low cost Home ownership ripp off!!!!!!

ALPHADEANO

Im not clutching at straws just was looking if anything could be done, with regard to the housing market bottoming out, I can not predict the future sorry.

I just think I was treated unfairly thats all and was seeing if people agree or disagree or has any advice.

wish you all the best.

Dean

arbrighton

ALPHADEANO wrote: »

Are you legally trained just out of intrest?

The housing association ran the scheme on approx 12 properties, so assuming they made £35,000 on each sale thats £420,000 profit for them.

Perhaps thats how they afforded theyre new offices?

Im just asking for opinions , and thanks for yours

Dean

Well, given the market has now crashed, I very much doubt it.
You are asking for opinions yes, but you are choosing to ignore them as none of us are agreeing with you.

ALPHADEANO

im not disagreeing with you, at all it was my decision. but thanks for your opinions.

Some of your attitudes were a liitle unfriendly but people can be harsh hidden behind a computer screen wish you all the best

Dean

Yorkie1

It may feel as though people are being harsh, but they are simply trying to give you the truth despite you not appearing to want to hear it.

Good luck in moving on.

DVardysShadow

ALPHADEANO wrote: »

Im not clutching at straws just was looking if anything could be done, with regard to the housing market bottoming out, I can not predict the future sorry.

I just think I was treated unfairly thats all and was seeing if people agree or disagree or has any advice.

wish you all the best.

Dean

Yes, you were treated unfairly. But you knew it at the time and you made your own choice to accept a £20000 loss in order to save a few hundreds. There is no advice or help to be given.

You were treated unfairly. You chose to accept it. Now you must live with it.

Ulfar

You had the choice of pulling out and had a good reason to try and reclaim the £250.00 and any other deposits. You might even have had a chance at getting back any survey, legal fees.

If however the loss of these fees would have prevented you purchasing somewhere else then I am afraid you were stretching yourself too far, it isn't uncommon for the purchase of a house to fall through after surveys and legal fees have been incurred.

You instead agreed by signing the contracts to go ahead with the deal as it was, paying the agreed price for a 50% share. At this point your acceptance of the amended terms nullifies any of the above. I am assuming the developer didn't hold a gun to your head to force you to sign.

What someone else paid for their property has no relevance to what you paid or have lost, you agreed your price they agreed theirs. What the developer sells each property for is between them and the buyer of that property.

You have no grounds for any recompense due to the change in the market as you bought the property at the time for an agreed price, the fact the market has changed is unfortunate but not the developer's fault. If the market had doubled the value you wouldn't now be moaning.

ALPHADEANO

I agree with you 100% if the market doubled I would have sold and made a profit and been very happy!

I see peoples arguments about being aware of it and I actually agree on that !
. And I know Im going round in circles lol

It just seems unfair a not for profit housing association can profit and I lose out.

When I decide to sell my share the property has to be offered in the first instance as a shared equity scheme to someone else, and they would pay £50,000 for a 50% share while I paid £70,000 for a 50% share. Is this fair?

I also have to pay an admin fee, mine and the housing associations solicitors fees, I have to get two valuations myslef and surveys fees and advertising fees.

Also I notice that the schemes offered by the housing association now are not based on open market value but are a set price / percentage. This is fair as if it is based on the open market value your percentage could be anything.
I also belive that if the open market value on my purchase had halved in value I would not have got 100% equity of the property but thats just a gut feeling!

The schemes say you pay for example 70% by way of mortgage and the housing association pays the 30%.

The other point I didnt mention was the scheme that I paid my deposit on was called "homebuy" which after I paid my deposit was changed to , "low cost home ownership".
But to be honest can you see anything that is low cost??? It seems a little misleading name to give a scheme that forgetting the percentage issue, when you buy and sell you pay more than you would buying/selling a property on the open market, or am I wrong?

I think what happened was it was ment to be a 70/30 scheme but the land was bought by the developers from the council, who put an so45? on the low cost housing meaning they had to be sold at open market value, this was never explained to me by the housing association or my solicitor or even in the reply I had from the ombudsman.

Well you live and learn, I would never do another shared equity scheme, and advise people to stay clear of the new build ones as new builds usually loose value just after they are built.

And while Im ranting on, there is another block of flats opposite that are identacle that were sold privately by the developers. These are kept in so much better condition!
The nhbc in theyre home owner document says this about maintenance:-


"Paintwork
.
Outside woodwork should be regularly repainted or restained
to preserve the wood. The first repainting outside will
probably be needed in about two years, but after that –
provided it is properly done – repainting or staining should
only be necessary every four to five years.

Housing Associations carry out a wide range of repair and
maintenance work to their homes, funded by rental income
from tenants.
This work generally includes:
n roofs
n outside walls, outside doors, window sills, window catches,
sash cords, glazing putties and window frames, including
painting and decoration
n internal walls skirting boards, doors and door frames, hinges,
door jambs, thresholds, letter boxes, door handles, locks,
floors and ceilings, not including painting and decoration
n chimneys and chimney stacks, not including sweeping
n pathways, steps and means of access
n plasterwork
n integral garages and stores
n boundary fencing.

No repairs have to my knowledge been carried out in 5 years, I contacted the housing association about this and the following points:- doors not repainted and wood under door paint has come off and is back to bare wood, ceiling light hanging off(its now hanging free and buy its wires., shrinking and large cracks and severe mould and needs repainting of ineterior comunal walls, car park brick wall work damaged/missing, bin area tiles loose "i have tripped on them twice no injury. Gutering loose "looks like it could fall" on several sides. Intercome not working, large cracks in exterior brickwork.

They sent an inspector round said they paint every 5-10 years, couldnt do anything about the cracks in the walls or mould. said theyd get the light fixed and the guttering and the car park wall. and the intercome fixed This was a month ago and all thats been done is two old bricks laid with no cement on the car park wall. and the intercome fixed. still leaving dangerous repairs needed/

Its annoying that I have to keep my flat in good condition by painting it every 2.5 years and they do as little as possible, I think this would also have a bearing on resale values as the privete blocks of flats are also selling. And considerably better condition Ive been in them.

I appreciate other peoples prospectives on the matters and thanks for reading my rants have a good day!

Ulfar

If you weren't selling, you would have benefited from the market decrease as stair casing would be cheaper.

I do agree that shared ownership given the terms and conditions is a bad deal, but then buying any new build is a bad deal as they are always overpriced.

ALPHADEANO

I agree, but remeber that staircasing is relative so if the property is worth £50,000 i only own £25,000 of it but if it goes up to £200,000 I d own £100,000 of it and have to afford another £100,000 . My wage has only gone up 2% in five years.

The other reason I wanted a 70/30 scheme was it gives you a fighting chance of stair casing and full home ownership.

I also belive that because I felt comited to buy after I paid my deposit I lost out on a chance of this through another housing associations 70/30 scheme.

I see most peole belive that once youve paid your non refundable deposit the price can vary and its the contract you sighn that matters, most people I talk to agree but also say that the price quoted in most sitiuations at the time you pay your deposit is the price you pay.

I find new builds to be overpriced to other properties on the open market, and this one in my opinion was £36,000 overpriced compared to similar quality properties in more expensive areas on the open market, these being on the market for £100, 000 at time i purchased the poroperty.

Thnanks

Dean

DVardysShadow

ALPHADEANO wrote: »

...
I see most peole belive that once youve paid your non refundable deposit the price can vary and its the contract you sighn that matters

Once you pay a non refundable deposit, the price is fixed. If it is not, then you should get your deposit back. But if you sign and exchange contacts, then you are committed to the deal you exchanged contracts on.

Yes, you were swindled. But you let them go through your pockets, because losing £20000 was less important to you than losing your survey fees. I am not going to say that you were definitely wrong to do that, if that was your value system at the time. But I wouldn't do it. And I think you should have the self respect to accept the consequences of your value system at that time, even though your value system has subsequently changed to be more the majority view