LEGAL
Shared Ownership Timeframes; the Differences Between Resales and New Build!
A common frustration people have with conveyancing is the length of time it takes to complete. A lot of clients have minimal experience with a resale transaction, having purchased their property as a new build, which has its own timeframes that differ significantly, for a variety of reasons. Joel Taylor, Head of Business Development and Marketing at Owen Paulo, explains
After all of this, why should you consider a resale over a new build? There is no right or wrong answer, it is all about preference. A lot of the time, new build properties are purchased off-plan and therefore are not built yet. Building can get delayed and although the legal work may be a lot quicker, you may find yourself waiting longer. As resales are already built, you can view the property throughout the transaction and get surveys done before you commit to the purchase. Resales also come with history and character and in a variety of property types as well.
vary in age, quite dramatically considering how long Shared Ownership has existed! With this age comes historical information that is needed to give the buyer full clarity on the history of the property, especially if the property has been altered or extended. Sometimes, the age of the lease can also affect timescales. If the lease for the property does not meet the latest version of the model Shared Ownership lease that has been issued by Homes England, then some lenders require the existing Shared Ownership lease to be amended to reflect the model version. Overall, this is not an
For a resale transaction, the average timeframe is approximately 12 to 14 weeks (compared to approximately four weeks for a new build), and that is from the issuing or receipt of the draft contract pack. This is because legal work cannot begin without that pack as it holds information that is needed to be able to order searches and raise enquiries. It is important to note that resales transactions are treated as individual entities. What this means is that separate searches must be ordered, and enquiries raised, for each property. This does differ from new builds in the sense that searches and enquiries raised on the first new build plot apply equally to all the plots on that development, thus speeding up the process with those remaining plots. Another reason why resales can take longer is the involvement of additional parties, namely an extra solicitor. Where a new build is purchased from a housing association, and therefore there are only two solicitors (a buyer’s solicitor and a housing association’s solicitor), a resale property is purchased from the existing leaseholder and therefore has three solicitors (a buyer’s solicitor, a seller’s solicitor and the housing association’s solicitor). It is the responsibility of the seller’s solicitor to provide the buyer’s solicitor with satisfactory replies, and it can take some time for the seller’s solicitor to gather them, especially if they need to approach a third party (such as a housing association, local authority or third party management company). Resales properties can also
So, when considering what type of Shared Ownership property to go for, my advice would be to ignore timeframes and look at other elements such as travel links, location, size, price etc, as ultimately after completion the length of time it took won’t affect you half as much as those other elements.
issue, but it does create extra work to resolve, usually by way of a Deed of Variation.
Owen Paulo
specialises in resales and
staircasing and we are happy to offer further advice or a
quotation. Please email enquiries@ owenpaulo.co.uk, visit our website or call us on 0808 196 7020
102 First Time Buyer February/March 2026
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