Shared Ownership Council creates new Shared Ownership Code

A new Shared Ownership Code (“the Code”) has been created by the Shared Ownership Council, which is backed by 27 housing providers and financial institutions, alongside housing associations and shared ownership specialists. Social landlords can now sign up to this voluntary Code designed in an attempt to standardise the shared ownership offering in the UK and raise standards.

The Code has been developed over a consultation with customers, mortgage lenders and other stakeholders, over the last 18 months following a four-month pilot with eight landlords.

It is designed to improve the shared ownership experience and increase satisfaction. It is proposed to cover all organisations that interact with shared owners aiming to ensure fairness, transparency and improved support for shared owners in marketing, purchasing, and management of their homes. There is also hope that this increasingly standardised model will help provide additional investment into the product.

The Code includes A Statement of Principles which are the core commitments Code adopters agree to uphold in their dealings with shared owners and prospective shared owners. These appear before the main body of the Code and serve as the foundation. There are also Requirements within each section of the Code and these practical steps set out what providers must do to meet the expectations of the Code. These are grouped under five headings: Accessibility, Exploring shared ownership, Living as a shared owner, Moving as a shared owner and, Making complaints, monitoring and data.

The code sets out a number of key principles and how to deliver them, including:

• A 14-day cooling off period that enables customers to cancel their agreement and then receive a full refund of their reservation fees.
• A defects period of at least 12 months from purchase completion, (after an initial transition period.)
• The publication of a full, up-to-date and comprehensive list of additional fees and charges across the shared ownership journey. This does not include service charges.
• Service charge transparency, including providers giving customers a Service Charge Information Document (SCID). This document will include initial charges, planned charges, and detailed scenarios for future increases. 
• All staff with shared ownership related responsibilities must be adequately trained on the requirements of the code. This involves clear training plans for involved staff.

Under the Code, there will be a requirement to provide an information document to customers showing a range of scenarios for potential service charge changes and an assessment management plan. 

In order to meet the Code, providers across England would also be required to follow the Greater London Authority’s Service Charges Charter aiming to improve the leaseholder’s experience and collaborate with the freeholder owners on affordability. 

Adopters of the Code commit to;

• Following the Code’s overarching 7 principles;
• Implementing all relevant parts of the Code for homes sold and managed under shared ownership; 
• Cooperating with Code monitoring processes; 
• Participating in the Code operator’s annual review and improvement processes; 
• Accepting decisions made by the Shared Ownership Code’s membership committee.

Where a provider fails to meet the standards, the Code Operator may remove their registration status and use of the Shared Ownership Code badge.

Ann Santry, chair of the Shared Ownership Council, stated:

“We feel the code has addressed several of the issues flagged in the government’s Levelling Up report and believe that shared ownership has a key role to play in addressing housing needs…

We are urging housing providers up and down the country to register to adopt the code so we can improve and future-proof the product for the good of current and future shared owners.”

Alongside the code, the Shared Ownership Council has also published lessons from the pilot, a shared ownership learning directory and a guide to service charges under the scheme.

Each pilot group undertook a gap analysis of their performance against the Code at the start of the process. This revealed relatively strong compliance in some areas, such as communication with shared owners and prospective shared owners. However, regarding providing information to shared owners; just 55% of sales and marketing functions were in compliance at the start of the pilot, and 69% of professionals working in leasehold and post-sales.

Gavin Smart, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said that he thinks “adoption of the code by housing providers will help to give shared owners and potential shared owners confidence that their home will be well managed and that their ongoing relationship with their shared ownership landlords will be transparent, fair and well run”.

Looking forward, the Shared Ownership Council is in talks with a company with “expertise” in running accreditation schemes to run the Code in the future.

The Shared Ownership Code, June 2025, can be found here: Shared Ownership Code - June 2025

If you would like further information, please contact Rebecca Brady or Jatinder Bhamber.