StructureProducts use co-ownership-with-leasing (diminishing mushārakah + ijārah): for buy-to-let/residential, the customer acquires the property in partnership with Offa and makes monthly payments to increase their ownership share while paying rent on Offa's portion. Bridging ('bridge-to-let') provides short-term Shariah-compliant facilities to unlock equity, later convertible to a let arrangement. Exact title and default mechanics are not detailed publicly.
A Birmingham-based Islamic property-finance fintech that began in Shariah-compliant bridging and, in March 2025, received FCA authorisation to provide residential Home Purchase Plans (reported as the first new HPP licence to a newly-authorised entity in 7+ years). Its own pages name the certifier: 'The Sharia-compliance of our financial products is certified by Amanah Advisors, led by the highly respected scholar Mufti Faraz Adam.' The honest gap is the rent: its FAQ discusses benchmarks but does not name the one it uses. Preliminary.
Provider’s website ↗Provider white papers, FAQs or fatāwā were read, but the executed contract itself is not public. This rates our certainty, not the provider’s compliance.
The five questions
How it answers, at a glance
Which contract
Diminishing musharakah“Structure is co-ownership-with-leasing (diminishing mushārakah + ijārah)”
Who holds title
Financier“Offa is the legal owner of the property. You will not become the legal owner until you have completed all your payments.”
How the price or rent is set
Not disclosed“do NOT state whether rent tracks the Bank of England base rate, another benchmark, or an independent market rent”
What happens on default
Not publicly documented“the default/sale waterfall, FSCS scope, and the executed contract set are all unpublished”
Independent scholarly ruling
No independent ruling found“No named independent scholar review located.”
Note: The text says Amanah Advisors certifies the products, but that is the provider's own certifier, not an arm's-length ruling.
See how it compares across the US, UK and CanadaEstablished & regulatory standing
The verifiable facts
Established
Reported founded 2019 (Birmingham). Began as the UK's first Shariah-compliant bridging finance provider; received FCA authorisation to provide residential Home Purchase Plans in March 2025.
Regulatory standing
FCA-authorised to provide Home Purchase Plans (announced March 2025). Bridging and buy-to-let are typically outside FCA HPP regulation. A non-deposit-taker, so no FSCS deposit protection.
Shariah board
Who certifies it
Certified by Amanah Advisors, led by Mufti Faraz Adam: 'The Sharia-compliance of our financial products is certified by Amanah Advisors, led by the highly respected scholar Mufti Faraz Adam' (Home Purchase Plan page; the homepage and FAQ say the same). Offa says its Sharia-compliance certificates can be downloaded from its site. Its team page lists no separate in-house Shariah board.
A named, credentialled board is a real signal — but a provider’s own board certifying its own product is not the same as arm’s-length review. Weigh it alongside the independent commentary below.
Independent scholarly review
What independent scholars have said
No named independent scholar review located. Trade press (Mortgage Strategy, Finextra) confirms the FCA HPP authorisation, but these are news outlets, not Shariah reviews.
Independent commentary is weighed, not treated as a final personal ruling. A body that rules one way is one respected voice, not a universal consensus — and rulings can lag changes to a live contract.
How the structure works
The mechanics, in principle
Products use co-ownership-with-leasing (diminishing mushārakah + ijārah): for buy-to-let/residential, the customer acquires the property in partnership with Offa and makes monthly payments to increase their ownership share while paying rent on Offa's portion. Bridging ('bridge-to-let') provides short-term Shariah-compliant facilities to unlock equity, later convertible to a let arrangement. Exact title and default mechanics are not detailed publicly.
This describes the structure in principle — it is not a verdict on the executed contract. Note too that FCA/PRA regulation guarantees consumer protection and solvency oversight, not Shariah-compliance; the checklist below is what tests the fiqh.
From the public documents
How the contract actually works
Read from Offa’s own public materials — white papers, product pages, FAQs and fatāwā — not its executed contract, which is generally not published. Where a point is undisclosed, it is said plainly rather than guessed. Sources are listed below.
Offa (Offa Money Limited) received FCA authorisation for residential HPPs in 2025 and launched its residential HPP in Feb 2026; products are certified Shariah-compliant by Amanah Advisors (Mufti Faraz Adam). Structure is co-ownership-with-leasing (diminishing mushārakah + ijārah): the customer buys the property in partnership with Offa, paying each month a blend of an ownership-increasing portion plus rent on the share not yet owned. On title, the HPP page's FAQ says 'The property will not be transferred unless all sums are paid in full'; the explicit 'Offa is the legal owner' wording comes from the Buy-to-Let plan's Key Risks ('Under the BTLPP, Offa is the legal owner of the property. You will not become the legal owner until you have completed all your payments. Until then, you will lease the property from Offa.'), not from the residential HPP page. Rent calibration is a genuine documentation gap: Offa's public pages describe a rental element on Offa's share but do NOT state whether rent tracks the Bank of England base rate, another benchmark, or an independent market rent. Distinctive features include a minimum 5% deposit, up to 7× income, a no-deposit family below-market purchase option, and a 'Family Assist' feature adding non-owning family members. Honest limit: the rent benchmark/formula and review period, the full fee tariff, early-settlement charges, the default/sale waterfall, FSCS scope, and the executed contract set are all unpublished — appropriate caution for a product only months old at the time of review.
The Six-Pillar test
The questions that decide it
This is the universal lens this site applies to every home-finance contract, anywhere. Read each pillar as a question to put to Offa’s executed contract — not its brochure.
- 1
Real ownership
Does the financier genuinely take ownership of the asset — even briefly — and bear a real owner's risk, rather than only ever holding a debt secured against it?
- 2
Risk-sharing
If the asset is destroyed or its value collapses, does the financier share that loss in proportion to its stake, or is the customer left bearing it alone?
- 3
Rent vs interest
In a lease/co-ownership, is the rent benchmarked to a genuine market rent for the property — or is it calibrated to an interest rate (a base-rate + margin) in disguise?
- 4
Default mechanism
On default, does the contract behave like the end of a real lease/partnership — or does it accelerate like a loan, demanding the full outstanding 'principal' plus charges?
- 5
No guaranteed pre-fixed return
Is the financier's return tied to real ownership and risk, or is it a pre-fixed, guaranteed sum that arrives regardless of what happens to the asset?
- 6
Substance over form
Strip away the Arabic labels: does the cashflow, risk, and outcome differ from a conventional loan — or is it the same economics wearing a compliant name (ḥiyal)?
Before you sign
What to ask Offa, in writing
Put these to the provider in writing and keep the answers. The reply — not the marketing — is what tells you whether the structure holds.
Can I see the current Amanah Advisors certificate for the specific product I'm signing?
Which of your products are FCA-regulated (HPP) versus unregulated (bridging/BTL), and what protections differ?
How is rent/profit calculated and reviewed over the term?
As a new HPP entrant, how is my ownership share protected if the funding vehicle fails?
What are the full fees and early-exit terms on bridging vs HPP?
The honest gap
What we have not verified
- Which benchmark the HPP rent tracks (the FAQ discusses benchmarking but does not name one).
- How seasoned Offa's residential HPP is operationally given the March 2025 authorisation.
- The precise founding year (commonly cited 2019 but not confirmed on its site).
The reasoning
Why this verdict, and not another
A verdict is only as honest as the reasoning behind it. Here is why Offa sits where it does — what keeps it off a clean pass, and what keeps it off an outright avoid.
Not a clean pass because
Offa's public pages do not state how rent is calculated — whether it tracks the base rate, another benchmark, or a market rent — and the fee tariff, early-settlement terms, default waterfall and FSCS scope are all undisclosed for a product only months old.
Not an outright avoid because
It is FCA-authorised for HPPs, certified by Amanah Advisors (Mufti Faraz Adam), and uses a documented co-ownership-with-leasing (diminishing-mushārakah + ijārah) structure in which the property is not transferred until all sums are paid — the structure is sound in principle; it is the disclosure that is thin.
Sources
What this read is built on
The verifiable references behind this page — provider documents and independent scholarly resolutions. Read them yourself; do not take our summary on trust.