Shared ownership in London?

marello

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone in London has gone through with shared ownership?

I'm fed up of renting and whilst I appreciate that shared ownership essentially comes with the same restraints it at least offers me a way of not living like a student.

I imagine there's a lot of competition for properties. Did you find you have to be a council tenant, military or teacher in order to do it? Technically I have a "good" job but I financially meet the criteria I've seen and have no way of amassing a deposit whilst renting.

kingstreet

Talk to the local Housing Associations, or the HCA HomeBuy Agent for the area. Metropolitan or L&Q/FirstSteps, I believe?

East, North and West London
Metropolitan Housing Group/FIRSTSTEPS 0845 230 8099

South East and South West London
L&Q/FIRST STEPS 0844 406 9997
Firststepslondon.org

brit1234

marello wrote: »

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone in London has gone through with shared ownership?

I'm fed up of renting and whilst I appreciate that shared ownership essentially comes with the same restraints it at least offers me a way of not living like a student.

I imagine there's a lot of competition for properties. Did you find you have to be a council tenant, military or teacher in order to do it? Technically I have a "good" job but I financially meet the criteria I've seen and have no way of amassing a deposit whilst renting.

I hope not they are a rip off, complete scam. I'm a key worker in London with lots of colleagues who have done the scheme. In the end not one of them wish they had done it with a vast range of problems, not just the usual shared ownership problems.

Here is the main debate forum on them to give you a idea.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3177256

Have you considered renting somewhere cheaper to save, that's what I did?

If you are looking for some new ones, here is a West London one.
https://www.sharetobuy.com/london/sharedownershippropertydetails?id=10208

However it is very deceptive with the pictures and your view is actually of a vast council estate of dozens of high blocks with crack dealers out the window.

marello

Thanks for the replies. I've just got to post 100 of that thread and it's not particularly useful so far. Lots of strong but not necessarily reasoned opinions on both sides. Also as you pointed out on the thread Brit, people who've just bought so haven't experienced it properly yet.

To elaborate more on my situation: I currently live in zone 3 South West London, my monthly rent is about £800 a month for an ensuite room that's a good size but extremely badly insulated. This winter the room got down to 4 degrees. Ouch! I've looked into similar rooms to rent elsewhere and I'd be looking at paying out £900-£1200pcm for a smaller room. Renting a small flat is a similar cost. My income is £1750pcm so that leaves me no room to save. I do not want to move further out of London as I work immensely long hours.

Shared ownership at a glance seems like a good idea in London, where rental prices are as unattainably high as buying prices. It's not something I'd do outside of London but it seems like I'll be here for a while and it offers me a way to live comfortably. After 10 years of renting I've managed to save £14,000 so let's face it, I'm not raising a deposit for a London flat anytime soon!

I'm very interested in hearing people's objective opinions.

richardw

Is that your nett income after tax, NI etc deductions?

NinaSwiss

I cant's speak specifically of current schemes but when I looked at buying 5 years ago (via shared ownership), I decided against it partly because:

• I could not for-see being able to save a deposit to buy the other 70/75%, as my total payment(rent, service charge, mortgage) would amount to paying a mortgage for the same property price.
• Uncertainty about rental/service charge increase, again possibly making it harder to buy the other 70/75%
• Even though I'd be renting 75% of the property, I'd be entirely responsible for repairs whereas in a normal rent situation, I need not worry about forking out thousands for new boiler.

At the time I was earning a lot less than you so I decided to carry on house sharing and keep saving and improving my income.

I know you'd rather not rent further out but sometimes sacrifices need to be made if you want something bad enough. In South Norwood for example(zone 4), you can get a 2-bed flat £850-900 per month, so I'd imagine a 1-bed or studio would be even less. Alternatively you can easily get house share (with only one other person living there) for £400-450 (including bills). I remember being astonished to discover some of my friends were paying £900-1000 for a room... just because it was central (zone 2). They were equally surprised to find another friend was paying only 850 for a 2-bed flat in a very nice private residence with allocated parking and a view to die for in a very good part of South Norwood (zone 4).

If you take trains home, then living a zone or 2 away might not necessarily hurt as it all depends on where you work and cost of travel.

demontfort

marello wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I've just got to post 100 of that thread and it's not particularly useful so far. Lots of strong but not necessarily reasoned opinions on both sides. Also as you pointed out on the thread Brit, people who've just bought so haven't experienced it properly yet.

To elaborate more on my situation: I currently live in zone 3 South West London, my monthly rent is about £800 a month for an ensuite room that's a good size but extremely badly insulated. This winter the room got down to 4 degrees. Ouch! I've looked into similar rooms to rent elsewhere and I'd be looking at paying out £900-£1200pcm for a smaller room. Renting a small flat is a similar cost. My income is £1750pcm so that leaves me no room to save. I do not want to move further out of London as I work immensely long hours.

Shared ownership at a glance seems like a good idea in London, where rental prices are as unattainably high as buying prices. It's not something I'd do outside of London but it seems like I'll be here for a while and it offers me a way to live comfortably. After 10 years of renting I've managed to save £14,000 so let's face it, I'm not raising a deposit for a London flat anytime soon!

I'm very interested in hearing people's objective opinions.

Shared ownership is generally a bad idea and given that you've put away barely £100 a month over the last 10 years you may struggle to ever get anywhere with shared ownership. If you really aspire to have your own place you need to make two important decisions.

Should you rent in a cheaper part of London to save up more money? South West London is one of the most expensive part of the capital. I rent an ensuite room in Leyton (Zone 3) north east London in a modern well insulated aprtment for £580month plus bills (£90). That would immediately let you save an extra £220 per month so you could double your deposit in a few years.

Should you move to a cheaper city? £1750 per month is a very average salary in London especially if you work long hours. On that kind of employment setup I'd call it quits with London and go live and work somewhere more affordable.

Cut your coat according to your cloth.

Building_Surveyor

i think you need to make an informed decision. there will be alot of people on here that will slate it but have no experience using the scheme whatsoever. There are pros and cons goin into any property purchase. Do your own research and make a decision that suits your circumstances. Do not rely on opinions on here to make up your mind.

If it was a choice between having nothing or a bit of something, id rather have 25% of something to leave to my kids than 0% if thats all it was ever going to be.

I could easily sit here and slag off the help to buy scheme, but i have never used it, have no experience of it therefore i don't think my opinion on it matters, it would purely be an opinion.

I know many who have used the scheme with zero problems. As i said, you can have problems purchasing anything. But make an informed choice, do some proper research with the HA and your homebuy agent and go from there. Most of all explore ALL of your options.

sann420

Hi

Without sugar coating it, with an income is £1750pcm you shouldnt be living in SW London. I dont think a nice area is worth living in, if you are freezing in 4c inside your home in winters. Ouch!!!

As other guys have suggested move to a cheaper area. You will adjust your schedule accordingly for a half an hour commute in no time. And it would help you save up some money for deposit.

I am myself going to buy a shared ownership property. And without a healthy deposit all the guys above are right, you will just get stuck into an endless cycle of paying rent to the housing association while maintaining the property for them. Also I dont think with your salary and lack of deposit you would be able to get shared ownership any where in SW London. Sorry I am saying it as I see it.

Best of luck

marello

Thanks for the replies everyone, they're very insightful.

That income I gave is after all deductions and the rent includes all bills. I've recently changed careers to start a graduate scheme as a management consultant. It's a clearly structured company so there's reasonable confidence that my salary will be go up over time.

Totally agree with the points on moving elsewhere which I'll be looking to do if I don't do the scheme. However because my job doesn't give me a fixed place of work etc. I couldn't move much further out as I could easily end up commuting from one corner of London to another on a daily basis.

purt

Not sure how helpful my post will be, but thought I'd share my experience. I have just bought a small studio flat in London. I did consider shared ownership but was put off by the reality of how much my outgoings would be and how much of what I was paying in was still 'rent'. I was fortunate enough to find a small flat which required a 10% deposit of around £15k and have jumped on the property ladder. (With fees & stamp duty I ended up shelling out £18.5k in total).

My outgoings are comparable to what I'd be paying in terms of renting a room in a shared house. (The mortgage is also less than what you currently pay in rent). I have my own kitchen and bathroom, and my own bedroom. Best of all, the majority of what I'm paying towards the mortgage is equity that I'm building up for when I eventually move on to somewhere bigger.

It is possible to get on the property ladder in London when you don't have much in the way of a deposit. I do think people overlook smaller studio properties, or less attractive areas and immediately think they can't afford to get on the ladder because they want a nice one/two bed in a nice area.