Share your shared ownership experiences

aileth

auburnette wrote: »

aileth, how did you find getting the mortgage? Did you use a broker?

Options on lenders were very limited. We used a mortgage advisor through reeds rains, who were selling the property on behalf of the HA. We literally had two choices, Santander or RBS. Thankfully the offerings in terms of % and fees weren't bad at all, but it could've easily been another story.

kryssykk

Hi,
My hubby and I bought into shared ownership in 2008. We bought a 50% ownership on what was to be the companies "Flagship" site.
It took us almost two years to sell because the younger age group who were buying into second ownership property couldn't afford 50%.
Why did we sell? Because the company had difficulty selling the properties in the first instance and so were left with filling vacant properties with tenants who were not compatible with the term "Flagship". In the space of eighteen months two sets of tenants were removed to other property because they were quite literally wrecking brand new homes.
If you are young and can put up with many children loud music and car mechanics tinkering 24/7 go for it!!!

Minx1986

This is really interesting reading. I'd love to know who is dealing with what housing association however. Personally i brought my SO property 3 years ago, and whilst I love my flat, the prospect of selling I find daunting, purley because of the housing association. I have heard similar types of stories from 3 of my neighbours who have stuggled to move on, due to the housing association being difficult in the sell (trying to force sales at reduced prices/acting slowly etc). One neighbour was forced to buy the remaining 50% in their flat, just so they could sell it at the full market price (£15K higher than what the housing association would sell at!)

mk_78

[SIZE=-1]I am looking to buy a shared ownership, as a single person on a reasonable wage it's the only option available to me to ensure I can live in a nice house in a decent area. I have 10% deposit saved and am just waiting for the right property to come along.

My choices would be:

1) get a mortgage on a non-shared ownership 1 bed studio flat in a very bad area [no thanks!]
2) get a mortgage on a nice 2 bed S/O house in a decent area + pay rent on remaining share
3) stay where I am renting a nice 2 bed house in a decent area for more £££ than the equivalent shared ownership rent/mortgage - no brainer!

In my area shared ownerships generally sell on the same day, often appearing on rightmove already showing as STC, they are very rarely on there for more than a week or two before being marked as STC.

Unfortunately (for me as a buyer) if the housing association does not find a buyer for the house in the 4-6 week nomination period the owner can put the house on the open market with an estate agent and charge a 'premium' this is supposed to be for improvements to the property eg new flooring, kitchens etc but in Milton Keynes the market for shared ownership is so strong that even houses in not great areas with no work done to them have added premiums, generally 10k upwards which cannot be added to the mortage. MK council S/O properites do not have a nomination period and can go straight to open market so these always always come on with a premium added.

As an example this wreck of a bungalow (in a nice enough area) - [/SIZE][SIZE=-1][SIZE=-1]http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-45106709.html[/SIZE] - that literally needs gutting (not just a case of decor being dated etc!) was for sale at £16,000 (10% share) with a £24,000 premium - the premium is a payment that goes straight to the seller and can't be added to a mortgage. As you can see with property bee it went up for sale 28th Feb and was marked STC just 11 days later. It seems the sale fell through as it went back as available on 28th March and was STC again by 14th April.

Another example of a house with a 20k premium, this one sold in 4 weeks even with such a large premium and not a single picture of the interior - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51911612.html The average premium tends to be 10k and these get snapped up within days.[/SIZE]

kimbyanne

We recently purchased our shared ownership house. It was not a straight forward process at all, but we are very happy with our house. We purchased the maximum share available, and intend to staircase to 100% in a few years.

Our house is a new build, and is one of twelve S/O properties on a development of one hundred & twenty houses. We moved in last year and we are very happy with everything so far.

However, I will say the following which we experienced;

1. The demand for S/O housing FAR exceeds the available properties. We were up against 45 people for one house.
2. You have to bid on properties and then the H/A will shortlist the applicants on some ridiculous criteria (the local council somehow got involved in the shortlist process when we purchased, and they refused to shortlist anyone who didn't already live in the area as they wanted the houses to be purchased by "local people".)
3. You will need a broker/IFA. S/O mortgages are quite hard to get and there are very few lenders.
4. Choose solicitors with knowledge of S/O
5. Don't buy a S/O unless you intend to live there for a long time or staircase up. S/O does not work in the short-term.

For us, it has enabled us to purchase a house in a really nice area. We wouldn't have been able to afford to buy in the area without S/O.

We are able to do anything we want to the house apart from anything structural.

Our mortgage and rent is £600 a month. It is far cheaper than renting in this area.

Yes you are responsible for all repairs, but as we intend to live here for a long time and staircase to 100%, that would be something we would incur anyway.

gaz141

Here is an example

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-34723131.html?backListLink=%2Fproperty-to-rent%2Fmap.html%3FlocationIdentifier%3DOUTCODE%255E526%26insId%3D1%26maxBedrooms%3D1%23_includeLetAgreed%3Don%26houseFlatShare%3Dfalse%26locationIdentifier%3DOUTCODE%255E526%26maxBedrooms%3D1%26previousSearchLocation%3DCR4%26radius%3D0.0%26searchLocation%3DCR4%26searchType%3DRENT%26sortByNewestListing%3Dfalse%26sortType%3D6%26useLocationIdentifier%3Dfalse%26box%3D-0.16851%2C-0.13976%2C51.39091%2C51.41067%26popupPropertyId%3D34723131&fromMap=true

I bought an SO flat identical to this but my mortgage and rent are about £300.00 cheaper than the monthly rent they want for this rental. SO was a great deal for me

Ronaldo_Mconaldo

John58 wrote: »

Apart from the fact they own 25% outright, nowhere does it say their mortgage is interest only, but even that doesn't mean they don't own their 50%. Even with an interest only mortgage they would own their share.

Here's the important line "But until I finish my degree and go full time I cannot afford repayment and interest ( about £400)".

fudgey1802

DONT DO IT!

Im 7 years into a 25% shared ownership on a newly built flat and was all fine BUT our company that looks after the building has served us a section 20 notice that the building needs repainting and poss repairs and we got no choice to pay and want to charge us NOW before work is done on an estimated bill.

They given us a year to pay and are sending me reminders that ive paid nothing yet. There not getting a penny until the work is done there not earning free intrest and im having to borrow off parents as there not snopping on my finances, one of neighbours let them and they asked him can you cut down on WHAT YOU FEED YOUR DOGS £10 A WEEK IS TOO MUCH !!!! what **********

Oh and the total roughly is £75000.00 :mad::mad::mad: - our poorly managed sink fund which leave me and my 20 flats to pay £3000 IN 12 MONTHS, whos got that cash!

DONT DO IT PEOPLE STAY AWAY as im trapped now.

skater_kat

but we will now get a nice right to buy discount on our staircasing...??!!

DaisyBrown

Love our shared ownership flat, have been here 11 years. Selling now as we now have 2 children and the equity we have allows us to make the next move up the ladder. Process has not been complicated by being SO, just the usual buying and selling delays.

No extra bills for repair or maintenance - all included in service charge, in fact we often get a rebate on service charge of c£100 per year.

I have only had a positive experience of SO, property is not overvalued, so far not hard to sell. If they could not find someone during the nomination period then we had the option to sell 100% on the open market.

I think the issue is it is leasehold and therefore you never have complete control - but that would still be the issue with other non SO leasehold flats.