Shared ownership, FTB, need advice...

TheSkyBoy

Thanks for reading...

I'm a first time buyer, buying a shared ownership property. I was advised by the housing association that my application to buy a share in my chosen property had been succesful in the middle of August.

I enquired then as to the expected timescales and was advised that it should be completed by the end of September. Incidently there is no chain. All paperwork from estate agents and other parties pointed towards a completion at the end of September. Well needless to say it's the begining of December and I'm still living out of boxes at my parents and paying to keep stuff in storage.

From what I can gather from my solicitor and my mortgage broker. There has been a hold up getting information from the housing association to the vendors solicitors, they have said the housing association have a 28 day turnround policy on these matters. This expired on 27th November, which begs the questions why it was only put in process at the end of October. They said they were waiting for a copy of the head lease which I managed to get from the Land Registry in a matter of hours.

It's very frustrating and I feel as though I have no leverage or infulence. Where do I stand if I decide that I no longer want to go ahead with the purchase, or how can I get things moving.

Obviously with Christmas around the corner it could hold things up further.

Bit of a long winded post, but I hope someone can advise me on further action.

Cheers,

tsb

BexInLondon

Did you put down any deposit? When we reserved ours we had to pay £250, which we'd have lost if we'd decided to go ahead. If you don't go ahead you'll still have to pay solicitors fees, and if you've paid for a mortgage valuation you'll lose that money too, but on the plus side you won't be saddled with a property you don't want.

You shouldn't feel so uninformed though - your solicitor should know where things are at, and why there are delays, so get onto them!

TheSkyBoy

Thanks for the quick response. It's a resale of a shared ownership property so I haven't put anything down apart from valuation and some other administration fees, plus I will have to pay my solicitor fees.

I really want the property but I feel so powerless, my solicitor is chasing things up but doesn't get much of a response from the other parties involved.

Fire_Fox

Have you been chasing your solicitors on a weekly basis? Has he been copying you in each time he chases up his counterpart? Who was waiting for a copy of the head lease, your side or the other party? When does your mortgage offer/ searches expire?

TheSkyBoy

I've been chasing my solicitor on an all most daily basis and to his credit he has copied me in on all correspondence.

I was unable to speak to the vendor's solicitor as this would have been 'a conflict of interest'. Something which seems to be disputed by some of my friends in the construction and building trades???

The latest development is that the head lease (required by both sets of solicitors) is on it's way from the housing association solicitor to the vendor's solicitor and then will be redirected with relevant paperwork to my solicitor.

So I guess it's watch this space, although I've done an awful lot of watching over the last few months and I guess it's a case of I'll believe it when I see it.

Fire_Fox

You would not be able to speak to the other side's solicitor, no. You would normally push the other side via the estate agent but not sure you can do that with shared ownership, so you would have to chase the housing association or vendor directly.

property.advert

Obviously someone is staling and it is up to the HA and your lawyer to sort it out. No good your lawyer just sending emails and then not following them up.

AMILLIONDOLLARS

You also need to be in daily, weekly contact with the person within the housing association in charge of your purchase. My daughter had the contact number, name of the person in charge, as well as the name of the head of the department, she would email them and copy her solicitor in on any correspondence. It helped to speed thing up. She started the process in April and had completed at the end of August this year. You need to be more proactive and get on everyone case.

Good luck

AMD

TheSkyBoy

I've got in contact with the person at the HA again and she's going to chase things up.

It does apppear that someone is stalling, it's just difficult to find out what is going as the communication process is so slow. Constantly waiting for call backs e-mails.

Thanks for your advice I'll keep you updated.

bingibongi

All par for the course when buying shared ownership. You refer to a head lease which indicates that there is a sub lease which you are presumably buying a share in - sounds a nightmare. Just dont be suprised to have to go through it all again when you sell.

TheSkyBoy

It's the thing that worries me most, having to go through it all again when I sell up.

Have spoken to my solicitor and the HA and no further developments...

Still there is always tomorrow!