Shared Ownership Mortgage... Please Help!

emily_rosie

I have a huge mortgage problem that no one seems able to solve.

I am in the process of purchasing a shared ownership property for 66380 pounds (40% share).
I went to the Halifax in October for mortgage advice where they offered me a mortgage for 59700 (10% deposit).

Halifax sent out a valuer who came back with the same value as estimated by builder.
I received an email from my mortgage advisor to say that the valuer had said my mortgage should be reduced to 58200. I asked why and she said because of a cash incentive from builder. (This was for 1500 towards solicitors fees, which I told my advisor about on the day I purchased my mortgage). I questioned why this meant a reduction in my mortgage from a gesture by my builder. She said she didn't know but was I happy to go ahead. I asked how it would effect me and she just said that it would reduce my mortgage repayments so I should go ahead. I trusted her as I am new to house buying so said it looked as though I didn't have much choice but to go ahead.

So it comes to arranging exchange of contracts and completion. I send my 10% deposit to my solicitor.
The next day I get a completion statement which shows an outstanding amount of 1335 pounds which I owe!
I question this with my solicitor and builder and they say it is because of my mortgage amount.
I raise this with my mortgage advisor who is clueless and just says she did as she was told by the advisor.
After a lot of being passed around, people from the Halifax telling me it was so mistake, then people telling me it's not, it eventually comes down to my mortgage being reduced because of the incentive. I say that this does not seem right and I want a clear explanation of why. My advisor is unable to tell me but says she will be speaking to her area manager the next day.

The next day:
An email from the mortgage advisor saying that because my mortgage plus 'incentive' comes to more than 90% LTV I need to pay the difference. I ask where this is written in the mortgage terms and conditions as it is not on the paperwork I have. She tells me it's on the website. After lots of looking it's not anywhere on the website. I ask the mortgage advisor for a document or link to the term that states about the mortgage plus incentive LTV. She says there isn't one and at this point tells me I should ask my solicitor to contact their legal department.
My solicitor says this is not her job.
I am now at a point where I am not moving forward at all and I'm frustrated. I don't know if I'm right to be questioning this but at no point until 2 weeks ago was I told there would be extra monies owed.
I'm a single, first time buyer and money is tight. Why should an 'incentive' end up costing me?

Thank you for your time. I hope you can help.

Kindest Regards
Emily Parr

kingstreet

On a 90% mortgage, Halifax accepts no newbuild incentives so whatever the incentive amount was, it would be deducted from the value of the property, leaving you to find the shortfall.

You appear to have found a very inexperienced advisor who knows little about newbuild.

NOVAMET21

Mmmm...sounds interesting. You are buying a shared ownership property and you haven't once mention about the housing association (HA). HA are the ones who owns the property and are selling 40% to you.


HA provides the incentive to you directly or to your solicitor. Wow £1,500 is a good amount.


So you need to ask your solicitor if they have received this incentive on behalf of you. If not ask your HA directly or ask your solicitor to enquiry with HA when will you receive it and how.


If you have already paid your solicitor then this incentive can be used to lower your mortgage amount and hence slightly lower monthly payments.

NOVAMET21

kingstreet wrote: »

On a 90% mortgage, Halifax accepts no newbuild incentives so whatever the incentive amount was, it would be deducted from the value of the property, leaving you to find the shortfall.

You appear to have found a very inexperienced advisor who knows little about newbuild.

Yes, this is true. Most of the lenders if not all will only accept 15% deposit in new builds as I found out when I bought one.