Shared Ownership and owning a property abroad

na7843

Hi everyone, I hope someone can help with a question related to shared ownership. My partner has a 25% share in a shared ownership flat. We are not thinking of staircasing together. If we want to staircase to anything below 100% the housing association needs me to sign a declaration I do no own any property abroad. The problem is I am not a British citizen and I grew up abroad where my whole family still lives. For that reason I AM a property owner abroad - I didn't buy it, it was gifted to my by my family and I do not make any money from it.


Does anyone know if that makes me automatically inelligible to get on the shared ownership scheme and I can only buy outright?


Many thanks,
N

CapePineView

Hi. My wife are in the same boat. I'm originally from abroad too - although now I'm a British Citizen/dual national. I own a share of a property which was left to me by one of my parents passing on. I must say it is really frustrating though and unfair. What has anything outside the UK got to do with whether you own an entire property or a share of one outside it. We live in the UK and our lives are here and we are trying and struggling to buy a property here.

It may be a different story if a person owned more than one property abroad but things like family passing on and leaving properties or a share of it to their children or family all the time. What happens when or if you have a shared ownership property and that happens... Does it get taken away from you because now you're left a share in one abroad. Sorry about the ranting and raving. Hope the rules change to accommodate such situations or circumstances.

cjv

Are you not able to sell your property abroad?

davidmcn

CapePineView wrote: »

What has anything outside the UK got to do with whether you own an entire property or a share of one outside it.

Because generally speaking, people who own property are thought of as being better off than those who don't own property. Which country their assets are in isn't really relevant.

What happens when or if you have a shared ownership property and that happens... Does it get taken away from you because now you're left a share in one abroad.

No, this is just about who qualifies to be allocated the property in the first place.

CapePineView

Sorry don't mean to hijack this post and didn't mean to sound rude by saying that about what has anything got to do with owning property outside of the UK. But the thing is - it's an assumption to think that one is better off because you own a share in a property abroad. However, the truth is I didn't plan to own it and neither did my family. The reality is, is that we are not earning anything from it and it is next to impossible to sell. The property is owned together with my two siblings and I which was left by my mother passing on. There is a huge difficulty with this which I am sure there are many who are in the same predicament. I am not able to sell my share as all three of us need to agree which one doesn't. Therefore it cannot be sold. One heir cannot pass on the property to the other and even if I tried to sell it privately to a third party, the whole property needs to be transferred and a new deed created = a large amount of £££. Not to mention that no one wants to buy a share in a property owned by two other private individuals and with no return on investment. That is what I meant by unfair situation. There should be certain exceptions to the rule.

davidmcn

CapePineView wrote: »

Sorry don't mean to hijack this post and didn't mean to sound rude by saying that about what has anything got to do with owning property outside of the UK. But the thing is - it's an assumption to think that one is better off because you own a share in a property abroad. However, the truth is I didn't plan to own it and neither did my family. The reality is, is that we are not earning anything from it and it is next to impossible to sell. The property is owned together with my two siblings and I which was left by my mother passing on. There is a huge difficulty with this which I am sure there are many who are in the same predicament. I am not able to sell my share as all three of us need to agree which one doesn't. Therefore it cannot be sold. One heir cannot pass on the property to the other and even if I tried to sell it privately to a third party, the whole property needs to be transferred and a new deed created = a large amount of £££. Not to mention that no one wants to buy a share in a property owned by two other private individuals and with no return on investment. That is what I meant by unfair situation. There should be certain exceptions to the rule.

But you could be in the same position with a similar property in the UK, so why should they distinguish between UK and foreign properties?

CapePineView

Because the property is abroad and it is not our primary residence and neither will ever be. We are not planning to move there. Not to mention that it is in a much lower currency valued less in terms of money. We are not benefitting financially from it at all. Even if we are earning some form of rental income, which we aren't it would not be anything substantial to elevate us into a position to purchase a home on our own, without assistance. Not with the prices of houses nowadays. It just doesn't have any relevance to our situation here and neither does it place us at an unfare advantage over others. Our home is here and our lives are here. If one rule is to be used to place everyone in the same boat regardless of individual circumstances, how long would it be before that boat sinks? If I could sell my share in the property Tomorrow, I would. But it isn't possible, making our situation now impossible.

Brock_and_Roll

* you are not planning to live in it
* you do not benefit financially from it
* if you could sell it tomorrow you would.

So if it's worth nothing to you, I'll give you £100 for it right now. Problem solved and you will be up on the deal!!

davidmcn

CapePineView wrote: »

it is not our primary residence and neither will ever be. We are not planning to move there. Not to mention that it is in a much lower currency valued less in terms of money. We are not benefitting financially from it at all.

Like I said, all of that could equally apply to a property interest in the UK. If you want to argue that a property which you can't easily dispose of ought to be ignored then fair enough, but I can't see a justification for treating foreign property interests differently from UK ones.

And of course there'll be plenty of other criteria where individuals might claim "ah, my situation is special" - these things are always going to involve some rough rules of thumb.

hellzking

is there even a way for them to check if you own a property abroad?
I doubt it so just say no and proceed with the shared ownership

davidmcn

hellzking wrote: »

is there even a way for them to check if you own a property abroad?
I doubt it so just say no and proceed with the shared ownership

I suspect that in some point in the last seven months they've already decided what to do.