You do not have to buy a newly built property to become a London homeowner. The realistic alternatives are buying an existing resale or older home on the open market, purchasing a share through shared ownership, renting through London Living Rent with an intended route into ownership, and—only for eligible council tenants—using Right to Buy. Each route changes what you own at the start, which bills you pay, and how (or whether) you can reach full ownership.
No option is automatically cheaper than a new-build. Your result depends on the particular property’s price, condition, lease, service charges, mortgage, rent and availability. Compare the complete cost and legal terms of the specific home rather than relying on the label attached to the scheme.
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The main alternatives at a glance
Use this table to identify which routes fit your circumstances before examining individual listings. “Existing” or “older” describes the property, not a special tenure; it is normally an ordinary open-market purchase. Shared ownership and London Living Rent are programme-based products with their own eligibility rules and changing local supply. Right to Buy is tied to a qualifying council tenancy.
| Route | What you get initially | Who can apply | Ongoing housing costs | Route to full ownership | Key checks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Existing resale or older home | The whole property interest offered by the seller | Open-market buyer, subject to lender and legal requirements | Mortgage, council tax, insurance and property-specific maintenance; leasehold homes may also have service charges and ground-rent terms in the lease | Immediate ownership of the interest purchased; no scheme staircasing | Condition, survey findings, tenure, lease length, service-charge history and planned works |
| Shared ownership | A leasehold share, described by City Hall as 10% to 75% on its scheme page | Households meeting the scheme’s income and open-market affordability tests; the cited page states a £90,000 gross household-income ceiling | Mortgage on your share, rent on the unsold share and, in most cases, service charges | Further shares can be bought (“staircasing”) at the market value at the time | Current eligibility, lease, rent-review formula, service charges, resale rules and mortgage affordability |
| London Living Rent | A tenancy, with an intended ownership pathway | Eligibility and availability set by the local provider and current programme | Rent and normal household costs; future purchase affordability is not guaranteed | Current programme descriptions expect support towards ownership within ten years; a 2025 Assembly briefing describes an option to buy through shared ownership within ten years | Local offer, tenancy length, savings requirements, purchase option and what happens if you cannot buy |
| Right to Buy | Potential purchase of the council home you already rent | Qualifying council tenants who meet the current statutory and landlord rules | Mortgage and ownership costs after purchase; exact discount and restrictions depend on eligibility and current rules | Purchase of the eligible home, subject to the scheme terms | Your tenancy history, landlord, property eligibility, discount, resale obligations and current official guidance |
The comparison is a starting point, not a promise that a route will be available in your borough. City Hall directs Londoners to its Homes for Londoners search tool for current Shared Ownership, London Living Rent and other affordable-ownership listings; borough and provider pages should be checked for live stock and terms.
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Buy an existing resale or older London home
An ordinary resale is the most direct alternative to a new-build. You buy the whole interest the seller is offering, normally with a mortgage, and you are not sharing ownership with a housing provider. The property might be a recently completed flat, a decades-old terrace or anything in between. Age alone does not establish price, build quality, running cost or character, so judge the actual home rather than assuming an older property is cheaper or better.
What this route changes
- You can negotiate on the individual property and choose from the normal resale market rather than a scheme allocation.
- You take responsibility for the home’s condition from completion. A survey can identify defects, urgent works and likely maintenance that a listing will not show.
- You own the purchased interest immediately, but the legal form may be freehold, leasehold or another arrangement. The tenure and title documents control your rights and liabilities.
Leasehold deserves particular attention
Leasehold is common in London, especially for flats. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government reported that 39% of London’s dwellings—1.44 million homes—were leasehold in 2024–25. The department attributes the high regional share largely to London’s large number of flats. That regional statistic does not tell you whether a particular lease is good value or well managed.
For a resale flat, ask your conveyancer to examine the remaining lease term, service-charge budgets and accounts, reserve-fund contributions, major-works notices, building-insurance arrangements, restrictions on alterations, subletting rules and any disputes. Request the seller’s replies to the standard property information and leasehold questionnaires. A short lease, unusually high charges or a major works bill can affect mortgageability and resale even when the asking price looks attractive.
A practical inspection sequence
- Set an all-in budget. Include deposit, mortgage payment, council tax, utilities, insurance, legal costs, survey fees, moving costs and a reserve for repairs. For a leasehold, include recurring service charges and any known planned works.
- Review the tenure before offering. Establish whether the property is freehold or leasehold, the lease length, who insures the building and how charges are calculated.
- Commission an appropriate survey. A lender’s valuation is not a condition survey. Choose an independent survey level that matches the property’s age, construction and apparent condition, then obtain specialist reports where the survey identifies a risk.
- Price the defects, not just the purchase. Get written estimates for urgent and foreseeable work. Use them in your affordability decision and negotiations, without assuming every estimate will be exact.
- Complete legal due diligence. Your conveyancer should check title, rights of way, planning and building-control records, alterations, local searches and lease documents before exchange.
This route gives the clearest ownership structure, but it also gives you the clearest responsibility for the property’s defects and future costs. The evidence available does not establish a general resale-versus-new-build price or condition advantage.
Use shared ownership to buy a share first
City Hall describes shared ownership as “part buy, part rent.” You purchase a leasehold share of an eligible home and pay regulated rent on the share retained by the housing provider. On the cited City Hall scheme page, the initial share may be 10% to 75%. You normally need a mortgage and a deposit; that page says the deposit is usually at least 10% of the share you are buying, not 10% of the home’s full market value.
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Eligibility and the initial purchase
The scheme page states a gross household-income ceiling of £90,000 and requires applicants to be unable to afford a suitable home on the open market. The exact test, priority rules and documentation must be confirmed for the particular listing and provider. A household that passes an income test can still fail an affordability assessment if the mortgage, rent and service charges do not fit its budget.
Before reserving a home, obtain the property’s full price, the share offered, the rent on the unsold share, the estimated service charge and the lease. Calculate the mortgage on your share alongside the other monthly charges. A small initial share can reduce the deposit, but it does not remove rent or service-charge exposure.
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City Hall’s page states that initial rent is no more than 2.75% of the value of the unsold share, with annual increases linked to inflation. Treat that as the scheme page’s description, not a substitute for the rent-review clause in the lease. In most cases, service charges also apply. City Hall says these can cover communal maintenance, buildings insurance and management. Ask for the current budget, recent accounts, reserve-fund position, major-works plans and the method used to apportion charges.
Staircasing and the route to a larger share
Shared owners may be able to buy additional shares, known as staircasing. The additional share is priced at the home’s market value when you buy it, so the cash required can rise or fall with the property market. Mortgage capacity, valuation fees, administration charges and the lease’s permitted increments also matter. Staircasing is possible under the scheme description; it is not a guarantee that you will be able to afford 100% later or that every lease permits the same increments.
Older People’s Shared Ownership
For people aged 55 or older, City Hall describes an Older People’s Shared Ownership variant. The buyer can acquire a 25% to 75% share; if the buyer owns 75%, the description says there is no rent on the remaining 25%. Eligibility, property supply, service charges and the precise lease must be checked for the particular offer. Do not assume the variant is available in every borough or suitable for every retirement budget.
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Questions to ask the provider
- What is the full market value, the available share and the minimum deposit for this home?
- What are the rent, rent-review date and review formula on the unsold share?
- What do the service charges cover, how have they changed, and are major works planned?
- What staircasing percentages are allowed, and which valuation, legal and administration costs apply?
- What are the resale, nomination and subletting rules if your circumstances change?
- Is the home freehold or leasehold, and what repairs are the leaseholder’s responsibility?
Rent first with London Living Rent
London Living Rent is a rent-to-buy route rather than an immediate purchase. The Greater London Authority’s London Social and Affordable Homes Programme 2026–36 funding guidance identifies it as a Rent to Buy product and expects providers to support tenants towards home ownership within ten years. A London Assembly Research Unit briefing published in July 2025 describes tenancies of at least three years and an option to buy on a shared-ownership basis within ten years.
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How to assess an offer
- Read the tenancy agreement. Confirm the minimum term, break provisions, rent, permitted household members and rules on alterations or subletting.
- Identify the ownership option. Ask whether the later purchase is specifically shared ownership, what share can be bought, how the price will be set and whether a valuation is required.
- Map the ten-year plan. Set a savings target, monitor credit and income changes, and test future mortgage affordability without assuming prices or rates will remain unchanged.
- Check the fallback. Establish what happens if you cannot buy within the stated period, lose eligibility, or need to move before the option is exercised.
London Living Rent can suit someone who is not ready to buy today but wants a defined ownership objective. It should not be presented as a guaranteed discount, a guaranteed purchase or a universal substitute for an open-market home.
Right to Buy: only for qualifying council tenants
Right to Buy is not a general first-time-buyer alternative. It may apply to a person who already has a qualifying council tenancy and meets the current rules relating to tenancy history, landlord, property and other conditions. The correct starting point is the tenant’s council or landlord and the current official eligibility guidance.
The Mayor of London’s 2025 London housing report records 1,300 council-home Right to Buy sales in London during 2024–25. That is a count of completed sales, not evidence that an individual tenant qualifies, what discount they would receive or whether buying would be affordable.
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Checks before making an application
- Confirm that your landlord and tenancy are within the current Right to Buy rules.
- Ask how joint tenants, family members and tenancy breaks affect eligibility.
- Obtain the property’s valuation, the available discount and any repayment or resale restrictions in writing.
- Budget for mortgage payments, repairs, insurance, service charges for flats and other ownership costs after purchase.
- Take independent legal and financial advice before accepting an offer or relying on a discount.
Compare the complete monthly and upfront cost
A headline purchase price or deposit does not make one route cheaper. Build a route-by-route budget with the same categories:
| Cost or obligation | Existing resale or older home | Shared ownership | London Living Rent | Right to Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront deposit | Set by the mortgage and lender | Usually at least 10% of the share bought, according to City Hall’s scheme page; lender terms apply | Tenancy deposit and any provider-specific requirements; later purchase deposit still has to be built | Mortgage deposit and transaction costs depend on the valuation, discount and lender |
| Mortgage at the start | Normally on the full purchase price less deposit | On the purchased share | None unless and until you exercise a purchase option | Normally on the purchase price less any discount and deposit |
| Rent | None to a housing provider, unless another arrangement applies | Rent on the unsold share; City Hall states an initial maximum of 2.75% of that value, with annual inflation-linked increases | Tenancy rent under the local offer | None after purchase, but confirm any leasehold charges |
| Service charges | Possible for leasehold or managed developments | In most cases; may include communal maintenance, buildings insurance and management | Provider and property terms apply | Possible for a leasehold council home |
| Repairs and major works | Usually the owner’s responsibility, subject to the title and lease | Responsibility is set by the lease; ask specifically about internal repairs and building works | Set by the tenancy and landlord arrangements | Owner responsibilities and lease terms apply after purchase |
Use actual figures from the listing, lease, tenancy and lender rather than generic calculators. Keep a separate contingency for repairs and service-charge increases. A low initial payment can still become unaffordable if rent, charges or mortgage rates rise.
How to choose between the routes
Choose an existing home when whole-property control matters
An open-market resale may be the most suitable starting point if you can fund the full purchase and want to choose the tenure, location and property without a scheme’s eligibility test. Your decision then depends on the specific home’s condition, title and ongoing costs. A thorough survey and conveyancing are essential, particularly for older construction and leasehold flats.
Consider shared ownership when a full purchase is out of reach now
Shared ownership can reduce the initial share and deposit compared with buying the whole property, but it adds rent and often service charges. It is most useful when the combined mortgage, rent and charges are affordable today and the lease gives a realistic staircasing and resale route. Compare the total monthly cost, not only the mortgage on the initial share.
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This route is designed for renting while building towards ownership. It suits a household that can meet the tenancy terms and savings plan but cannot yet buy. Confirm the local offer’s purchase option and the consequences of not buying; the programme description’s ten-year objective is not a personal guarantee.
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Use Right to Buy only after confirming tenancy eligibility
If you are not a qualifying council tenant, Right to Buy is not an available route. Eligible tenants should obtain a formal eligibility and valuation response before treating a potential discount as part of their budget.
Availability, tenure and professional checks
Scheme descriptions do not prove that a suitable property is currently advertised in your borough. Search current Homes for Londoners, borough and provider listings, then read the live lease or tenancy documents before paying a reservation fee. Terms can differ between providers and homes.
For any purchase, use an independent conveyancer and a mortgage adviser who understands the relevant tenure. For an existing or older home, commission an independent surveyor and investigate defects, alterations and planned works. For shared ownership, have the lease, rent review, service-charge budget, staircasing and resale provisions reviewed. For London Living Rent, have the tenancy and later purchase option explained in writing. For Right to Buy, obtain the landlord’s current rules and valuation rather than relying on an old discount example.
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Bottom line
Londoners seeking an alternative to a new-build purchase have four distinct routes: buy an existing home outright, buy a share through shared ownership, rent first through London Living Rent, or investigate Right to Buy if they already have a qualifying council tenancy. The right choice is the one whose eligibility, tenure, condition and complete ongoing cost you can verify for the actual property—not the route with the lowest advertised deposit.
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