My Experience - Thames Valley Housing Association - My Choice Homebuy Scheme

ChelseaDPM

Hi all,

I have read many of the stories, most of them long-winded nightmares which invlove Thames Valley Housing, and in particular the My Choice Homebuy Scheme. I want to share mine to hear peoples experiences and updates. Sorry in advance for the long post.

My wife and I found the property which we love in Hampshire, and as we recieved our Homebuy pack through the post mid-April we decided to go for it. We checked had meetings with our financial advisor, checked funding was available, and made an offer which was accepted. We were over the moon, our first house together.

The next step in the pack was to collate all the information, and send it pack to TVHA for approval. This step, according to the pack was 2-3 days. Great.

We then hear after sending out our pack that there was excessive demand for the scheme which meant many have been rejected, and the backlog will take some time to get through. We were told verbally over the phone that this would be 2 weeks, and we will hear something by the end of May. Our pack was received by TVHA (finally) on the 15th May, although was sent 1 and half weeks previously.

We allow 2 weeks to pass, appointing the solicitor in the mean time to allow a smooth process, and call TVHA again. My wife was told another 2 weeks, which angered me no end. After calling, we have been told that funds had been allocated to us, and also a case officer.

I called back demanding an explanation as to why the additional 2 weeks. The lady checked the records as to our position in the que. She said ours was recieved 15th, and our case handler was currently at 12-13th of the month, so a couple of days behind. Very helpful.

It is now 1st June, later than the original end of month, so i call again. After talking to the case handler and manager in charge i am told an addition 4 - 5 WEEKS!

This simply is not good enough. TVHA are single-handidly collapsing the housing market in our area. Their lapse attitude which at best is described as appawling was highlighted when they said "well if this one falls through you can just look for another one". Sorry, again not good enough. You just dont find a list of properties you love.

We are currently angry, confused and more importantly lost with the whole matter and do not know where to turn. I am amazed that a government funded scheme could not foresee that a high demand would be expected when they give out the green light, especially in these difficult times. People will just not sit on it.

I am sick to death of these lies, lies and more lies which they have told us, unrealistic timescales they provide, and the evident very ouput which they show.

I hate to think that i am one of many that these lies have been told to. After all, at some stage i seem to have received all the good news other users have experienced.

I will be interested to see how this pans out.

Sorry for the long post, but as anyone involved within this scheme can vouch for, it is expected. Something has to be done.

ILW

You could just get a mortgage and buy a house like most people do.

ChelseaDPM

Well unfortunately not everyone is in the luxurious position of having at least 10% deposit in one of the most expensive areas of the country. This could virtually amount to £20k.

But thanks again for the obvious oversight on my part.

ray123

A typical goverment scheme that works in theory, but in reality is a shambles! I really hope that you receive the funding and do not face too many obstacles.

LouB06

ChelseaDPM, I can totally sympatise with you on this. We are in the exact same position. They received our pack on 29th April... and then they lost it... and then found it a week later!

I get the exact same feedback from Thames Valley Housing. Originally told 3 days to approve our property. Then told 2 weeks. And here we are, over a month later and still nothing!

I did call today and they told me that our case worker had finished it and passed it to the manager, which will take another 2 days for them to look at it. But to be honest, I dont take anything they say as gospel. We've been getting our hopes up for weeks now when they have given us false timescales, only to be bitterly disappointed each time.

I'm just hoping that this time they are telling the truth!

Sandra2

We have sold our house to a couple using this scheme and it is just as awful to be on the other side only slightly more frustrating as we cannot get any information ourselves.
We have now been waiting for over 9 weeks and have been asking our buyer to book the survey in - so far been told "2-3 weeks", then "a further week", then "today" and today......"another 10 days" - as the survey cannot be booked until the application has been processed.
We have had paperwork from our solicitor and have been told a case worker has been allocated but no firm dates.
Our situation is further complicated by the house we are ready to exchange on (it took us 4 weeks from our offer being accepted to having it all done) needing to complete by the end of June. Given that we were a week behind selling our home we thought that we would all be in a similar position by now so having to go back to the couple we are buying from with a "really sorry but there is another delay" is not great.
We have complained to Thames Valley, our Estate Agent, Watchdog and our MP.
I agree it is totally unacceptable to keep people waiting for decisions for months on end with no clear answers.
I just hope that now they have at least stopped accepting any more applications they will be able to work through the ones they have and give people positive news soon.
Glad to hear your case has been sent for approval LouB06 - hope it all goes through for you now.

crowdedhouse

Catalyst are the same. I have been waiting for news for weeks and weeks. One min they have funding, then none, then july. I just can't keep up. I have given up hope

withoutatrace

I think that is the worst thing; the inconsistency of information. As soon as you start to accept that it is never going to happen the HA make another promise...

We are being put under pressure to get the survey done, but HA says to spend no money yet. We are supposed to be being signed off today so we can finally get things moving, but a part of me just knows that we will ring them tomorrow and it will be another two days...or longer. Maybe they will surprise me and keep their word this time!

MissPixieWix

My partner and I have been on an emotional rollercoaster ride with this scheme for a year now, originally wanting to buy a new build, we were advised to go through Moat, but they couldn't help us as we live in Surrey not Sussex. TV at that point had run out of funding. Funding then became available, so we applied through TV, no here's the catch for the New Build purchase, you can earn a maximum of 60k joint salary which amount to 210k (ish) every single house on the new estate was a minimum of 247k, even the 3 beds so it is impossible to buy one! We even put in a cheely bid which obviously got refused. We pointed this flaw out to Higgins Homes but they seemed unable to grasp the concept! So we moved on and found a gorgeous house, no chain and Vendors keen to move ASAP, so foolishly we believed what TV had told us, and said we could complete by the end of July. 28th April our offer was accepted, and we have heard NOTHING, despite chasing TV every single day. We then received a letter saying no more applications, we called to check but apparently it didnlt apply to us, and we already had funds allocated and our documents had been scanned in. We chased a week later as requested and were them told our whole application had been lost! Out IFA then sent another set of details over by recordered delivery and was told it would be dealt with as a priority. We then called back daily and it still hadn't been dealt with but had been allocated to a case worker. She then went on holiday and told us to call back on 2nd June .... Which we have, and guess what ....

MissPixieWix

Just to add to my other thread, We have also had the pack from the vendors solicitors asking for money for searches etc, we feel so awful that we are holding things up. Luckily our EA is aware of TV!
Also I just wanted to say to ILW, the deposit that comes from the government is a LOAN, that is paid back over 10 years, people using my choice are not a bunch of spongers, we had to sell up (house sold for what we bought it for 2 yrs ago) as our office is relocating a further 30 miles away from the 26 miles we already travel there and back every day, so are currently renting.

withoutatrace

Re: Mis PixieWix posts above.

Our offer was also accepted on 28 April, and it must seem to the vendor that we aren't moving along at all: she wants to move early to mid July and we havent even booked the survey yet...

We phoned Thames Valley today and the woman that (eventually) answered said our application was right in front of her at that moment. She said that she will phone us back tomorrow...If I believed it was just a matter of being signed off then I would be happy, but I dont trust anything they say any more! So a long day spent waiting for the phone to ring tomorrow...