Shared Ownership, Homebuy and Rent to Own in Wales

Wales runs its own home ownership schemes, separate from the ones in England and Scotland, and three of them are designed for people who cannot afford to buy a home outright. Shared Ownership - Wales lets you buy a share of between 25% and 75% of a property and pay rent on the share you do not own¹. Homebuy - Wales provides an equity loan of between 30% and 50% of the price of an existing property, with no interest and no monthly payments on the loan itself¹. Rent to Own - Wales, now closed to new applicants, let tenants build a deposit by returning 25% of the rent they paid over the tenancy².

All three are Welsh Government schemes aimed at households on modest incomes, and each works differently. Shared Ownership splits ownership with a housing association, Homebuy splits the cost with an interest-free loan, and Rent to Own combined renting with saving. This page sets out what each one offers, who qualifies, what the rules are while you live in the home, and how each compares with Help to Buy - Wales, the shared equity loan scheme for new builds that closed to new applications in March 2025³. For the wider picture of buying a home in Wales, see our guide to buying a home in Wales.

Three routes to part-owning a home in Wales

The three Welsh schemes answer the same problem in different ways: a household that cannot borrow enough to buy a home outright needs someone else to fill the gap. In Shared Ownership, that someone is a housing association, which keeps the share you do not buy and charges you rent on it. In Homebuy, it is the housing association's money itself: you borrow a slice of the purchase price interest-free and repay it as a percentage of the home's value when you sell, or earlier if you choose. In Rent to Own, the gap was time: you rented first and the scheme returned part of your rent, plus a share of any growth in the property's value, to use as a deposit¹.

Which route suits a household depends on its circumstances. Shared Ownership suits people who can afford a mortgage on a quarter or more of a home but not on the whole of it, and who are happy to pay rent alongside the mortgage. Homebuy suits people who can fund most of the price themselves, normally 70% through a mortgage and savings, and who want to buy an existing property rather than a new build⁶. Rent to Own was for people who had no deposit at all and could not save one while paying market rent².

A fourth scheme, Help to Buy - Wales, sat alongside these for new-build homes and is covered in more detail in our guide to Help to Buy - Wales. It lent up to 20% of the value of a newly built home, interest-free for the first five years, and closed to new purchases at the end of March 2025³. The three schemes on this page are the ones still open to new buyers in some form, though Rent to Own only barely, as explained below.

Shared Ownership: buy 25% to 75% and pay rent on the rest

Shared Ownership - Wales is a part buy, part rent scheme. You buy an initial share of between 25% and 75% of the value of the property, funded by a mortgage and any savings you have, and you pay rent to the housing association on the share you do not own¹. The scheme is not available to buy-to-let investors: the home must be your principal or only home⁸.

The buyers' guide gives a worked illustration of how the numbers fit together, on a home valued at £200,000:

The illustration is from the official buyers' guide⁸. The rent is not fixed forever: it is subject to an annual increase of no more than the 12 month average Consumer Prices Index plus 1%⁸. That cap limits how fast the rent on your unsold share can rise, but it does mean the rent grows each year even while your mortgage payments follow your lender's rate.

You can buy more of the home over time, a process called staircasing. Additional shares must be at least 10% of the value of your home, and the final staircasing step to reach 100% must also be at least 10%⁸. Shares are sold at the current market value, established by a valuer qualified with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and the valuation must disregard any improvements your landlord consented to⁸. Our guide to shared ownership staircasing covers the process and costs in detail.

When you come to sell, if you still own less than 100%, your landlord has the right to nominate a person to buy your share, and will typically have 8 weeks to do so⁸. This is the housing association's opportunity to keep the home within the affordable housing stock. Our guide to selling a shared ownership home explains what this means in practice.

Who can get Shared Ownership: household income of £60,000 or less

Eligibility for Shared Ownership - Wales rests on three main tests. First, your combined household income must be £60,000 or less each year⁴. Second, you must be a first-time buyer, or a newly forming household, or relocating for work purposes to an area where property prices do not allow you to buy a home suitable for your family size⁴. Third, you must not currently own another home, including anywhere outside Wales, unless a court order forces you to remain on the deeds of a property where your children live⁴.

There are also residency and status conditions. Applicants must be either a British or EU/EEA citizen, or have indefinite leave to remain⁸. The home you buy must be your principal or only home, and you may not sub-let all or part of it⁸.

Money matters beyond income. Excluding your mortgage deposit and any Land Transaction Tax, you will likely need at least an average of £2,500 of savings to cover the costs of buying, such as legal fees and surveys⁸. Land Transaction Tax is Wales's property tax, and shared ownership purchases can be taxed in particular ways: see our guide to Land Transaction Tax for how it works. When you find a home, you pay a £500 non-refundable reservation fee to secure the property, which is deducted from the final purchase price⁸.

For context on who these income limits serve, official statistics on relative income poverty in Wales show that people in owner-occupied housing have a lower poverty rate, 14%, than those in other tenures, which is part of why the Welsh Government targets ownership support at households below the £60,000 line⁹.

Homebuy: an interest-free equity loan for 30% to 50% of the price

Homebuy - Wales supports households by providing an equity loan to assist with purchasing an existing property⁶. The loan is between 30% and 50% of the property value for those who meet specific criteria¹. Unlike Shared Ownership, the housing association does not own a share of your home: you own all of it, and the loan is simply a debt secured against the property.

The buyer's contribution is normally 70% of the purchase price, through a mortgage and/or personal savings⁶. Current guidance states the 70% figure, though documents in the scheme's history have described the contribution differently, so the exact split in a local scheme should be confirmed with the housing association running it⁶. The official example shows how it works on a £200,000 purchase: you contribute £140,000, which is 70%, and the equity loan covers the remaining £60,000, which is 30%⁶.

The loan itself costs nothing to hold. Under the terms of the loan there are no interest or other credit charges, so the loan has no annual percentage rate¹⁰. There are no monthly payments to the housing association: you make the agreed payments to your mortgage lender and nothing else on a monthly basis⁶. You will need to arrange a mortgage from an approved lender, which for the purposes of the scheme means a building society, a bank, a friendly society or an insurance company¹⁰.

Eligibility is local as well as personal. You must be able to show the local authority or registered social landlord either that you are not adequately housed, or that you can no longer afford to occupy your current home¹¹. A joint application will not qualify unless all parties are to jointly own the home¹⁰. Homebuy is not available in all areas, and where it is available the scheme is subject to local eligibility criteria⁶. It is operated by housing associations throughout Wales, but only where the local authority decides that money should be allocated for its provision, and it is funded by the Welsh Government¹⁰. In rural areas, access may in some instances be restricted to people who meet additional local residency or employment rules agreed with the local authority¹⁰.

What you repay on a Homebuy loan when the home's value changes

The defining feature of a Homebuy loan is that you repay the same percentage you borrowed, not the same amount of money. You must repay the equity loan when you sell the home, at the equivalent percentage of your home's value at the time you sell it⁶. You can also repay before you sell, in which case you repay based on the value of your home at that time⁶.

The official examples show what this means on the £200,000 home with a 30% loan⁶:

Because the loan is a percentage stake in the home's value, it rises and falls with the market. If the home goes up in value, you repay more than you borrowed, and the housing association shares in the growth. If the home falls in value, you repay less, and the housing association shares in the loss. This is the same principle as the shared equity model used in Help to Buy - Wales, where the repayment is a proportion of either the current market value or the sale price, whichever is higher¹². A household whose home falls substantially in value could find the loan still owed on a property worth less than the combined mortgage and equity loan, a position explained in our guide to negative equity.

Rent to Own: 25% of your rent back towards a deposit

Rent to Own - Wales was built for people who could afford to rent, and could afford a mortgage, but had no way to save a deposit while renting. The scheme enabled tenants of rental properties within the scheme to build up a lump sum towards a deposit while they rented their home, which could then be used to help secure a mortgage to purchase the property². You received 25% of the rent paid over the duration of the tenancy, and 50% of the increase in the property value, if any, during the period you had rented the property².

The scheme is now closed. The Rent to Own - Wales scheme is closed, and all homes have been built and let⁵. A small number of homes may become available in future¹³, and the UK Government's guidance notes the scheme has closed to new landlords but some properties might still be available¹⁴. Anyone interested would need to contact a participating landlord in their local area¹⁵.

The official examples show how the deposit built up on a home valued at £150,000, with rent of £620 a month²:

Across the worked examples, the level of gifted deposit at the end of year 5 varied from between circa 6.1 to 10.2 percent of the property's value, despite the same monthly rent throughout¹⁶. The 50% share of any rise in value is what separates the rising and falling cases: when values fell, the deposit came from the rent return alone.

Eligibility, for anyone who finds a property, mirrors Shared Ownership. Your combined household income must be £60,000 or less each year, you must not currently own a home anywhere in the world unless a court order forces you to remain on the deeds of a property where your children live, you must rent an eligible home from a participating landlord, and you must be able to afford the rent of your selected property⁷. To apply, you read the Rent to Own - Wales buyers' guide, contact participating landlords to find available properties, and then, on identifying a property you wish to reserve, pay a holding fee of £250 and complete the application form¹⁵.

Shared Ownership, Homebuy or Help to Buy: how each one compares

These schemes overlap less than they first appear. The clearest way to see the differences is side by side:

Help to Buy - Wales was a Welsh Government scheme providing a shared equity loan to buyers of new-build homes²⁰. Buyers needed a minimum 5% cash deposit, a repayment mortgage of at least 25% of the purchase price, and the equity loan ran from a minimum of 10% up to 20% of the market value¹⁷. All homes sold through the scheme had to meet a minimum Energy Performance Certificate rating of B¹⁹. First-time buyers accounted for 77% (11,340) of all completed purchases since the scheme's introduction²⁰, and 84% of purchases in 2023-24¹⁹. The scheme's data is collected on behalf of the Welsh Government by Help to Buy (Wales) Ltd³.

The repayment mechanics differ in one important way. A Help to Buy equity loan is repaid as a percentage of either the current market value, established by an independent RICS valuation, or the sale price, whichever is higher¹². A Homebuy loan is repaid at the equivalent percentage of the home's value at the time of repayment, with no "whichever is higher" test in the guidance⁶. Both share the core principle: the amount repaid is linked to the value of the home at the point of repayment, and not the amount originally borrowed¹².

For a fuller side-by-side of the two main open routes, see Shared Ownership or Help to Buy - Wales, and for the closed Rent to Own alternative, Rent to Own Wales or Help to Buy Wales. Scotland's equivalent schemes work differently again, as our guide to shared equity schemes in Scotland explains. England's Right to Shared Ownership scheme, for housing association tenants, is not available in Wales²¹.

How to apply for each scheme

Each scheme has its own route in, and the first step in every case is reading the official guidance before completing an application form²².

Shared Ownership - Wales. The buyers' guide contains details about how the scheme works, eligibility and how to apply, and should be read before completing the application form²². Applications are made through the housing association or registered social landlord offering the property you want to buy.

Homebuy - Wales. Because the scheme is operated by housing associations but only where the local authority allocates money for it, the practical first step is to contact your local authority or local housing associations to find out whether Homebuy operates in your area and what the local eligibility criteria are¹⁰. You will need to show you are not adequately housed or can no longer afford your current home, and to arrange a mortgage from an approved lender¹¹.

Rent to Own - Wales. The scheme is closed and all homes have been built and let⁵. If a small number of homes become available in future, you would contact a participating landlord in your local area, and on identifying a property you wish to reserve, pay a holding fee of £250 and complete the Rent to Own - Wales application form¹⁵.

Help to Buy - Wales. The scheme closed to new purchases at the end of March 2025, so there is no longer an application route³. Existing equity loan holders deal with the scheme's administrator for valuations, part repayments and repayments on sale¹².

For the general mechanics of a purchase once a scheme has agreed to help, our step-by-step guide to how to buy a house and our guide to the costs of buying cover the process and the fees involved. You can own a home with up to 3 other people, which matters for joint applications under any of these schemes²³.

Benefits: Housing Benefit and help with mortgage costs

The interaction between these schemes and benefits is different for each one, and the differences matter both before and after you buy.

For Rent to Own, tenants are not eligible for Housing Benefit⁷. The scheme expected you to be able to afford the rent of your selected property from your own resources⁷.

For Homebuy, the position is more generous at the application stage. Applicants can be in receipt of Housing Benefit, or have been in receipt of Housing Benefit in the 12 months prior to their application, as long as they meet the other criteria and the lender's affordability assessment¹¹. Once applicants become homeowners, they may not be able to claim Housing Benefit, but additional support may be provided through Support for Mortgage Interest¹¹.

For shared owners generally, benefits rules treat a shared ownership lease as a tenancy granted on payment of a premium calculated by reference to a percentage of the value of the dwelling, which is how Housing Benefit and Universal Credit legislation define the arrangement in England and Wales²⁴. Our guide to Housing Benefit and Universal Credit for shared owners covers this in detail.

There is also a scheme for people who already own and are struggling. If you are a homeowner, you may be able to get support from the Help to Stay - Wales scheme²⁵. The scheme can provide eligible applicants with a shared equity loan of up to 49% of the property's market value, to help reduce mortgage payments to an affordable level, alongside free financial advice²⁶. You cannot apply if you own or part-own any other property, and if your property is jointly owned, all owners must give consent and sign the application form before the scheme can proceed²⁶. Your property must be in Wales²⁷.

Living in the home: sub-letting, repairs and improvements

The rules on what you can do with the home are set by the lease or the scheme's terms, and they are stricter than for a straightforward owner-occupier.

Sub-letting. A Shared Ownership - Wales lease does not allow sub-letting, because it can cause management difficulties if conditions in the lease need to be enforced. Sub-letting is permitted only in exceptional circumstances for serving Armed Forces personnel, and only with the landlord's prior approval. Taking in lodgers is permitted⁸. The home must be your principal or only home⁸. Our guide to renting out a shared ownership home covers the position in more depth.

Repairs. The standard shared ownership lease requires the leaseholder to keep the property in good and substantial repair and condition²⁸. Under Rent to Own, the tenant's obligations on purchase included keeping the property in good repair and condition, with the garden maintained, integrated appliances in good mechanical order, and any destroyed or damaged parts fully restored¹⁶.

Improvements. Under Shared Ownership - Wales, small DIY jobs and general upkeep are allowed with the landlord's prior written consent, but significant or structural repairs and improvements are not permitted, including loft conversions, extensions, conservatories and changes to the floor plan or layout, even if they would increase the market value⁸. This protects the landlord's interest in the share it owns, and it also feeds into staircasing: when you buy further shares, the valuation disregards improvements the landlord consented to, so consented improvements do not raise the price of the shares you buy⁸.

Help to Buy - Wales terms. Holders of a Help to Buy equity mortgage are not allowed to sublet the home without consent, though you may still be able to rent out a room as long as you also continue to reside at the property²⁹. If you want to undertake alterations, you will need to pay back your equity mortgage before you can go ahead, unless written consent has been given³⁰. Switching lenders requires permission, and further borrowing is only permitted for purposes such as repaying the equity loan, structural alterations on medical grounds, or a transfer of equity³¹.

Falling behind on the rent owed to a housing association has consequences for a shared owner, up to and including loss of the home, which our guide to shared ownership arrears explains. For the wider protections that apply when you buy, including where to complain if something goes wrong, see complaining when buying a home goes wrong and our overview of first-time buyer schemes across the four nations.