Increasing Your Share in an Open Market Shared Equity Home

If you bought a home through the Open Market Shared Equity (OMSE) scheme in Scotland, you own part of it and the Scottish Government holds the rest under a shared equity agreement. You can buy more of it over time. The scheme guidance says that in most cases you can increase your share all the way up to 100%, meaning the Scottish Government no longer holds a stake¹.

The mechanics are simple to state. You have to increase your share by at least 5% in a year, and you pay all the valuation and legal costs as well as the administration costs of the organisation that handles the request¹. You can increase your stake regardless of whether the market value of the property has gone up or down².

The exception worth knowing before you plan anything is the golden share. If your property has a golden share provision attached, you may only increase up to a maximum equity stake of 90%, so full ownership is not available on that home².

How your share works in an Open Market Shared Equity home

OMSE helps first-time buyers on low to moderate incomes buy a home on the open market, within a certain price threshold³. You pay for the biggest share you can, usually between 60% and 90% of the home's cost, and the Scottish Government holds the remaining share under a shared equity agreement it enters into with you⁴.

Two things about that structure surprise people. The first is that you have complete title to your home and your name is on the title deeds for it, even though the Scottish Government holds a stake⁴. The second is that the value of your house is not affected by your share¹. Your share is a financing arrangement, not a form of part-ownership in the everyday sense.

What you are responsible for is everything a full owner is responsible for: paying your mortgage, home contents insurance, building insurance, repairs and maintenance, council tax, heating, lighting and water bills, and fittings and furniture⁴. The Scottish Government's stake does not reduce those costs.

The Scottish Government's equity share is based on the valuation figure rather than the purchase price². That matters when you come to increase your share, because the price of the extra slice is worked out from a valuation, not from what you originally paid.

Buying more of your home: at least 5% at a time, up to 100%

Increasing your share, sometimes called staircasing, is the process of buying back part of the Scottish Government's stake. The rule on size is a floor, not a ceiling: if you want to increase your share, you have to increase it by at least 5% in a year¹. There is no stated maximum number of increases, but each one has to clear that 5% minimum.

The upper limit depends on your property. In most cases you can increase your share all the way up to 100%¹. Where a golden share provision is attached, the maximum equity stake is 90%². If you are unsure which applies to your home, the shared equity agreement you signed at purchase sets it out, and the administering agent can confirm it.

The same 5% minimum and the same cost rule apply to the New Supply Shared Equity scheme, the sibling scheme for new-build homes, where you also have to increase your share by at least 5% in a year and pay all the valuation, legal and administration costs⁶.

For comparison, other shared ownership products in the UK work differently. Under the Right to Shared Ownership in England you can buy more shares in the future, known as staircasing, and pay less rent on the rest of the property⁷. Shared ownership generally allows you to buy more shares, usually increasing to up to 100%⁸. The new national model for shared ownership in England lets new shared owners buy additional shares in 1% increments for up to 15 years, with heavily reduced fees⁹. OMSE has no equivalent small-increment route: 5% a year is the minimum step.

The costs of increasing your share fall on you

Every cost of increasing your share sits with you. The scheme guidance is explicit: you have to pay all the valuation and legal costs as well as the administration costs of the organisation that will handle the request¹. The same wording applies to the New Supply Shared Equity scheme⁶.

That means three separate bills, and it is worth understanding what drives each.

The valuation requirement has a wrinkle. For an existing home, the valuation usually comes from the Home Report the seller provides, and you are asked to provide a copy of it⁵. For a new build, you are required to obtain a valuation at your own expense¹⁰. Either way, the figure that comes back sets the price of the share you are buying, because the Scottish Government's equity share is based on the valuation figure rather than the purchase price².

Because each increase carries its own valuation, legal and administration costs, the number of times you staircase affects the total you spend on fees. Two increases of 5% cost more in fees than one increase of 10%, even though the share you end up owning is the same.

How to increase your share with Link Homes

Link Homes is the administering agent for the Open Market Shared Equity scheme¹¹. The scheme guidance states that the first point of contact for anyone wanting to increase their share is the administering agent for the OMSE scheme, Link Homes¹.

The order of events runs roughly like this:

1. Contact Link Homes to tell them you want to increase your share¹.
2. Take independent financial and legal advice, as the scheme guidance advises².
3. Obtain a valuation from an independent professionally qualified valuer registered with the RICS, which for an existing home will usually be the Home Report¹⁰.
4. Instruct a solicitor to handle the legal work on the transfer of the extra share.
5. Pay the valuation, legal and administration costs¹.

If you want to remortgage your home, the route is different: you have to contact the registered social landlord or local council who handled the sale¹. That is a separate contact from Link Homes, and it is worth keeping the two straight.

Who values my home when I buy a bigger share?

The valuation has to come from an independent professionally qualified valuer who is registered with the RICS¹⁰. For an existing home, that valuation will usually form part of the Home Report, which the seller provides before you buy¹⁰. For a new build, you are required to obtain a valuation at your own expense¹⁰.

The valuation is not a formality, because it sets the price. The Scottish Government's equity share is based on the valuation figure rather than the purchase price². If the valuation comes in higher than you expected, the share you are buying costs more; if it comes in lower, it costs less.

There is a separate question about what you have done to the property since you bought it. Changes to your home may increase or decrease its market value, and that can affect the price if you buy shares of 5% or more in the future¹². So improvements you have made can raise the price of the next slice you buy. On the other side of the ledger, if a shared owner's home increases in value over a number of years they will receive this additional equity if they sell¹³. The two effects pull in opposite directions, and both flow from the same valuation.

Remortgaging, selling and what the Scottish Government gets back

When you sell, the split follows your share. If you have a 70% share of your home and you decide to sell it, you get 70% of the selling price and the Scottish Government gets 30%¹. The same example appears in the New Supply Shared Equity guidance¹⁴.

The basis for that calculation is the sale price, not the valuation. On the sale of your home the equity percentage which is paid to the Scottish Government is based on the sale price of the property regardless of whether the property has increased or decreased in value and regardless of whether the sale price is above or below the valuation figure¹⁰. So a fall in the market reduces what the Scottish Government receives as well as what you receive, and a rise increases both.

If you increase your share to 100%, the Scottish Government no longer holds a stake, and there is nothing to repay on sale⁶. Until then, the Scottish Government will get a share of the money if you ever choose to sell the home⁴.

Remortgaging is a separate process with a separate contact. If you want to remortgage your home, you have to contact the registered social landlord or local council who handled the sale¹.

Is OMSE available outside Scotland?

No. The OMSE scheme is available across Scotland only¹⁵. It is open to first-time buyers and priority access groups¹⁵, and it helps people buy a home within certain price thresholds for sale on the open market¹⁶. There are different threshold prices across Scotland⁴, and the thresholds are set at the middle (median) house price¹⁷.

If you are buying outside Scotland, the equivalent schemes are different products with different rules. In England, shared ownership lets you buy more shares in the property, usually increasing to up to 100%⁸, and the Right to Shared Ownership allows staircasing with reduced rent on the rest of the property⁷. In Northern Ireland, the House Sales Scheme lets you increase your equity share in multiples of five per cent at any time, which is known as staircasing¹⁸. In Wales, shared equity and shared ownership schemes operate under their own rules.

The Scottish Government also runs other shared equity products with their own repayment terms. Under the First Home Fund, the Scottish Government's equity stake is repaid at the time of sale or earlier, if the buyer wishes¹⁹. Under Mortgage to Shared Equity, the Scottish Government can buy up to 30% of your property, taking a financial stake in your home while you still own it and reduce monthly payments to your lender²⁰.