maintenance on shared ownership properties

smileykylie_2

Hi

Starting to seriously look into shared ownership as you cannot get a cardboard box where I live for under £150,000. I am a keyworker and eligible for shared ownership but am wondering about maintenance costs. Obviously when you rent these are covered by the landlord. However am I right in thinking that even if you only own 40% of a SO property you are liable for the full 100% of maintenance costs??
Just seems unfair that you have to share the profit with them, but the costs are all yours.

Have I got the wrong end of the stick here??
Can someone let me know how it works in terms of maintenance.

Thanks :rolleyes:

scheming_gypsy

yep you have to pay for it all it's your house they're just helping you buy it. Making a nice tidy profit along the way.

Graham_Devon

Yes, you are liable for all repairs. I own 25% of mine, though if say I needed new windows, I would have to pay for them, but I would only get 25% back at the end of it, even if they put the price of the property up.

It's why you'll find a lot of shared ownership places are completely as they were built, i.e no one really bothers to do anything but the regular stuff that needs to be done. Putting in a new kitchen is fine, but you won't get anything back from it, so it's always worth bearing that in mind. You need to do it for yourself, not for financial rewards down the line.

But, the trade off here is you don't need buildings insurance, included in the rent, plus, your actually getting on the housing ladder instead of renting. So, to me, buying a shared ownership home (like I am now) is right for me, even though whatever I do inside it is for my own benefit and thats it. We can't have it all ways!

smileykylie_2

Considering all the properties available on Shared Ownership down here are new built hopefully they will not require too much ongoing maintenance. I think the service charge includes building insurance so that is something.

Still considering it and will have to look into all the costs, both hidden and obvious.

Graham_Devon

Bear in mind that the new properties are normally 40-50% share minimum. The older properties which people are selling and moving on from are often 25% shares, so could be better for you.

Mine costs me £400 a month, mortgage and rent (same type of property to rent would be £600 a month easy, so I'm saving £200 over renting) and when I bought it early this year was valued at £135,000. Closest I could get to the same thing in my area, i.e. same type of house was £210,000.

Shared ownership still has a stigma, but I don't regret doing it at all. Gives me a home which I'm buying at least a share of, costs less than renting the equivalent house, i can still save for my next house, and if I wanted to, could buy more of this house.

Downside is, I will never make any money apart from the market increase.

Upside of that same downside is that if there is a crash and prices fall a certain percentage, my percentage and loss will be smaller. However, if they rise, my rise will be smaller if you get me.

But, if prices crash, it will most likely be because of intrest rates, which means more money on the savings I'm able to save.

Swings and roundabouts! However, I'm so glad I got one instead of renting. I do owe more now though on the mortgage than I did when I bought it! LOL!

Oh yer and costs may be slightly higher with solicitors, theres a slight bit more work, and mortgages are a LOT harder to come across, I went with the halifax in the end, got turned down by 3 others.