The Shared Ownership Council has described the code as “a step on the reform journey”
The Shared Ownership Council has launched a consultation on a new shared ownership code of good practice, with the aim that providers of shared ownership homes will adopt it.
The SOC, which is backed by Lloyds Banking Group and several large registered providers, acknowledges that while shared ownership plays a “major role” in addressing housing supply and affordability, it “isn’t working well for everyone”.
The council describes the code as “a step on the reform journey” for shared ownership, emphasising that “consumers considering shared ownership and those already involved deserve consistency, high standards of information, transparency, and support”.
This comes after the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) committee conducted an inquiry into shared ownership, which concluded that the tenure does not provide an affordable route onto the housing ladder for “too many people”.
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The council said that it is building on the recommendations outlined in LUHC’s recently published report.
A new report by Savills The number of shared ownership homes in England has passed the 250,000 mark for the first time (252,220). The report also found that shared ownership sales have added a total of £6.5bn to housing associations’ turnover in the last decade.
Furthermore, according to Savills, shared ownership has the potential to deliver an additional 100,000 homes in the next five years, generating £2.2 bn in private capital each year.
The draft code, published earlier this week, was developed by an experienced multi-stakeholder group and will now be tested with the wider industry and shared owners.
Supporters who have funded the initiative to develop a shared ownership code include Clarion, Bromford, L&Q, Peabody, Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing, Hyde, SNG and others.
Ann Santry, chair of the SOC Board said: “Shared ownership has an important part to play in helping people achieve a stake in home ownership. The code being launched for consultation aims to drive best practice across all of the providers and others who are part of the journey shared owners are making. However, while we recognise the achievements to date we must undertake further reform to this tenure. The Shared Ownership Council seeks to play a leading role in aligning stakeholders to support reforms that improve shared ownership for consumers and allows the tenure to fulfil its potential.”
Paula Higgins, CEO of the HomeOwners Alliance and board member of SOC, said: “Consumers in shared ownership need fair treatment at all stages of their journey- from pre-purchase to living in a leasehold property to deciding to move on. The code being launched for consultation promotes better information, transparency and consistency whilst providing routes to deal with complaints and is a first step on the road to reform to give shared owners a better deal.”
The consultation will be open until September. Industry participants can provide feedback on the code through this survey.
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