We have provided a list of typical questions and answers about the Code. If your question/answer is not covered in this information, please contact our team via the form on the Contact Us page of the website.
About the Shared Ownership Code (the Code)
The Shared Ownership Code is a code of practice that shared ownership housing providers can voluntarily choose to adopt. It sets out detailed requirements for how those housing providers serve shared owners and prospective shared owners.
The Code aims to ensure transparency, fairness, and improved support for shared owners in marketing, purchasing, and management of homes. It has been designed to build on and complement existing regulation, raising standards across the sector and improving outcomes for shared owners.
- Improved upfront transparency – clear, accessible information on all fees and charges, including a published list of all potential fees and detailed service charge information at reservation stage. This includes explanations of block ownership, service arrangements, planned changes, and illustrative examples of possible future increases.
- Improved transparency on service charges throughout – initial charges cannot be artificially low, helping to ensure the shared owner sees a realistic charge for services from the outset. Any material annual increase in total service charges must be explained in writing.
- Enhanced rights – a 14-day cooling-off period when buying, a 12-month defects period from move-in, and the right to a pre-completion survey.
- Better ongoing support – easier access to lease extensions and staircasing, with providers required to offer one of three standardised approaches to informal lease extensions and to proactively advise customers when short leases may affect them.
- Consistency across providers – knowing that any Code adopter meets the same minimum standards in marketing, sale, and ongoing management.
- Clarity of information – ensure shared owners and prospective shared owners have clear information on what shared ownership is, their responsibilities as shared owners, and the responsibilities of providers to them.
- Cost transparency – make clear what the different categories of costs are for shared owners and how they may change over time. Have clear, accessible procedures to support shared owners navigating these costs.
- Parity – ensure that shared owners buying new homes enjoy similar standards of sales transparency and completion as with other new homeowners.
- Staircasing and selling – establish clear and accessible policies on staircasing and selling, and signpost shared owners to comprehensive information and guidance to help them understand and navigate the staircasing and selling processes.
- Unplanned costs – offer options to support shared owners to better manage unplanned costs, and where suitable, steer them towards external guidance.
- Service charges – have clear policies on how to address shared owners’ service requests and complaints, and seek to resolve them promptly.
- Vulnerable customers – ensure that people with a disability who rely on benefits for their income are given an equal opportunity to buy a shared ownership home.
- Builds trust with customers – clear, transparent communication reduces misunderstandings and boosts customer confidence and satisfaction.
- Enhances reputation – demonstrates commitment to delivering quality shared ownership homes and excellent customer service, valued by customers, lenders, and partners.
- Saves time and resources – streamlined processes free up your team while still improving the customer experience.
- Sets clear standards – provides a benchmark for “what good looks like” in delivering high-quality shared ownership services.
- Supports your teams – practical tools, templates, and training help staff meet Code standards.
- Help to reduce complaints and disputes – sets clearer expectations and improved information for customers.
Benefits to the wider shared ownership sector:
- Raises overall standards – ensures all adopters meet consistent and fair practices.
- Improves trust and confidence – makes shared ownership a clearer and more attractive option for buyers.
- Supports sector sustainability – helps reduce customer dissatisfaction and reinforces shared ownership as a credible, long-term housing solution.
Adopting the Shared Ownership Code (‘the Code’)
The Shared Ownership Code is available to registered housing providers who are involved in delivering or managing shared ownership properties. It is available for providers to register interest in adopting on a voluntary basis and is not mandatory.
Organisations can register their interest in being a Code Adopter, can complete the form here.
From 3 November 2025, organisations will be able make their application to become a Code Adopter via our website. We will be in touch with all organisations who have previously registered their interest in becoming a Code Adopter.
Each stage for how to become a Code Adopter has been summarised below. A detailed explanation is provided in the Adopting the Shared Ownership Code: A Guide for Providers, which is available to download in the resources section at the bottom of the Adopt the Code webpage.
- Register your interest via our website www.sharedownershipcode.org.uk.
- Learn more about the Code by attending a webinar or reviewing the content on www.sharedownershipcode.org.uk.
- Apply via this website (available from 3 November 2025).
- Make payment – Once your application has been accepted and payment has been received, we will list your organisation on the register of Code Adopters, with the status: Pending.
- Access resources and support – On confirmation of payment, you will receive access to resources and a training pack to complete your readiness preparations to become a Code Adopter.
- Review and align your processes and systems – The Code Self-Assessment Checklist will help structure the review of your procedures. Each housing provider can determine how this exercise is undertaken.
- Complete staff training for all employees involved in the delivery of shared ownership.
- Attestation (available from 5 January 2026) – Complete the declaration by a senior representative with appropriate authority — usually a CEO, CFO or similar — to confirm your organisation will comply with the Code.
- As part of the attestation, you will be asked to provide a sample of evidence of compliance with the Code.
- Confirm activation date – Providers can choose the date to activate their membership. All shared ownership units that are owned or offered for sale from that day will be covered by the Shared Ownership Code.
We have developed a range of resources to support adoption of the Shared Ownership Code. All current resources are available on the About the Code page of the website here. They include:
- The Shared Ownership Code.
- The Shared Ownership Code Overview.
- Adopting the Shared Ownership Code: A Guide for Providers – takes providers through the whole process of adopting the Code as well as outlining key benefits for customers and providers, and how it supports shared ownership as an important housing tenure.
- A guide to service charges under the Shared Ownership Code – aimed at staff responsible for service charges within shared ownership housing providers and observers who want to understand these new requirements and supporting materials.
- Service Charge Information Document (SCID) for Shared Ownership – this template was developed in collaboration with housing providers and specialist service charge experts. The Code introduces a requirement that providers must complete and present a SCID at point of sale. The SCID is intended to help prospective shared owners understand more about how services are provided, how they are charged for them, and about the potential for these charges to rise. An editable version of this document will be available to organisations that register to adopt the Code, alongside an alignment checklist.
- Shared Ownership Learning Directory – helps providers to understand what learning and development opportunities are available to help equip their teams to serve shared owners well.
Basic training on the Code for the staff of Code adopters is currently in development. We expect this will initially be a recorded PowerPoint presentation on the Code, and it is planned to be made available in Autumn 2025.
In addition, we have developed the Shared Ownership Learning Directory – a document which outlines what learning and development opportunities are available to help organisations equip their teams to serve shared owners well.
We encourage organisations to use this directory as a starting point to identify suitable learning and development opportunities for individuals and pathways for team development. It does not cover all training offers available but focuses on the main shared ownership networking and training offers.
For support, please us the form on the Contact Us page, and our team will be in touch.
We welcome any feedback, which can be made via our Contact Us page.
The Shared Ownership Council published the first draft Shared Ownership Code in June 2024, which was developed by Social Finance – a not-for-profit enterprise that provides the capacity and capability to run the Council – with input from a working group drawn from across shared ownership industry practitioners.
The Council then ran a comprehensive consultation between June-September 2024 to gather feedback on the Code and the shared ownership experience. The consultation included a consumer survey (of 1,700 current and prospective shared owners), regional consumer focus groups, and a survey completed by 50 industry bodies, including around 30 housing providers.
Feedback from the consultation shaped a revised version of the Code, published in December 2024. Between December 2024-March 2025, the Council then piloted the Code with eight housing providers to ensure it was easy and practical to implement when launched industry-wide.
Insights from the consultation, pilot, and wider feedback shaped the final version of the Shared Ownership Code, published in June 2025.
The New Homes Quality Board was appointed by the Shared Ownership Council as the Code operator for the Shared Ownership Code, with full responsibility transferring on 7 October 2025.
The operator will be responsible for reviewing and updating the Code periodically to reflect changes in legislation, policy, or consumer needs. Where new requirements are proposed, they should be piloted with members before wider rollout to ensure they are workable in practice.
Accreditation of the Shared Ownership Code (‘the Code’)
- Make payment. Once your application has been accepted and payment has been received, we will list your organisation on the register of Code Adopters, with the status: Pending.
- Access resources and support. On confirmation of payment, you will receive access to resources and a training pack to complete your readiness preparations to become a Code Adopter.
- Review and align your processes and systems. The Code Self-Assessment Checklist will help structure the review of your procedures. Each housing provider can determine how this exercise is undertaken.
- Complete staff training for all employees involved in the delivery of shared ownership.
- Attestation (available from 5 January 2026). Complete the declaration by a senior representative with appropriate authority — usually a CEO, CFO or similar — to confirm your organisation will comply with the Code.
- Provide evidence of compliance. As part of the attestation, you will be asked to provide a sample of evidence of compliance with the Code.
- Confirm activation date. Providers can choose the date to activate their membership. All shared ownership units that are owned or offered for sale from that day will be covered by the Shared Ownership Code.
About the Code, Operations and Governance
- A consumer code is a set of enforceable standards that protect people when buying or using key services.
- Consumer codes aim to make things:
- Clearer (no jargon or hidden terms).
- Fairer (balanced, transparent processes).
- Consistent (same rules, whoever you are dealing with).
- Examples you may know:
- New Homes Quality Code (NHQB) – for house builders of private homes.
- ARLA Propertymark – for lettings and estate agents.
The Code operator:
- Maintains a customer-facing interface that signposts customers to the right organisations for help or complaints.
- Creates resources that help customers understand the Code and their rights.
- Clearly states that the Code is not a complaints resolution body but supports improved standards and transparency.
The Code operator:
- Provides a contact inbox for customers through which it can signpost the customer to the relevant complaints and redress mechanisms at the housing provider or the Housing Ombudsman.
- Does not run a customer resolution service: this remains the role of the Housing Ombudsman as per the status quo. The Housing Ombudsman has indicated it will use the Code as a framework when reviewing shared ownership complaints from shared ownership customers of signed-up providers.
- Will work with the Housing Ombudsman to identify and monitor patterns of concern or specific member practices that may breach the Code and use this information to inform compliance reviews and panel decisions.
The operator of the Shared Ownership Code monitors trends and systemic issues via anonymised data from the Housing Ombudsman and other sources. Where patterns of non-compliance with the Code are identified, a Shared Ownership Membership Committee will help to maintain the integrity of the Code and the Code Adopter badge to ensure it serves as a true indicator of good practice to customers. The preferred outcome is to support members to remain within the Code, as long as doing so does not negatively affect the integrity of the Code and Code Adopter badge.
The Committee has no ability to issue fines but will have the authority to recommend a range of responses in response to Code breaches all aimed at maintaining the integrity of the Code, including issuing warnings, additional measures such as Code training or monitoring; or removing a provider’s Code membership in serious cases. The panel will be composed of impartial individuals with relevant expertise and experience, and will consider findings from Ombudsman decisions, annual updates from light-touch verification, and any identified breaches of the Code.
Each year, housing providers update their submitted evidence. The Code operator performs another light-touch review, with more detailed scrutiny for providers who are:
- Recently under review by the independent Membership Committee.
- Not Registered Providers regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing.
This approach allows the Code operator to take a risk-based approach to verification.
The Code Adopter badge signals a provider’s compliance with the Code and commitment to good practice. It should be used only by Code members and in line with established rules.
The Code operator:
- Monitors the Code Adopter badge usage through light-touch and responsive checks.
- Ensures it is not misused or used by non-members.
If a provider uses the Code Adopter badge without being a member, or breaches the rules of use, the Code operator will act to prevent misuse, maintaining the badge’s value and credibility.
The value and conditions of the incentive, clearly and in advance of the buyer making a decision.
No. Customers must be free to choose their own legal or financial advisers. You must not imply that using your solicitor or broker is a requirement or suggest that the sale could fall through if they do not.
Yes. You may appoint a financial adviser for the purpose of conducting the Homes England Capital Funding Guide affordability assessment, but this must not be presented as a condition of proceeding with the sale.
This requirement means that housing providers are not permitted to subsidise the service charge as an incentive to improve affordability, for example, by artificially lowering the estimated service charge in the first year. Instead, if you wish to offer a financial incentive to improve affordability, any discount must be applied directly to the purchase price of the home, not the service charge estimate.
Example: Let’s say the full market value of the home is £100,000, and the actual annual service charge is £5,000. Previously, to improve affordability in the first year, a provider might have reduced the service charge by £2,000, meaning the buyer would see an estimated charge of £3,000 instead of £5,000. Under the Shared Ownership Code, this is no longer allowed. If you still want to offer a £2,000 financial incentive, it must come off the purchase price, so the new sale price would be £98,000, with the service charge remaining estimated at £5,000.
The Code aims to ensure transparency and accuracy in service charge estimates. Any effort to improve affordability must be reflected in the purchase price, not by adjusting or subsidising the service charge figure.
This section originally asked housing providers to comply with the principles of the New Homes Quality Code, with the intention of aligning the shared owner experience with that of other purchasers of new homes.
Following queries from providers who had registered interest in adopting the Code, we reviewed this item. In parallel, the New Homes Quality Board has carried out a review of the New Homes Quality Code (NHQC) and determined that the principles of the NHQC will extend to all its members’ customers, including housing providers and their ultimate customers (shared owners). We have therefore concluded that the intended purpose of this section is sufficiently addressed elsewhere. As a result, section 2.20 is now marked as deleted. The numbering of all other items remains unchanged.
Service charge demands must include an itemised breakdown of charges, explanations for increases over 10% above inflation, any differences of over 10% between estimate and actual, and sinking or reserve fund statements. Include clear FAQs and information about any existing caps.
If individual cost lines (like lift maintenance) increase but are offset by decreases in other areas (like grounds maintenance), resulting in no significant overall increase, then there is no requirement under this rule to explain the individual line-item increases. However, good practice may still include transparency on key variances, even if not formally required.
Any increase in the property’s value caused by the lease extension is ignored in future staircasing valuations. This aligns with Section 2.3.3 of the Capital Funding Guide (CFG), which allows providers to treat improvements paid for by the leaseholder – such as a lease extension – as something that should not be factored into the market value when calculating the cost of buying more shares. This ensures the shared owner is not charged again (via a higher valuation) for something they already paid for.
A notional working example: A shared owner holds 50% of a flat valued at £200,000 with 85 years remaining on the lease. They pay to extend the lease to 990 years. The lease extension increases the flat’s value to £215,000. A year later, they want to staircase and buy another 25%. If the lease extension is treated as an improvement, the valuer must assess the home’s market value as if it still had 85 years remaining.
Therefore, the price of the extra 25% share is based on the pre-extension value, protecting the shared owner from effectively paying twice for the lease extension. This is one of three approaches allowable under the Shared Ownership Code and is used by a minority of providers today, including at least one large housing association.