Shared Ownership Benefits

neil.shah97

Hi,

we bought 1 bed apartment in jan-12 on shared Ownership scheme.
I own 50% of share.
I pay 50% on mortgage and another 50% rent to developer. I also pay high council tax, high service charge (£200+ per month). Now i can not afford it.

I was wondering if you can guys help with benefits i.e what we are entitled to claim. Checked on benefits checker but there is no option for Shared ownership.

I have posted 1st time so please help......

lindsaygalaxy

Yes

That seems like very high service charge! I have been looking for a 3 bed shared ownership property for years and the service charges have never been anywhere near that amount and I am in quite an expensive part of the country.

banner188

Yes

You won't get any help towards your mortgage so you need to use the benefit checker as though you were just renting, and use the actual rent you pay. This will obviously be lower than a normal rent for a property such as yours due to it only being on 50% so you will get less help. It isn't taken into account the extra expenditure for the mortgage due to it being your own choice to have one.
I am in a similar position, my rent is only about £180 a month on 50% of the property and I don't get any help but if I were in a full rental property and it was £480 a month would probably get about £250 a month HB.

I'm not sure whether the service charge can be taken into account when looking into benefits but maybe so, there may be an option for services charges once you go through the rental side to the benefits checker.

miduck

lindsaygalaxy wrote: »

That seems like very high service charge! I have been looking for a 3 bed shared ownership property for years and the service charges have never been anywhere near that amount and I am in quite an expensive part of the country.

Service charges are always much higher for apartments.

OP, are you in receipt of any means tested benefits? If so, you may be entitled to help with the mortgage interest and the service charge. If not, what is your situation - do you (both) work?

neil.shah97

Yes

Hi All, thank you for reply.

We both work full-time, we do not get benefits currently or not entitled to.

We feel that rising council tax, service charge etc made us difficult to survive.

PasturesNew

It's VERY unlikely you'd be able to claim any benefits... but to get any help from people here you'd at least need to say how much you both earn.

neil.shah97

Yes

Ok Sorry,

My Apartment costed 220K which I own 50% and rest 50% I pay rent

Me and my partner earns 37.5K a year.

I pay aprxo £400 per month on rent / service charge and £160 per month council charge.

I understand I wont be able to get much help but some council tax reduction would help us.

Both of have their pay increased for two year.

Thanks

neil.shah97

Yes

Sorry I meant pay freeze... not increased.

miduck

Assuming you do not have children, you will not receive any assistance with that income.

It may be possible to challenge the service charge, if you feel it is unreasonable. The Leasehold Advisory Service can advise further on that. Otherwise I would suggest you start saving - the service charge will get bigger every year.

Gentile

Why dont you try and sell the flat ? 220K !! Clearly you cannot afford it and the best way forward is to rent a place till you can buy a place you can afford.

lindsaygalaxy

Yes

Why don't you post your statement of affairs to see if people can help you reduce your outgoings.