Shared ownership, pros & cons? Opinions welcome.

Runningmad

Hi, we are looking at shared ownership as we can not get a mortgage high enough to buy out right. We are currently saving like mad for the deposit. There is a new development being built in our area that we are awaiting details on, plus 2 others but they are still in the planning stages.
If anybody has opinions or experiences buying shared ownership would love to hear as it's all new to us.
Thanks for reading.
Sarah

Carl31

shared ownership is probably the worst means to housing going

It seems like a way to get a foot on the ladder, but you will be paying dead money twice, interest on your mortgage, then your rental amount

The rent element does not come with the support a normal rental comes with, ie you cant call your landlord should anything go wrong in the property, you are liable for its up keep 100%

Anything you invest in the property, ie windows, extensions, carpets etc... (if you're allowed to do it), immediately you lose your non owned % of the value. So if you did something that added £10k to your house, and you own 25%, £7500 of that benefit goes to the landlord

Runningmad

Thank you for your comments, I do agree with you. Especially having to be responsible for all repairs.
Thank you

Cakeguts

Runningmad wrote: »

Thank you for your comments, I do agree with you. Especially having to be responsible for all repairs.
Thank you

This is the problem. You may only own a small part of the building but you are responsible for paying for all of the repairs.



Plus the value of the shares will go up if the value of the property increases so you won't actually have any idea of how much it will eventually cost you to own the whole property when you buy the first share.

Runningmad

Yes another good point thank you. I can see all the negative points and agree. Just buying outright is so far out of reach. This seems to be our only option, its such a big step and need to be certain.

csgohan4

if you sell the shared ownership property, your market will be lower, not everyone want SO

caprikid1

Personally I think its another help to sell scheme designed to further prop up a very propped up housing market. Dont want to sound like crashy and have no credibility but I do think these schemes are more for the builders than the buyers.

the_quick

We owned SO property, and what was mentioned is correct. I don't agree you pay dead money twice - as you pay mortgage for only your share and rent for HA share. it still might come cheaper than renting outright. Yes, you have to repair and maintain your home - but the house/flat is new they come with warranty (building structure 10 years and everything else probably 2 years). We lived in a flat and nothing braked in 5 years, we had to do service annually on our boiler - which I think should be done anyway.
Our rent and charges were very reasonable and were regulated (could go higher than inflation and could come down as well)
In south-east where we live we didn't have big problem of selling it either, few weeks on the market and we had a buyer.
It is not all bad, but I would do it again - same as you didn't have enough for full price deposit but had enough of paying rent to someone

Runningmad

Thank you, nice to hear views from someone who has experienced shared ownership.

lena_halo

I just sold my SO flat and as a single person at the time (5 years ago) it was the only way I could get on the ladder. I have to say my experience has been really good with them. My rent was very cheap, service charge was reasonable and my HA were very lenient in the way that I didn't have to ask permission for anything - flooring, pets etc; basically as long as they got paid they were happy, which suited me fine. It was a new build with 10 years NHBC, so still has 5 years remaining for the new owner, and I never had any problems.

When I sold my share I made enough equity for a deposit on our 3-bed house so I have no regrets!

Runningmad

I have just read that all shared ownership houses are lease hold. People with experience what does this mean and has it affected you in a negative way?
Thanks again for any replies.