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If you’d love to buy a home of your own, but are finding it hard to save up for a deposit, SO Flexi could be the answer.
With SO Flexi, you rent one of our new homes for much less than the market rate. That makes it easier to save up for a deposit. When you’ve saved enough, you can simply buy the home you’re already renting with SO Resi Shared Ownership. Or if you’d prefer, you can choose to buy a different Shared Ownership home.
There are two SO Flexi options – London Living Rent and Rent to Buy.
London Living Rent is designed to help people living or working in London to save for Shared Ownership while they rent. It is backed by the Mayor of London. Rents are often up to 40% less than for similar homes on the open market and tenancies are at least three years
The amount of rent you will pay depends on where you rent in London. Across London, the average monthly rent for a 2 bedroom London Living Rent home is around £1,077 a month – almost three-quarters of the median market rent.
Once a year, the Mayor of London publishes updated benchmark London Living Rent levels for every neighbourhood in the capital. These are based on a third of average local household incomes and are adjusted for the number of bedrooms in each home. In most boroughs, this will be a significant discount on the market rent.
There are also some one-off costs before you move in.
To apply for a SO Flexi home with London Living Rent, you’ll need to:
You are not eligible if you:
Rent to Buy is designed to help people living outside London to save for Shared Ownership while they rent. Rents are often up to 20% less than for similar homes on the open market and tenancies are at least three years.
You pay a monthly rent, which includes service charge. For example, the monthly rent on a 1 bedroom flat in Slough, valued at £300,000, would be £880 pcm, based on 80% of a market value rent of £1,100.
There are also some one-off costs before you move in.
To apply for a SO Flexi home with Rent to Buy, you’ll need to:
You are not eligible if you:
If you prefer, our PDF guide explains the details of renting a home with SO Flexi.