Buying a home

There is a wide variety of homes to buy in East Staffordshire.

Some homes in Burton and Uttoxeter are comparatively cheap and attractive to first time buyers, but there is also a large choice of higher cost housing which is attractive to higher earners.

Estate agents covering properties in East Staffordshire can be found in:

  • Burton upon Trent
  • Uttoxeter
  • Stafford (for houses in and around Kingstone and Admaston)
  • Lichfield (for houses in and around Yoxall and Abbots Bromley)
  • Ashbourne (for houses in and around Mayfield) 

Low cost home ownership

There is general information about affordable home ownership on the government website, GOV.UK

Shared ownership means you generally buy between 25% and 75% of the value of a home and pay rent to a housing provider on the remainder. Advantages include:

  • Smaller deposit
  • Smaller mortgage
  • Some properties may be brand new
  • Others are re-sales which means they are cheaper, but they will still be recently built
  • An affordable way to get your foot on the housing ladder
  • If the value of your home increases then the value of your share increases
  • As and when you can afford to, you can buy extra shares of the property, and in most cases you can end up owning the whole of your home so that you no longer have to pay any rent
  • You can choose to sell if and when you want to move

Shared ownership housing is often advertised through mainstream estate agents, so it is worth searching on-line and asking agents about availability. Also see Trent & Dove Shared Ownership.

Discounted Market Sale housing is different from shared ownership.  It usually means that the buyer owns the entire house and is responsible for its maintenance as any owner-occupier is. Below are some key facts about this housing product.:-

  1. Discounted sale housing means it can only be sold at a discount, so that it assists households to enter into home ownership more affordably. This discount is also passed onto future buyers, so when the owner decides to sell they will also be selling their home at the same discount that was applied to their original purchase.
  2. Discounted sale homes are usually advertised through estate agents, but prospective buyers must usually be approved by the Council
  3. In most cases the market value on sale must be determined by an RICS valuer in order to properly apply the accompanying discount, and the Council must then approve the sale of the house at that price – in these cases the Council has no discretion to agree a -higher or lower price unless the same RICS valuer confirms that price.  
  4. Because discounted sale homes are designed to serve households that would have difficulty buying a home on the open market, buyers are usually bound by income and savings restrictions. Therefore if a prospective buyer has too much income or too much in savings, they will not meet the criteria for buying it.
  5. Buyers may also have to meet a Local Connection test.  In some cases this may mean that they will already be resident in East Staffordshire or have some other defined connection to the borough.  
  6. Mortgage advisors should be able to tell buyers of shared ownership and discounted sale properties whether a suitable mortgage can be found for each type of housing.
  7. Discounted sale housing is usually built under the terms of a Section 106 Agreement. Such Agreements may be subsequently have been altered by a “Deed of Variation”. Such alterations normally take place prior to the first sale of the dwelling, so the terms remain in place throughout its life.  In order to ensure that the resale process runs smoothly, buyers and sellers should take time at the start of the process to:
  • find the right copy of the Section 106 Agreement with any variations made to it or any other document that defines the housing as Discounted Market Sale housing; and
  • familiarise themselves with the criteria they will have meet when buying or selling later on
  • ensure that they share the Section 106 Agreement/Variation in all correspondence with the Council so that it is clear that the proposed sale meets the terms of that Agreement.

Housing for Older People

See Housing for older people to find out about different housing options including specialised housing for sale.