Government schemes to help you buy a home

If you are thinking about becoming a homeowner, there are a number of government schemes which can help you including an equity loan and shared ownership.

We’ve also got our own first time buyer loan scheme.

You can find general advice for buying a home on the Government’s Own Your Home website.

You can use the Money Advice Service’s mortgage calculator to find out what you might be able to afford.

If you can’t afford the mortgage on 100% of a home, shared ownership can give you the chance to buy a share of your home (between 25% and 75% of the home’s value) and pay rent on the remaining share.

In time, when you can afford to, you could buy bigger shares so that you own more of the property. Find out more about shared ownership on the Help to Buy website.

The Help to Buy equity loan scheme is available to both first time buyers and those that have bought a property before. If you have a minimum 5% deposit and want to buy a new build home, you’ll be able to access the Help to Buy equity loan scheme.

You will need to be able to take out a mortgage for 75% of the value of the property and the remaining 20% will be funded by the government.

Find out more about getting an equity loan on the Help to Buy website.

If you are a housing association tenant you may be entitled to buy your home at a discounted rate. You can find more information about the right to acquire on the GOV.UK website.

Right to buy is similar to the right to acquire. The difference is that it applies to council tenants rather than housing association tenants.

We transferred all of our council housing to Alliance Homes in 2006. If you were a tenant of a council house in North Somerset before the transfer, you may be entitled to buy the property under the right to buy scheme.

You can find more information about the right to buy on the Right to Buy website.