How does the buying process work step by step?

Create a My Pocket account
We’ll then be in touch when we have a development for sale which you’re eligible for.
Check your emails!
When we have homes for sale which you’re eligible for, we will email you telling you exactly what to do. Sometimes emails go into junk folders so keep an eye on that.
Get your affordability assessment from Censeo
One of the next steps will be to get an affordability assessment from Censeo (an Independent Mortgage Adviser (IMA)) - this is an online form which will be assessed by Censeo to see if you can afford a home at your chosen development and if there is a mortgage lender suitable for you (it doesn’t involve a hard credit check). Once you’ve passed, you will be able to book a viewing and submit an Expression of Interest via your My Pocket account. We love organised buyers, but you can’t obtain a Censeo assessment until we have released pricing when a development has launched for sale!

Be aware that the mortgage market can change, and the affordability assessment is only valid for the development you have submitted it for. If you’ve been assessed by Censeo before, whether for a Pocket home or any other home, you’ll still need to do this again. Once we have received your assessment, the salary and deposit fields in your My Pocket account cannot be changed as this would invalidate your assessment.
Viewing
Once you’ve passed the Censeo assessment, you can book a viewing in My Pocket. We’re a small team and can only offer set viewing dates, so please try to be as flexible as you can with times.
Expression of Interest (EOI)
After viewing you’ll have the chance to submit an EOI, which is done by choosing up to 10 homes in order of preference. We suggest that you do select 10 as this will maximise your chances of being offered a home.
Allocation
Sadly, Pocket homes are sometimes oversubscribed. When we are oversubscribed, we run a lottery of EOIs to choose the lucky buyers. This lottery is weighted so that those who need our discounted price the most will have the highest chance of being chosen.
Offer Letter
If you’re allocated a Pocket home, we will upload an Offer Letter in My Pocket. It will contain a clear timescale of what should happen when and what you should do next, but in summary it’s about uploading evidence of your eligibility, instructing solicitors and your IMA, plus paying your reservation fee.
Reservation
Once you’ve uploaded evidence of your eligibility, confirmed your solicitor and IMA and paid the reservation fee, we will issue your reservation form. We’ll then use your signed reservation form to instruct the solicitors and they will start the legal process of home buying (called ‘conveyancing’).
Mortgage offer
As Pocket homes are an innovative form of affordable housing, the banks and building societies are a little slow to keep up. We therefore really recommend you use Censeo to help with the mortgage side of things as they know exactly what to do and which lenders are available.
Exchange contracts
Your solicitor will let you know what you need to do to reach exchange of contracts, and this stage is usually reached six weeks after instructing your solicitor. When you exchange you transfer 10% of the purchase price to your solicitor and once exchange has taken place, you are legally committed to your purchase.
Meet your neighbours at the residents’ drinks
Once people have started to settle into the new building, we will hold an event for everyone to meet each other so that you’ll know your neighbours from the get-go. Please do attend – these events are a lot of fun and the more, the merrier!
Move in!
If you have exchanged contracts before the building is ready, as soon as the builder finishes the new development then the solicitors will set a completion date for you to get your keys and move in. If you exchange after the building is ready for occupation, you will exchange with a completion date set.

Our Customer Care Team will provide you with a home induction tour so that you know how it all works when you move in, and when the day of completion comes around, we’ll arrange for you to collect your keys!

For more detail on these steps, take a look at our first time buyer guide.