Your home Shared Ownership

Mellymoon

I have received an email after registering on the sharetobuy website which I found through the helptobuy site, I believe it to be a government site but would like this verified.
The Your Home shared ownership scheme is run by Heylo Housing and is where I can put down a deposit of 10% or more and depending on my earnings etc they will buy the rest and I can rent it. So no mortgage involved and I can choose a house on the open market.
In my current position this seems too good to be true - is it?
Does anyone know about this scheme.?
What I know is they buy the house and I would have a registered interest on the deeds for my share - is this usual practice for shared ownership?
They say they are regulated by the same orgnaisation as housing associations - but who is this?
If this is not a housing association how is my interest protected if they go bust?
Any advice on how to throughly check this out would be appreciated please? I cannot risk all my savings as I would never financially recover but it would be a dream come true to own (part own) my home.
Thanks
Mel

Startup1985

Sorry I don't understand what the aim here is. Surely if you can afford the 10% deposit you can mortgage a house without having to go down this shared ownership route? Also, do you ever get full ownership of the house or do you just pay rent on it forever?
Maybe once you have explained your reasoning behind your thought it might become clear to me but I just can't imagine why you would benefit from laying down 10% and then pay rent for it to whoever runs the scheme

booksurr

do you mean this one? https://www.sharetobuy.com

very obviously that is not a Govt run company, it is a private mortgage broker out to make money for themselves and are regulated by the FCA so must provide details of who they are and what they do in accordance with FCA requirements on a page on their website just like any other FCA financial adviser: https://www.sharetobuy.com/files/IDD_S2B_MMR2016.pdf

naturally that does not mean you cannot or should not use them, they may indeed be exactly the people to talk to since they appear to specialise in shared ownership if that is what you think you want, I too echo startup1985's warning, shared ownership is not suitable for everyone

D_M_E

sharetobuy.com was registered in London about 3 years ago.

The only link between them and the government is the fact that it was registered by someone with the same name as the MP for somewhere in Suffolk.

In fact, it may even be the MP himself who registered it, I do not know for sure, but whoever it is has the same name.

As has been said above, they are in it for the money.

If you can afford to put down 10% and then pay rent on the remaining 90% which you do not own, then you might just as well find something for which you can put down a 5 or 10% deposit and own all of it from the start.

Mellymoon

Thank you for everyone who has taken the time to reply.

Unfortunately my earnings currently do not allow me to borrow anywhere near the amount of money I require to buy a house outright, obviously this would by far be my preference.

For those looking into Heylo this is my progress, well activity so far, sadly today my optimism about finding the answers i need has failed me.

I have:

Contacted the sharetobuy website (which may not be government based is linked to the Mayors office/London Assembly) who sent me the initial email with Heylo's details - they replied that as Heylo is a private company they are not part of the affordable housing scheme and i would need a solicitor to look into the details.

I then got some advice from a Solicitor who with the limited details I provided was very concerned about the scheme. She also included a link to the Home Owners Alliance which lists a number of things to watch out for in any shared ownership situation, including with Housing Associations. It concerns me that there seems to be a real lack of regulation in this area.

I then contacted Helptobuyse website who sent me in the direction of sharetobuy and are mentioned on Heylo's Facebook page. They replied saying no one there knew anything about this scheme there. They suggested I contact heylo so I assume they didnt really take on board what my email was asking.

I have also taken further steps and made more contacts which I will detail another day.

In the meantime I did get hold of a template lease from Heylo and was willing to pay to get this looked over as it boggled my brain, I just need this resolved in my mind, if its not a real opportunity to get on the housing ladder so be it, and two solicitors have declined, so I continue.

I did speak to my local Housing Association to see who they were regulated by as Heylo said they were regulated by the same people as Housing associations. I was told it was the Housing Ombudsman so I phoned them. As I had suspected they are mainly there to deal with disputes and not give advice but she did confirm that Heylo was not registered with them - another dead end.

Tonight I have emailed the Leasehold Advisory centre which I found on the HMRC website to see how they can help me in checking the lease. I will update on that when I can.

Anyone with any further information or contacts that may be able to help with this would be appreciated.

I would still be thrilled to find out, and have in writing evidence that the lease is a protected one and whatever happened to Heylo my investment would be protected. Like for most people having a home even almost of my own is a real dream.

I am tempted to try my local MP next week as websites with any link to government should not advertise products they know nothing about, many people would not take the time to verify the nature of Heylo and could sign up and invest on the assumption it is government backed.

To be continued ...

rashersvh

I'm also looking at Heylo. I'm in the same position as you are Mellymoon.
I'd be interested to hear about what you find out. As it stands, this company does not fill me with confidence and can not invest my money in a property until I learn more about them.

booksurr

rashersvh wrote: »

I'm also looking at Heylo. I'm in the same position as you are Mellymoon.
I'd be interested to hear about what you find out. As it stands, this company does not fill me with confidence and can not invest my money in a property until I learn more about them.

I doubt you will find out from mellyMoon as they were last on this forum on 16th sept 2016, the day they posted that message above and have clearly never been back to continue

Asrarashiq

I have been dealing with them until now and they say I would have to use their recommended solicitors also they say I would have 'interest' in the property say starting from 10% of the property value and have to pay only rent on the remaining 90% share which is too good to be true.

The only reason for me to chose them because for religious reasons I would like to avoid paying interest otherwise I would have gone down the mortgage route and there is no option in the market who do this kind of shared ownership.

Reading articles and posts here and online I am really thinking whether to continue or leave where I am with Heylo.

I tried to contact several times and spoke to them to visit their office but in vain - no positive response.

But now I am confused after reading the posts here.

Does anyone know of any other providers in the market who does similar offering as I will be putting almost £125k towards 3 bed in London and remaining part rent but would like to avoid paying interest but happy to pay rent on the remaining share.

Any help will be appreciated.

BethClanger

Hi,

I see that these posts are from a year ago. I just wondered whether you decided it was safe to go with Heylo housing 'Your Home' in the end or whether you decided it was too risky? I am considering using them so would value hearing anyone else's personal experience?

Thanks.

pjm101

I've used this scheme, buying an 18% share in a house costing £165000. All went through fine although Heylo, their solicitors, my conveyancer and all concerned seemed to have no idea how to deal with a shared ownership property. Dragged on for 5 months and I nearly gave up. I don't think Heylo have put many of these deals together. I pay around £580 to rent the unpurchased share. This rises above inflation every year. I doubt I will ever be able to buy a further percentage, the transactional costs are far to high. When I sell I get back 18% of the sale price plus 75% of any value increase. Sounds like a good deal but I know the actual logistics of selling are going to be a nightmare - And I have to bear all the costs. A good way to get a house if you need something bigger than you can afford on the open market. The rent is collected by a third party - Guinness housing, who also seem to have no idea what or why they are taking money from you & treat you like a social housing shared ownership customer. Have been undercharging my rent due to an admin error at Heylo & not told me for 8 months.

davidmcn

heylohousing wrote: »

Hi Beth,

Your Home is heylo’s shared ownership scheme available on second hand properties, with
Your Home, you buy part of the property and rent the rest.

We have a guide to buying with Your Home, this outlines the process, costs and answers any FAQ's you may have about using Your Home. If you email [EMAIL="sales@heylohousing.com"]sales@heylohousing.com[/EMAIL] with your address, i can arrange for this to be sent and answer any questions you may have.

Kind regards,

heylo

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