Looking at shared ownership short term but not sure

dannygn123

Looking at buying a shared ownership one bedroom flat. It's a resale property. Mainly thinking of it as we can't afford to buy outright and we can only afford one bedroom at the moment. The thing is we would hopefully want to start a family in the next year or two so we would need somewhere bigger. Thinking of buying a one bed shared ownership now and saving money as it's cheaper than current rent then hopefully we would have more money saved up for a bigger place. Just have a few questions. Firstly is it a bad idea full stop. Would I be able to eventually sell this one and buy a bigger property also shared ownership? The terms are unclear it says you have to have below a certain income or not own another property. If we did this would we then have to pay stamp duty?

Lurkingtoposting17

With solicitors fees you would not make money in short term
As a Ftb you would be stamp duty exempt and would lose this incentive on a home that you would outgrow quickly.
Your mortgage and rent on shared ownership maybe cheaper than rent but you will be 100% liable for the costs if the boiler breaks down, the kitchen sink blocks and floods etc.
If you are thinking it is a <5 year property, then you will likely not find it saves you money and you would be better off saving your Ftb incentives for a property that is.
I’m also not a fan of shared ownership either so there’s that bias but it does work for some in specific circumstances

Leggitte

Shared ownership does not work well short term. You will lose money and struggle to sell, IMO. If you want to start a family I would look at a 2-bedroom shared ownership at least.