2 Questions for a potential shared ownership buyer

HeyLyla

I want to get into a shared ownership scheme next year as i don't really own enough to buy outright. Most of my smaller debts are shortly to be paid off due to my re-claiming my late fees and over due fees (thank you Martin by the way).



However: I have some rent arrears from a property I moved out of about 6 months ago - the landlord said he would persue me through the courts for the money but then filed the wrong papers.
I contacted them a couple of times and asked them to tell the amount I owed them (minus the payments I made and the deposit which I requested they keep to go towards my arrears) so I could start paying it back but each time I did this I did not hear from them.
He now does not have a contact address for me as I have also changed jobs. Can this come back to haunt me when it is time try and buy?

Also: I may have some fare evasion fines at old addresses - how do I do about finding how much I owe and paying then off?

SquatNow

You need to pay off ALL outstanding debt before you think about taking more on.

Pay off all fines and debts then start thinking about mortgages.

Note that if you have outstanding fare evasion fines from a long time ago you may need to complete a short prison sentence before you are able to look at buying a shred ownership property.

I have a simple rule for shared ownership: If you couldn't afford the mortgage to buy the house outright, how can you afford half the mortgage plus rent equal to the other half?

robwend

get your debts clear before hand hun. im going into shared ownership <no mortgage though> but i cant imajine them looking twice at me with any debts. because they will think you might default on there rent. good luckxxx

portsmouthali

SquatNow wrote: »

I have a simple rule for shared ownership: If you couldn't afford the mortgage to buy the house outright, how can you afford half the mortgage plus rent equal to the other half?

I don't know if they're all the same, but my shared ownership scheme doesn't work like that. The house was valued at 120k and I have a 25% share. My mortgage works out at just over £200 per month, my rent to the housing association is £312. I was paying £500 per month renting a smaller property so when I was offered this place it made sense to me to go for it. My partner's earning capacity is going to go up considerably over the next few years, so hopefully one day we will be able to afford to buy it outright. On what we earn at the moment no way would we get a mortgage for 120k.

In answer to the original question, the housing association looked into our affairs quite deeply and wanted references from our previous landlords for the last few years, so the rent arrears thing may well come back to haunt you I'm afraid. Don't think the debt will be a problem if you're shortly going to pay it off.

HeyLyla

Thanks all your responses. As of this friday, the rent arrears will be the only debt I have left to pay and i am happy to pay it - at the time I contacted the landlord and the letting agents several times and asked them to give me a total figure but every time I did, they said they would get back to me and never did.
I tried their number yesterday, just after posting and it no longer accepts incoming calls. The office they had in New Cross has long since closed.They have my mobile number but have not contacted me since moving out about the arrears. Any contact I had with them prior to that, where I said I was more than willing to pay the debt off but explained I could pay the whole thing by the end of the week was met with threats to report me to a credit agency, called bailiffs etc.
I have little desire to actually speak to the landlord again so I guess i will pay off what I know I opwe and keep the receipts as evidence when asked about it on application.

Bargain_Rzl

Hi, I bought a SO flat last year.

I don't know which HA you are going through but i'm with Southern Housing and they were very scrupulous about checking debts (simply in terms of knowing what other outgoings and liabilities you may have). However I think there was even a specific question on the application form about rent arrears. It's understandable really - the HA is, in one sense, your prospective landlord. They want to know you're not going to leave them short.

I would agree about clearing your debts before getting into more. I had saved almost £15k prior to moving (I used 7k as a mortgage deposit, a further £4.something-k in moving costs and furnishings - I didn't have any stamp duty to pay as I just nipped in under the disadvantaged areas threshold - and the rest went back into savings). Had I not done this, I wouldd be feeling quite insecure and vulnerable now. (Edited to say that in my experience, shared ownership schemes will insist that you have a certain amount, £3-4k, in savings to cover legal and moving costs before they will consider taking you on. That's even if you get a 100% mortgage which IMHO is a bad idea.)

I think you may be buying quite near me given that you said your former letting agent is in New Cross. If you don't mind, I would like to know more about the development you're thinking of buying into, and give you an unbiased (if slightly educated) opinion about whether I think it's a good idea. Please PM me if you'd like any advice on this.

SquatNow

I agree... one huge point everyone ignores is the Shared Ownership arguement is you'll still need to pay the same "costs".... solicitors, survey etc. which can easily run to over £5k