If you've read about Designated Protected Areas (DPAs), you'll know they can cap staircasing — often at 80% and add resale conditions to a Shared Ownership home. But a DPA is not the only reason a home's staircasing might be restricted. A Section 106 planning agreement can do the same thing — and it can apply to homes that are not in a DPA at all.
This matters because it's easy to draw the wrong conclusion: "the property isn't in a DPA, so I can staircase all the way to 100%." That doesn't follow. Here's why.
A restriction on buying more shares in a Shared Ownership home can have more than one legal source:
The DPA and the Section 106 are different mechanisms with different legal homes. They can apply together, or one without the other.
A Section 106 (often just "s106") is an agreement between a developer and the local planning authority, made when planning permission is granted. It places obligations that run with the land — they bind not just the original developer but future owners too. On affordable housing, an s106 commonly secures things like the tenure mix, who qualifies for the homes, and how they must stay affordable over time.
Crucially for Shared Ownership, an s106 can explicitly prevent full staircasing: it may cap the maximum share an owner can buy (frequently at 80%), require that staircasing receipts are recycled into more affordable housing, or tie any resale to people with a local connection. Where the s106 says staircasing is restricted, the lease has to carry a matching restricted-staircasing clause to comply — regardless of whether the home is in a DPA.
The clearest example is the rural exception site. These are small sites in or beside rural settlements where permission is granted specifically for affordable housing to meet local need — land that wouldn't normally get residential consent. To protect that purpose, the s106 typically keeps the homes affordable in perpetuity, which usually means a permanent staircasing cap and local-connection resale terms.
Many of these sites also fall within a DPA, so the two reinforce each other. But the point stands: the restriction is doing its job through the planning agreement and the lease, and it would apply even if the DPA designation weren't there. (If you're a housing association tenant, this also interacts with the Right to Acquire and why rural areas are treated differently.)
This is the trap. A tool that checks DPA status — including the one on this site — can only tell you about one of the three sources above. A clear "not in a Designated Protected Area" result means the DPA route to a cap doesn't apply. It does not confirm that:
So treat a "not in a DPA" answer as one piece of the picture, not the whole answer.
If staircasing to 100% matters to you — as a buyer, an owner, or a professional advising one:
DPA Check does one job well: it tells you whether a property's parish is a Designated Protected Area under the 2009 Order, and links the official source so you can confirm it. That's a genuinely useful, fast first check. Just remember it sits alongside the lease and any Section 106 agreement — not instead of them. If the DPA route doesn't apply, a planning obligation or the lease still can.
This is indicative guidance, not legal advice. Staircasing and resale terms depend on your specific lease, the relevant planning agreement, and the grant funding behind the home. Always check those documents and take professional advice before relying on any result.
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