Increasing your share

Increasing your share is a flexible way to own more of your home over time. Many co-owners choose to buy out Co-Ownership fully, while others prefer to keep things as they are. 

When should you buy more of your Co-Ownership home?

You can increase the share of your home that you own - known as "staircasing" - in 5% steps or lump sum amounts, or you can buy out the entire Co-Ownership share whenever you are ready. 

People often choose to increase their share when:

• their mortgage deal is up for renewal and they can borrow more
• they receive inheritance or savings
• their circumstances change, such as earning more or having additional income in the household

How to buy more of your home

When you're a customer, you'll have access to an online account through which you can explore buying more of your home at any time. By requesting a buying-out valuation, you'll find out the current value of your home, and you can use that figure in our buying out calculator to work out how much each additional 5% share would cost.

In the equity sharing partnership you'll have with Co-Ownership (more on this below), the value of the share you want to buy may rise over time (in-line with the value of the property). It's worth keeping this in mind as your circumstances change.

Increasing your share and buying up to 100% is optional - there is no obligation to buy out the remaining share. With Co-Ownership, you have a 99-year lease, so you can live in your home, own the same share you started with, and pay rent on ours for as long as it suits you.

What is an equity sharing partnership?

Before joining Co-Ownership, your solicitor will explain the equity sharing lease, which is an agreement between you and Co-Ownership. It means that when you buy a greater share of your home, or sell it, we both benefit from the value going up. If the value goes down, we share in the loss. As co-owners, we share the risk. 

If you decide to move house at any stage, we split the equity from the sale according to the ratio of ownership. And since Co-Ownership is a not-for-profit organisation and registered charity, our proceeds from the sale are put back in the pot to help other people in Northern Ireland achieve home ownership.