Affordable housing: renting and buying

Affordable housing to rent

Affordable homes to rent are usually managed by housing associations, known as Registered Providers (RPs) and are either for:

• Social rented housing: rents are set according to a government-prescribed formula which takes into account property value, number of bedrooms, and average earnings in the locality.

• Affordable rented housing: rents are set at no more than 80 per cent of the local market rent (including service charges).

Cumbria Choice allocation advertise and allocate social and affordable rented homes in Cumbria. Register for a social and affordable rented home with Cumbria Choice-Based Lettings once registered you can look for properties.

Cumbria Choice-Based Lettings website.

Affordable housing to buy

For those who wish to buy their own affordable home, there are several low cost home ownership initiatives aimed at helping local people on modest incomes to purchase a home. The most common are listed below:

• Discounted sale housing: properties sold at a fixed percentage discount from market value, enabling the purchaser to buy the whole property at a reduced rate. The percentage discount is then applied upon each successive re-sale. The allocation of discounted sale properties is determined through the negotiation of Section 106 planning obligations. The developer then markets these properties to eligible purchasers approved by us through the Discounted Sale Housing Scheme;

• Shared ownership: whereby the purchaser buys a percentage share of a property and pays rent on the share that they do not own, usually to a housing association. You are normally able to buy more shares in the property over time, this is called 'staircasing'. Some schemes permit staircasing up to 100% when you would then become full owner. Housing associations and developers work together to bring shared ownership properties to the market;

• Shared equity: Shared equity is very similar to shared ownership, but you do not pay rent on the other equity share.

Help to Buy schemes

Own Your Home website from HM Government aims at helping you to own your home.