As Ramadan approaches, a time rooted in compassion, unity, and shared experience, British Islamic home finance firm Offa has launched its new Home Purchase Plan (HPP), a Sharia- compliant solution equivalent to a mortgage designed to help families support loved ones onto the property ladder without compromising faith principles.

Offa’s HPP incorporates a Family Assist feature that reflects the spirit of Ramadan and the way families come together. In many Muslim households, homeownership has never been an individual pursuit but a shared aspiration where parents, siblings, and extended family members support one another to achieve long-term stability, dignity, and security.

Offa’s Family Assist formally recognises and enables this reality, allowing multiple family members to contribute towards a home purchase but only the main customer(s) owning it, in a way that is transparent, ethical, and fully aligned with Islamic finance principles.

The Home Owners Alliance estimates that it takes two to four weeks to process a conventional mortgage application, whereas Offa’s modern Islamic HPP application system allows offers to be made within an hour depending upon credit rating and risk criteria.

With rising house prices and tightening affordability, many first-time buyers particularly within Muslim communities face barriers that conventional finance cannot solve without breaching religious values. Offa’s HPP offers an alternative grounded in partnership, trust, and shared accountability – principles that resonate strongly with the Islamic faith.

Offa’s HPP allows customers to buy a property following Islamic finance ethical principles, where charging or paying interest is forbidden. Instead of using interest, Offa’s HPP involves the Islamic finance principles of co-ownership-with-leasing. Customers acquire the property in partnership with Offa and make monthly payments to increase their share, over time owning it.

Offa’s HPP enables families to pool support responsibly, helping loved ones establish a stable home while preserving financial and spiritual integrity.

Customers can also take advantage of “gifted equity” where they can buy a property at an under-value price from family members. Offa then uses the full value for finance purposes, entirely avoiding the need for a deposit.

Offa’s HPP is designed to be very accessible, with a minimum 5% deposit, and up to 7 times income being accepted, subject to affordability and underwriting criteria.

Offa’s Family Assist acknowledges a truth often overlooked in mainstream housing finance: for many, family is the safety net. Parents supporting adult children, siblings stepping in during key life moments, and relatives contributing towards deposits or monthly payments are long- standing practices within Muslim communities.

Offa’s HPP brings these informal arrangements into a structured, regulated, and faith-compliant framework, ensuring clarity, fairness, and peace of mind for all involved.

Sagheer Malik (pictured above), Chief Commercial Officer and Managing Director of Home Finance at Offa, said: “Ramadan is a time that reminds us that progress is rarely achieved alone. Our Home Purchase Plan embodies the spirit of the month by transforming generosity and family togetherness into a practical pathway towards homeownership.

By recognising the strength of family and community, Offa is helping more people secure not just a property but a home built on values. For too long, Muslims seeking property finance that adheres to their faith have had to suffer slow finance decisions and mountains of paperwork.

All that has changed today, because we are providing a truly modern Sharia-compliant product with a paperless application process and ultra-quick decisions.”

Offa follows an ethical finance model designed in accordance with Islamic finance principles, which means not charging interest and not investing in sectors deemed harmful to society – such as the arms trade, gambling, animal testing, alcohol, and tobacco.

Last year the Financial Conduct Authority authorised Offa to provide HPPs for UK customers, meaning that they can have peace of mind that they are using a regulated product. The company now has the widest range of Islamic property finance products in the UK.