Affordable housing

Maidstone Borough Council is committed to working with Housing Associations and other developers to provide more affordable housing in the borough.

Affordable housing is housing for people who cannot afford what is available on the open market.

A house is considered not affordable if it takes more than 30% of gross income or if the mortgage needed is more than 2.9 times joint income or 3.5 times single income.

Affordable housing includes social rent, affordable rent and Homebuy (also known as Shared Ownership) provided to eligible households whose needs are not met by the open market.

Social rented housing has guideline target rates which are determined through the national rent regime.

Affordable rent has a higher rental charge than social rented housing, but is no more than 80% of the local gross market rent for a property of an equivalent type and size in the local area.

For more information on Homebuy, please see below.

Homebuy in Maidstone

HomeBuy helps people who wish to buy a property but cannot afford to.

Most people who apply for HomeBuy are first time buyers, but the programme can also help you if you need to buy a property in situations where your household has outgrown existing arrangements or where you need to buy a property because of a relationship breakdown.

How do I apply for HomeBuy?

Maidstone Borough Council is working in partnership with Moat, a leading housing association, to offer HomeBuy to people in the borough. Anyone interested in applying for HomeBuy should contact Moat on 0845 359 6161 to speak to a Homebuy Advisor. This Service is available during office hours 9-5 Monday to Friday.

How does it work?

New Build HomeBuy offers new homes on a part buy/part rent basis where you purchase a share in the property, (between 25% - 75% of the property's market value) pay a discounted rent to the housing association on the remaining share. Maidstone Borough Council works with a number of housing associations to develop new affordable homes across the borough.

Social Homebuy - Tenants can purchase a minimum initial share of 25% of the home. The remaining un-owned equity is retained by your landlord. Your landlord then charges you an affordable rent on the un-owned equity. It is possible for you to purchase 100% of the property.

Homebuy Direct - this is an affordable housing option offered by private developers on selected new homes. Purchasers buy a minimum of 70% of the market value of a property. An equity loan of up to 30% is provided to assist their purchase. Their are no payments on the loan for the first 5 years, after 5 years their is a fee of 1.75% which increases annually inline with inflation. Purchasers can buy additional shares at a later date until they own 100% of the property.

If you would like to find out more about Homebuy products or search for properties, please visit HomeBuy .

Useful links

Home in Focus Magazine – Magazine packed full of useful home buying assistance information such as legal and financial advice from professionals who are specialists in the field, as well as listings of what kind of new homes are available. A free copy of the latest magazine is available from the Gateway, King Street, Maidstone.