Affordable housing

House prices in Ryedale are very high.  This means it can be difficult for local people on lower incomes to buy their own home. 

What are we doing to help?

We are working together with local housing associations to provide affordable homes.  We are also part of the North Yorkshire Strategic Housing Partnership which helps us to join up with our partners to tackle housing needs across Ryedale. To help with this, we have agreed a North Yorkshire Housing Strategy. 

You can see how we work out Ryedale’s housing needs by looking at our Strategic Housing Market Assessment on our Housing supply and delivery page.

You can also read our Housing Options service standards in our Web Library.

What is affordable housing?

Affordable housing is for people who cannot afford to buy or rent a home at the market rate.  It can help by giving financial support if you want to buy a home and can also provide lower cost homes for local workers.  

What makes a house affordable?

For a home to be seen as ‘affordable’, it must follow one or more of the rules below: 

• Affordable housing for rent.  
  • The rent must be at least 20% lower than local market rents (including any service charges), or set by the Government’s rent policy for Social Rent or Affordable Rent 
  • The landlord must be a registered provider, unless it is included as part of a Build to Rent scheme 
  • The home has to stay at an affordable price for future tenants and any money from the sale of an affordable home must be reused to provide more affordable housing 
  • For Build to Rent schemes, most homes will be ‘affordable housing for rent’. They are often called Affordable Private Rent.
• Starter homes: A starter home is often the first home you can afford to buy.  For a home to be a starter home, it must meet the description in Sections 2 and 3 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016.  Sometimes, additional rules (called secondary legislation) means only some people are able to buy a starter home, like people with a certain level of household income.  
• Discounted market sales housing: These are homes that are sold at a minimum of 20% below local market value, with prices set at local affordability levels.  To decide if a house can be sold at a discounted rate, we look at local incomes and compare them with local house prices.  Once a house is sold at a discounted price, it should then be sold at a discount to any future buyers who meet the criteria.
• Other affordable routes to home ownership: There are other ways to own your own home if you are struggling to buy a home at the market rate.  These include shared ownership, relevant equity loans, other low cost homes for sale (at a price equivalent to at least 20% below local market value) and rent to buy (which includes a period of intermediate rent). 

How can I apply to buy an affordable home in Ryedale?

We advertise properties on the Affordable homes available now page of our website whenever they become available. If you are interested in any of the homes, please download and complete an application form below. We will then contact you with more specific information.

If you would like us to send you a paper application form, please ask for one by sending us an Enquiry Form.

Please note: we do not have a waiting list for Discount for Sale, Affordable Rents or Shared Ownership homes. Please just apply as soon as a property that you are interested in becomes available.  Make sure you let us know exactly which property you are interested in. 

What low cost home ownership options are in Ryedale?

The low cost home ownership schemes in Ryedale are:

• Discount for Sale
• Help to Buy Shared Ownership
• Help to Buy: Equity loan
• Right to Acquire

How does Discount for Sale work?

When we give planning permission to private housing developers, we make sure that some of the houses are sold at a discounted price (the discount is usually between 25% and 50%). The housing developer can then sell the discounted house directly to you, as long as you meet our criteria. 

How do I qualify?

Usually you need to: 

• live or work in the immediate area 
• have a yearly household income that is less than £40,000, or less than £60,000 if you are applying with someone else 

If you have a deposit which is more than 15% of the value of the property we will need to know why you are applying for affordable housing.

What if I want to sell the property?

If you sell, the original discount is passed on to the next person. That means, if you bought the property with a 25% discount you can only sell the property at 75% of the market value. This makes sure that the home will always be an affordable home.

Do I have to pay rent?

No, there is no rent to pay as you would own the property 100%. 

How do I find a Discount for Sale home?

We advertise homes on the Find a home page of our website whenever they become available. If you are interested in any of the homes, please download and complete an application form below. We will then contact you with more specific information.

Download an Affordable homes application form.

It’s important that these homes are only sold to people who really need them. This is what we take into account when we consider who can buy a discounted property. (PDF, 2 pages, 256 kb).

How does the Help to Buy ‘Shared Ownership’ scheme work?

Shared Ownership means you can buy a share of a newly built home and then pay rent on the rest.  Click here to find out more about how shared ownership works.

You might also like to look at WhatHouse?– a free search tool showing new homes and part buy/rent homes. 

What is the Help to buy – Equity Loan scheme?

The Government lends you up to 20% of the cost of your newly built home, so you’ll only need a 5% cash deposit and a 75% mortgage to make up the rest.  You won’t be charged loan fees on the 20% loan for the first five years of owning your home.

What about the Right to Buy scheme?

If you meet the right criteria, the Right to Buy scheme lets you buy your house. Although the Council’s housing stock was transferred to Yorkshire Housing (Ryedale Housing at the time), some residents in ex-council houses, who were residents at the time of the stock transfer, may still retain a right to buy. You would need to check with your landlord – Yorkshire Housing.

Who is the Right to Acquire scheme for?

If you are renting your home from a housing association (and meet our special criteria), the Right to Acquire scheme helps you to buy your home. For more information about the Right to Acquire scheme visit GOV.UK or contact your housing association.

You can also find more information from:

• Shelter
• Yorkshire Housing
• Broadacres
• Home Group
• Chevin Housing Association (Together Housing)
• Stonewater
• York Housing

Affordable housing criteria

Eligibility/Selection Criteria for Discounted Sales

Discounted sale properties are those where under Section 106 of ‘Permitted Planning Guidance Notes 3’ (PPG3), Local Authorities are able to require Developers to sell an agreed number of properties at a discounted sale price to Housing Associations.

Planners generally stipulate that such properties should be sold at a discount and that subsequent re-sales should be restricted to the same percentage of the current open market value.

The ‘Section 106’ Agreement may contain few, if any restrictions as to who should be allowed to buy these properties, or may contain very detailed eligibility criteria.

In order to ensure that discounted sale properties are sold to the client groups for which the scheme is intended, listed below are key factors which we will take into account when assessing eligibility and priority.

ELIGIBILITY

To be considered for a discounted sale home, a prospective purchaser must:-

• Be unable, for financial reasons, to buy outright.
• Fulfil any criteria imposed by the Section 106 Agreement.
• Be purchasing the property as their only home.

In addition, they should fulfil one or more of the following criteria.

• Be resident within the Local Authority area or be moving into the area to take up employment in the area.
• Be a Key Worker moving to or living within the Local Authority area i.e. Members of the Teaching Profession, NHS Employees, Police or other Emergency Services; Employees in key local industries including Construction, Catering, Local Government, Civil Service, Retail and Agriculture.

SELECTION

Following confirmation of eligibility, the following points will be awarded to applicants in order to assist in the selection process.

Housing need and bedroom need are also factors in the allocation process, with the properties going to those most in need and meeting the bedroom requirements as near as possible.

Where one or more applicants have the same points score, housing need and bedroom requirements, allocation will be made by date of application.