First Time Buyers Initiative

First time buyers’ initiative aims to give more people the opportunity to own their own homes by increasing the affordable housing for sale.  The scheme is being provided by English Partnerships, which is the national regeneration agency.  The initiative is a shared equity scheme whereby the buyer must purchase at least half of the property and English Partnerships will retain the rest.

After the buyer has lived in the home for three years, a charge must be paid to English Partnerships based on a percentage of the equity retained by English Partnerships.

Approximately half the homes available under this initiative will be reserved for key public sector workers, such as health workers, police officers and other emergency service workers.  The remaining homes will be available to groups identified as priorities by Regional Housing Boards.

The maximum household income for eligibility for this scheme should not be more than £60,000 although lower limits may apply to some eligible groups.  Priority will be given to people currently in private rented or temporary accommodation.

There is initially no rental payable on the share retained by English Partnerships.  There is nothing to pay for the first three years, but after three years the buyers will pay a fee to the government of 1% per annum on the amount funded through English Partnerships.  This fee will increase each year by a fixed percentage, reaching a maximum of 3% after five years in the property.

There are various first time buyer initiative schemes currently being marketed across the country and details of these schemes are available from the My FTBI Home website