between £18,000 and £60,000 in London to qualify, although it can be less if you have a large amount of savings. You will also need at least £2,000 of savings to cover the initial costs involved with buying a home.

Open Market HomeBuy

The Open Market HomeBuy scheme gives people the chance to purchase a home on the open market with the aid of an equity loan of up to 25% of the value of the property, alongside a conventional mortgage. The equity loans are partly funded by the Government through a HomeBuy agent (Metropolitan Homes) and partly by a mortgage lender.

The equity loans are interest free for the first five years, which means that monthly repayments will be lower. In return the lender takes a share of any increase in the value of the property if you decide to sell it or repay the equity loan.

You will need to raise 75% of the purchase price of a home which has to be arranged with one of the lenders joint-funding this scheme and is lent on conventional mortgage terms. Different lenders offer different products but you are advised to discuss which is best for you with an Independent Financial Advisor.

The following groups will be eligible for Open Market HomeBuy

• existing public sector tenants or,
• those on local authority or social landlords waiting lists that have been nominated by their local council as being in housing need.
• Key public sector workers
• some other priority first time buyers defined as 'Employed people with a local connection i.e.. working, living or serving the community in the local area. Maximum household income of £52,500

Social HomeBuy

Social Homebuy is where public sector tenants buy their council or housing association home on a part buy, part rent basis and receive a discount on the initial purchase price. Eligibility criteria are set on a local level by your landlord. To find out what the eligibility criteria are please contact your local housing officer. This is not a statutory scheme and not all landlords will currently be offering it. Homes for Islington are currently offering this scheme. To find out if your landlord is offering Social Homebuy please click on the link below.

For more information about Social HomeBuy and Right to Buy, see the link to the Homes for Islington (HFI) website on the right of this page.

First Time Buyers Initiative

This scheme enables first time buyers, who cannot otherwise afford to buy a new home, to purchase a new property with an affordable mortgage and government assistance (minimum £25,001) on a designated FTBI development.

When owners sell their FTBI home, they will repay the Government's contribution through a share of the sale proceeds. So if the Government initially assisted the purchase with a 25% contribution, the repayment will be 25% of the total value when sold.

This scheme is considered to be a 'stepping stone' to assist people into full home ownership.

Around 50% of the home available through the initiative will be for key workers such as nurses, teachers and police officers. The remaining properties will be allocated to those groups considered to be priority by the Regional Housing Board.

Intermediate Rent

Intermediate renting for key workers is available through housing associations. The rent is set at 25% below market rents for a similar property in the area. You would have an assured short-hold tenancy.

For further information on eligibility for Key Worker housing please click on the link under Related Information.

If you are interested in applying for any of the above schemes, please visit the Housing Options website. The link is available under useful websites on the right of this page. When you visit this website you will be able to make a free application and get further information about whether you are eligible to apply for certain schemes. This service has been designed so that anyone looking for an affordable home in London will be able to access information about all of the current options available. Islington's allocated Zone Agent, Metropolitan Homes, currently deals with all applications for Key Worker and affordable homes through the Housing Options programme.

Social Rent

New properties that have been developed for social rent are for:

• people registered on the council’s housing waiting list
• existing council or housing association tenants on the transfer list
• homeless people who have had their application approved. When the new properties are completed they are advertised through Choice Based Lettings (CBL)

For further information on Choice Based Lettings, click the Home Connections link under Useful Websites, on the right-hand side of this page.