Local connection criteria

A local connection criteria, which forms part of the section 106 agreement, means that you may have a local connection to the area via the following:

• Currently living in or have previously lived in the local area
• Have family in the area
• Have a permanent job in the area

Armed forces personnel may be exempt from local connection criteria, please contact our sales team for more information.

A local connection criteria is a condition set by the local authority to allow local people the chance for an affordable home first, before an applicant who is new to the area.

Each local authority will have its own criteria which must be evidenced when applying for one of our homes, this can be found in our brochures.

Some rural properties (those located in designated protected areas - DPAs) may have a restriction that prevents you from staircasing beyond 80%. This means that as a shared owner you would not be able to purchase the full 100% share and become the freeholder of the property, in the future.

This allows the homes in these areas to stay as affordable homes and not sold on the open market.

The advert and the brochure will specify if there is Restrictive staircasing.

Some of our properties may be advertised with an under occupancy clause. Devon Homechoice and Cornwall Homechoice will set out how many bedrooms a person will need in a property.  They will consider ages of dependants e.g. children and non-dependants who are part of your household. 

There are generally two types of under occupancy clauses on our properties:

• Only eligible for a property that has 1 bedroom more than your need
• Only eligible for a property with your bedroom need

For example:

• Single person with no children – depending on the clause you may be eligible for a 1 or a 2 bedroom property
• Couple with 1 child - depending on the clause you may be eligible for a 2 or a 3 bedroom property
• Couple with 2 children of different sexes aged under 10 years old - depending on the clause you may be eligible for a 2 or a 3 bedroom property
• Couple with 2 children of different sexes aged over 10 years old - depending on the clause you may be eligible for a 3 or a 4 bedroom property

The advert and the brochure will specify if there is an under occupancy clause, and what type of clause it is. Documentation will also be requested if you are 1st for a property to evidence your eligibility.

Whilst most of our developments in Cornwall have a local connection criteria, some of our homes in Devon, including resales, do too.

If the advertised home requires a local connection, this will be stated as a requirement in the brochure and on the relevant adverts on our website.