Information for Vendors

Selling your home to Co-Ownership

Selling your house is a busy time and you want it to happen as smoothly as possible. When you sale agree your home to a buyer you’re looking for as much certainty as possible that the sale will go through.
We understand that you might think that including another party in the sale (Co-Ownership) may make the process more complicated, but actually a Co-Ownership buyer brings with them a lot of security.

Who we are

Co-Ownership is a not-for-profit organisation that’s been helping people buy homes in Northern Ireland since 1978. We’ve helped over 33,000 people to date. We’re a registered housing association and are regulated and part-funded by the Department for Communities.

How Co-Ownership works

Step 1: We approve the applicant and their financial circumstances.

When someone applies to Co-Ownership, we assess their financial circumstances and their affordability and if successful, we provide them with a Co-Ownership Approval. This Approval is specific to our customer, sets out the value of the property we will buy with them and is valid for four months. Unlike a decision in principle from a lender, we won’t reassess the applicant further down the line (unless their circumstances change).
Our customer is now in the same position as any other buyer, looking to sale agree a home, and finalise their mortgage with a lender.

Step 2: We approve the property our customer has chosen

Once our customer sale agrees a property, they upload the details to their application and we carry out a property assessment, in the same way that a mortgage lender carries out their valuation. We want to ensure our customers are buying homes that are of a good standard and offer value for money. You can read more about our Property Criteria here. Last year we approved 86% of the properties submitted to us. Once the property is approved, then it’s onto the solicitors for the conveyancing process to begin, as it does with any house sale. We work very closely with our customer’s solicitor to ensure any additional legal requirements are dealt with as part of the house sale with no impact on you, the seller.

More information

If you would like any further information about Co-Ownership, we’re happy to answer any questions you may have. You can call us on 028 9032 7276 or email hello@co-ownership.org.