One way that is possible is the governments Home Buy Direct shared equity scheme which allows customers to buy a house for 70% or more of its value, the developer or makes a loan for the remainder on an interest free basis which later reverts to a very low rate such as 1.75% after several years. Some of the property developers involved in the scheme are offering purchase without deposit.

The scheme operator is repaid either by staircasing (buying a larger stake in the property towards 100% ownership) or on sale of the property in which case they will take their percentage of the sale value.

Housing associations may also run similar schemes known as shared ownership where you purchase between 25-75% of a property typically and pay a nominal rent on the remainder however these may require a deposit. Broadly both schemes are quite similar.

To find out more search for Home buy Direct on Google etc or for housing associations in your area.

However one way that usually wouldn’t work is if the vendor simply strikes the deposit value off the sale price. Known as a vendors deposit this is now very unlikely to be accepted and pretty much all lenders will take the lesser figure for the valuation leaving you back at square one.