Shared Ownership - Is it the way to go

gabby71

I’m more or less in the same boat as you, looking at buying 50% of a SO house, single and income of £28.5K, my car is bought & paid for but on its last legs, have put off getting a replacement as I would have to take out finance and I know it impacts significantly on affordability. It may be worth selling the car, clearing the finance and buying a banger till the mortgage is in place then you can review your figures and get a better car if you can afford it.

grayg

Just to give some balance as there's a fair few people who seem adamant SO is awful, or hard to sell on, etc. 
I am approaching 3 years in a SO flat in London. It's been a positive experience, so I would recommend it generally to anyone. That's without considering the fact that for a lot of people it is the only option, myself included when we got ours, so if you're in that boat then even more so it's the way to go. 
In terms of selling on, I haven't done it yet, but the lady selling the flat had two whole days on viewings. From memory something like 30 prospective buyers. The first choice dropped out, and we got the call and took it. Within ~8 weeks we had the keys. I've heard the mechanics of selling on can be a bit tricky as you've got 3 parties to deal with, but it's nothing that shouldn't be manageable, and our HA didn't cause us any issues with the purchase... that job was already occupied by the legal 'professionals' on ours and the vendors side, who you have to keep on top of otherwise they just get on with other conveyancing. 
I get the feeling a lot of the risk can be avoided if you do the research on the area, the housing association, etc., then you should be able to avoid the bad experiences that some people sadly face with SO. 
Good luck, 

izoomzoom

We are doing the final staircase of our SO house, that we bought 13 years ago. Only way we could get on the housing ladder and we will own 100% after we pay the mortgage. Our HA has never bothered us. Rental was subsidised (on 50% purchase, rental was quarter of mortgage payment, although it's closer to half now - 13 years on - it just got increased by inflation each year).
My advice would be to research the HA rules and ask to see a copy of the lease. You're 100% liable for the repairs and maintenance and staircasing is done at market value at the time of each step, so our 2nd 50% has cost us quite a bit more, but we've also gain some decent equity from our 1st 50%.

BronteLad

Before you get into shared ownership please read this cautionary tale.
Several years ago my girlfriends elderly parents bought a bungalow under shared ownership with another well known housing association thinking they were making good use of their hard earned savings. They paid huge monthly maintenance charges and rent on the shared portion but when they died a few years ago, we sold the bungalow only to discover that the small print in the sales contract allowed the management company, for every year they lived there, to add extra yearly charges for future maintenance, (ie long after it was sold) based on its market value, which was payable on selling the property, which swallowed their entire equity. Every penny that they put into that property was in effect stolen by the management company thanks to their hidden claw back charges. Her poor parents cannot have realised what they were getting into when they agreed to buy and would be mortified if they knew the mess they were leaving us to sort out.
Whatever you do DO NOT buy a shared equity property with any company without checking the contract very thoroughly. You may never own the property as the debts can run up higher every year that you are in shared ownership! The whole shared ownership scheme has the potential to be a massive scam  so make sure you ask your lawyer before signing any contract.