Heylo Housing

CoolBeans22

My husband and I are in our mid 50's and renting.  We are desperate to put down roots and we have a deposit but my husband finished paying an IVA just over a year ago which is pushing mortgages way out of our reach, plus we only have about 12 years to pay it.  We found a shared ownership house which was being done through a company called Heylo Housing.  They are based in Leeds and we would just be grateful for any feedback from anyone who has used or dealt with this company.  Many thanks.

rigolith

Shared ownership is mostly a scam. They do it because it makes them more money, not because it's a good deal for you. You end up paying a mortgage and rent, so you have the worst of both worlds. Because they own part of it, you have to get permission from them to sell it etc.

Have you tried a mortgage broker?

deannagone

For people who don't have the finances to buy a house, shared ownership is a solution.  Yes you are paying rent as well as a mortgage (and when I did it it actually was slightly more expensive monthly than a mortgage for the full amount would have been).  But it meant we could buy a house we couldn't possibly have bought any other way.  I suspect the above poster doesn't realise HA's (who normally run these schemes) are non profit lol.

eddddy

rigolith said:

They do it because it makes them more money, not because it's a good deal for you. 

Shared ownership is often a joint venture between a developer and a Housing Association.

As @deannagone says, Housing Associations are not-for-profit.

And shared ownership isn't a good deal for developers. Developers don't like shared ownership.

• If they've built a flat worth £300k, they would rather sell it for £300k, and use the £300k towards building more flats on a different development (rather than having to borrow money from their bank).

• It's the government / planners who insist that developers must offer shared ownership homes - which might mean the developers only get £75k cash instead of £300k cash - and they might have to wait 5 or 10 or 15 years or more to get the rest of their money.

Some people are very happy with their shared ownership experience, others are very unhappy.

Of the unhappy ones, it seems that...

• sometimes people didn't really understand what they were buying.

• sometimes people didn't understand how leasehold service charges worked (which is a leasehold issue, rather than a specific shared ownership issue)

• sometimes newbuild buildings had defects needing expensive repairs (which is a newbuild issue, rather than a specific shared ownership issue)

• sometimes people didn't understand about short leases and lease extensions (which is a leasehold issue, rather than a specific shared ownership issue)

• sometimes people didn't understand the impact of falling property prices (which is a problem for property in general, rather than a specific shared ownership issue)

Those are all bad things - but they would apply to any leasehold flat. So avoiding shared ownership and buying a flat outright instead wouldn't have automatically avoided those issues.


There are definitely issues with shared ownership, which potential buyers should think through very carefully - but I'm not sure it's helpful to dismiss them out of hand as a scam.

rigolith

Strange because around here all the new builds are priced to discourage buying them, and instead taking a small percentage in a shared ownership + fleecehold scheme. When you look at the numbers its very expensive - you pay interest on the mortgage and rent, and even if you staircase as fast as you can it works out being a poor deal.

If the develop didn't like it they would sell those houses at realistic prices, not £400k for a 2 bed micro house.

The HA might be non-profit, but they aren't losing money either. The rents they charge around here are more than you would pay on a mortgage.

caprikid1

deannagone said:

For people who don't have the finances to buy a house, shared ownership is a solution.  Yes you are paying rent as well as a mortgage (and when I did it it actually was slightly more expensive monthly than a mortgage for the full amount would have been).  But it meant we could buy a house we couldn't possibly have bought any other way.  I suspect the above poster doesn't realise HA's (who normally run these schemes) are non profit lol.

Sorry let me flip this on it's head.

Shared ownership is a scheme that allows housebuilders to sell houses to people who could not normally afford them.

So what does this mean in reality. If I want to sell 1000 units at £200,000 but only have 750 buyers willing or able to buy them what do I do ?

1. Reduce the price so I can sell all 1000 units.
2. Ask the government to invent a scam with me that means I can sell those 1000 units @ £200,000.

Personally I would prefer the lack of government intervention and the market to find it's correct level.

You cannot afford to purchase because of the following

1. Government intervention has kept house prices above the current amount an average salary can afford.
2. Lack of government social housing / poor policy towards private landlord has allowed Private rents to rocket due to Landlords exiting the market. You are therefore unable to save a decent deposit as all your money goes to the government in tax.

The government has no real incentive to fix this.

1. Option A home owner buys house pays mortgage + 1% Stamp Duty - Tax to government =  1%
2. Option B Landlord purchase house (Pays 3% stamp duty) receives rent Pays 40% tax on larger amount of that income ( many expenses are no longer allowable).

What would you chose as a conservative government who all have lovely houses and money for their children to have the same ? The only way this will change is if we get a different government voted in on the mandate to fix it.

eddddy

I think the thread is moving in a direction which doesn't really help the OP.

The OP seems to be renting privately - and talks about 'putting down roots' (maybe referring to past experiences of being served s21 notices, and/or the fear of being served them in future)


Presumably, the OP is looking at 2 options

• continuing to rent privately
• buying a 'shared ownership' property from a housing association (using savings, because they don't think they can get a mortgage)

I think the OP is asking about the pros and cons of each of those 2 options. 

MultiFuelBurner

Reviews generally look ok for Heylo

I would be concerned about rents linked to RPI (Inflation) That's a hefty rise each year at the moment.

https://heylohousing.com/rent-review