First Time Buyer Scheme (FTBI) - Stuck - Unable to sell or rent!

halflost

Do a price comparison report on Rightmove for that postcode and comapare the prices to the sold prices. That entire development has been completely devalued by this ridiculous FTBI practice.

To the OP - good on you for getting onto that scheme. What is the absolutely limit you can go down too? For 12k more there are 2 bedroom apartments with large spaces available so your price due to the nature of just how much the prices have fallen is still quite high. Nice apartment though - compared to most places around that area it is definitely in the nicer bracket. Good luck getting rid of it!

katie1234

I am on a similar scheme to yours which also forbids rental. We unfortunately really want to move and spoke to our solicitor and would advise you to do the same. He said although that's the rule, as you can't sell they would be unlikely to be legally able to enforce it in court due to 'your right to life' law. I'm really not sure that's the name of the law but it was something like that. He said it wouldn't stand in court as you also 'own' half the property and it is a 'reasonable' suggestion. As all these rules were made before property crash etc they are harder to enforce. We however decided against rental after all that!

Jjw- don't attempt to staircase. Just sell! If your willing to wait till it reaches 147 then it makes sense to staircase however, if not and you plan to take a loss anyway just save as much as you can and when you have enough saved to sell you can do so. This way might work out quicker but will result in significant loss when stair casing you could potentially break even.
E.g
Bought house-180k
Mortgage- 90k
50/50 share
House now worth- 110k
Government share worth 55k
To staircase it would cost you 55k . to sell it would cost 30k.

Rough figures but that's pretty much our plan. Sell and take the loss. Technically it costs less. Our home would probably reach the stair casing price in about 13years which by that time our building will no longer be modern/without needing repair to justify that price ever! It just another option to consider.

mynameisdave

How liberal is the no rental rules? If a friend was lodging in the property and you returned, lets say, every third weekend...

Flyboy152

JJM07 wrote: »

I am in a similar situation as I bought my property through FTBI (now known as HOP) in 2007.

The scheme is confusing but you are not in a bad position really, as you can sell the property for whatever price.

But here's my situation;

I bought my 2 bed apartment for £180,000 in 2007 with a 50% shared ownership (knowing what I know now this was overpriced!!). My mortgage = £90,000 no deposit required.

Now, I keep an eye on rightmove and noticed loads of properties coming up for sale in the development at just over £90k!

FTBI will take a reduced amount on the loan they initially provided so people in financial difficulty can sell. This means when these properties are selling at £92k or £93k their mortage is paid off in full and FTBI (or the government) are getting around 2k/3K back.

I have noticed around 4-5 two bedrooms properties coming on the market and selling within 2-3 weeks of being listed as investors are snapping them up!!!

I wanted to purchase the other 50% of my property (staircase) so I arranged a RICS valutation and the property was valued at £115,000. I was told by FTBI that I would need to pay back 50% of the properties value, so I would need a further mortgage (on top of my current £90k) of £57,500!!! This means I would have to pay £147,500 for a property worth considerably less!!!!!!

The scheme was originally designed to help people get on to the property ladder and now I feel that the only realistic option I have is to sell up, or sell to friend / family member for £92k and buy it back for a little more giving them some cash!

I want to stay in the property as I like it but don't want to pay over the odds for it. If anyone has any advice on my situation please let me know!!

If I was you and you want to sell up quickly, I would search websites like rightmove and zoopla for what other properties in the development have sold for in the past. Try and find out what agents they sold through and contact them, as they may have people (investors) who missed out on the last one or want to buy another!

Ring all the agents around the area and ask them if they are familiar with the FTBI scheme, I spoke to Hunters in my local city and they were practically begging me for the sale as they have people waiting.

As long as you clear your mortgage, sell the property for whatever you want. It will sell it may just take time and a good agent!!

So, you are complaining about buying a one hundred and eighty thousand pound property, for one hundred and forty-five thousand pounds? Sounds like you got a good deal there.

hcb42

what a crazy scheme, whoever valued these properties in the first place ought to be shot. How can valuing a property at £180K when it is worth about half be good for first time buyers.

Far better to save up a deposit and do it the old way, less painless:eek:

JJM07

Flyboy152 wrote: »

So, you are complaining about buying a one hundred and eighty thousand pound property, for one hundred and forty-five thousand pounds? Sounds like you got a good deal there.

As mentioned, knowing what I know now the properties were overpriced in 2007.

The property is probably worth between £125,000 and £135,000 (although it's only worth what people will pay!)

Flyboy152

JJM07 wrote: »

As mentioned, knowing what I know now the properties were overpriced in 2007.

The property is probably worth between £125,000 and £135,000 (although it's only worth what people will pay!)

What are you basing you two thousand seven valuation on?

JJM07

Flyboy152 wrote: »

What are you basing you two thousand seven valuation on?

It was a new build...... so all the other 2 bedroom properties within the development at that time.

Flyboy152

JJM07 wrote: »

It was a new build...... so all the other 2 bedroom properties within the development at that time.

So, everyone else bought their properties for one hundred and twenty-five to thirty-five thousand and your one was valued at one hundred and ninety thousand?

JJM07

Flyboy152 wrote: »

So, everyone else bought their properties for one hundred and twenty-five to thirty-five thousand and your one was valued at one hundred and ninety thousand?

Nope... everyone paid close to £180,000 in 2007.

I can't enter link but use zoopla.co.uk and then 'sold prices' and postcode LS9 8LB.

If you look back to 2007 you will see the same house numbers now been sold at £90k to £95k.