What is Staircasing?

Unless you bought your home outright, you probably own a share between 25%-75% share.



Once you’ve been living in your home for at least one year, you can increase this share through a process called staircasing.

If you bought your home from a previous shared owner (this is known as Assignment), you can buy extra shares after three months, as long as the first year has passed since the property was originally purchased. You can do this until you own 100% of the property. 



You don’t have to buy more shares in the property if you don’t want to. You can live there for the full term of your lease without buying a bigger share.



The conditions of staircasing vary according to your lease. Please check your own lease carefully. We will try to answer any questions you may have, but you should also get legal advice from a solicitor.



If you buy extra shares but do not buy all of your property, the rent we charge you will go down according to the amount we still own. For example, if you go from owning 50% of the property to owning 70%, we will only charge you rent on the 30% that you are not buying.



If your property is a house, when you own your entire home you usually own the freehold and stop paying us any rent. You also become responsible for your own buildings insurance cover.


If your property is a flat, when you own your entire home we still own the freehold, unless we only own a leasehold interest, in which case you will acquire the title and our landlord (the freeholder of the property) will become your freeholder. In such cases we will no longer have an interest in your flat. You stop paying rent but still have to pay service charges and the buildings insurance premium. Some flat owners start paying ground rent.



If you buy all of your property and sell it within three months, we may be entitled to any profit you make. Please check your lease and take advice from us or your solicitor.