How To Sell a shared ownership flat with a short lease

Shared ownership flats have a limited market already - targetting specific buyers who want to get onto the ladder, but can't afford to buy outright. When you then add a shorter lease into the mix this can further reduce the number of buyers interested.

The first step is to speak to your housing provider - with shorter leases they may give you the option to sell on the open market straight away, rather than having to solely advertise to the shared ownership pool.

The second step will be to find out how much the lease extension will cost - you can do this down the formal or informal route, but it's one of the first questions any viewer will ask.

With this knowledge, you can then decide whether you want to extend the lease before selling or not. In most cases it won't be beneficial to, as you pay all of the cost of the extension, but only benefit from your share of the increase in value.

This leaves you needing to sell on the open market, and find a buyer who is happy to take the lease extension on themselves after purchase. The best help you can have at this point is a knowledgable estate agent that can educate buyers on how to extend the lease, how to fund the purchase and the lease extension, and ultimately to take away some of the fear that will normally put them off flats with short leases.

If you want to learn our marketing method for shared ownership flats with short leases then get in touch.