Buying through Housing association or open market

tomastik

Hello,

I have been looking for a while to buy a flat with the shared property scheme. I think I have found one that I quite like, however, the person at the housing association told me that I need to put forward a reservation tomorrow at the latest, otherwise it will go on the open market.

I think I could go on and pay the reservation fee to the HA, but I'd like to double check all the details and prefer not to rush. So the question is:

If I wait few days and catch the property on the open market, will it be priced the same or potentially be higher/lower? I would think that if a house does not sell they should price it down, but again the estate agent might want to go higher for taking a fee out of it? Not sure.

Thanks a lot in advance for your time.
J.

Finchy2018

Probably be priced the same, to begin with. Especially if the property is not in rightmove or the other portals. They'd want to try to get the current price with a wider audience before dropping the price

Norman_Castle

If I wait few days and catch the property on the open market, will it be priced the same or potentially be higher/lower?

You could ask the HA if you are being offered a preferential price by reserving it now.

I suspect its likely a HA will be more willing to wait for the asking price compared to private sellers.

tomastik

Hi, thanks a lot for your replies.

Finchy2018 wrote: »

Probably be priced the same, to begin with. Especially if the property is not in rightmove or the other portals. They'd want to try to get the current price with a wider audience before dropping the price

The property was actually on Zoopla, marketed by the HA (that's how I found it). It is now gone though, I cannot find it anymore. That raises the question in my mind... if there wasn't enough interest I might be able to get a better price on the share?

Norman_Castle wrote: »

You could ask the HA if you are being offered a preferential price by reserving it now.

I suspect its likely a HA will be more willing to wait for the asking price compared to private sellers.

I spoke with the HA resale person today and to be honest he was quite hasty and he put me off a bit. I had few questions in regard to the % annual rent increase, pet policy, parking permit... I mean, things you would expect to know I guess, but he told me he does not deal with these 'aspects' of the deal and he was not going to give me an answer. Now the thing is, I need to put down a reservation fee of hundreds of ££ to proceed.

Is it normal for resale HA people to be this evasive? I mean I don't want to be picky and I really like the flat, but now I am having second thoughts.

Blondetotty

I wouldn't expect too much of a deal waiting for it to go on the open market if I were you.


I have to get a Chartered Surveyor valuation and the HA will use this as their marketed valuation. If I'm prepared to accept anything less than this valuation then the difference comes out of my side of the profit not theirs so on the odd occasions that one of the flats in my block have come onto the market they've sat there for ages with zero price drops until someone comes along to purchase.
Yet another reason the system sucks and no, I'm not a fan of shared ownership despite being involved in it. If I had my time again I'd not touch with scheme with a barge pole. I make no secret of my disdain for the scheme despite it's multiple supporters.


Good luck with your search and purchase.

Blondetotty

I also meant to say please don't expect the re-sales people to be helpful. In fact don't expect anyone from the HA to be helpful. I have a permanent running battle with them and have had for the past 14 years since I purchased from new. Trying to get information or sense from them is like trying to draw blood from a stone.

tomastik

Blondetotty wrote: »

I wouldn't expect too much of a deal waiting for it to go on the open market if I were you.

I have to get a Chartered Surveyor valuation and the HA will use this as their marketed valuation. If I'm prepared to accept anything less than this valuation then the difference comes out of my side of the profit not theirs so on the odd occasions that one of the flats in my block have come onto the market they've sat there for ages with zero price drops until someone comes along to purchase.
Yet another reason the system sucks and no, I'm not a fan of shared ownership despite being involved in it. If I had my time again I'd not touch with scheme with a barge pole. I make no secret of my disdain for the scheme despite it's multiple supporters.

Good luck with your search and purchase.

Hello, thanks a lot for your reply, it's good to know from someone on the other side. You know, after all it's not really about getting a great deal, but more about having proper information before committing to the process. I still cannot comprehend why it is so difficult to get these basic info before spending 500 quid to actually start delving into the process.



In your opinion, would it be viable to ask for a fac-simile of the leasehold? I guess I could get the info I need from that...

Blondetotty

tomastik wrote: »

I still cannot comprehend why it is so difficult to get these basic info before spending 500 quid to actually start delving into the process

Absolutely and I totally agree with you, however I found that my HA didn't agree with that! Mine was a new build and they wanted a £200 non refundable holding deposit however they wouldn't give any information regarding lease terms except to say it was for 99 years. In fact I wasn't given sight of the lease until fairly far down the purchase process route and even my solicitor found it difficult to get any information out of them. They made it as difficult as possible in my opinion.

On viewing I interrogated the sales agent who as it turned out, fed me an absolute crock of ****. Pretty much everything she said turned out to be incorrect and that ranged from pet policies (I had a cat at the time), warranty lengths and service charges.

I ended up keeping my cat despite not technically being allowed to at the start of my purchase as the sales agent told me pets were allowed. They weren't. (they eventually relented and I was allowed to). The warranties on the boiler, and appliances had all run out when I moved in (the flat was empty for nearly a year before I purchased) despite being told they were between 5 and 10 years. I had to buy a new oven within a few months of moving in and a £300 boiler repair bill the first winter I was there thanks to a broken pcb.
Service charges are still the bane of my life and it's still an annual battle 14 years down the line. I was told they wouldn't increase much for the first 10 years but in fact as soon as all the properties were sold the charges jumped a few hundred quid a month. That was most definately not budgeted for and I got into debt quite badly.

You could ask for a copy of the lease and ask for everything in writing that is important to you but tbh I don't think you'll get it. Still, there's no harm in asking is there?