Is Shared ownership possible at age 54?

Firefarie71

Hello all. Looking for advice please. 

I'm 52 and husband is 49. We have been renting since we moved in together for 5 years. Total annual income.e is £70k.We have no children. At end of 2025 I'll be 54 and he'll be 50. We will have savings of £20k. We are on a rolling tenancy and can be served 2 months notice anytime. 

A decent 3 bed property in our area is upwards of £250k. I would like to retire when I'm 70 so we'd be looking at a 15 year term. I don't want to be paying a mortgage into my retirement. 

I'm thinking that shared ownership would be the better option for us.  It will give us security into our old age and could offord the rent/service charges from our pensions. Could this option be a reality? We are first timebuyers. 

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Thank you for reading this. 

RHemmings

There are various shared ownership schemes, including the 'Older Person's Shared Ownership Scheme'. 

https://www.gov.uk/shared-ownership-scheme/who-can-apply

Technically, you're not quite old enough for that scheme. 

The mainstream schemes are open for those from age 18 up to age 54, which includes yourselves.

https://www.true.co.uk/conveyancing/advice/shared-ownership-or-help-to-buy-scheme

Note, these links are just concerning particular schemes. I'm not intending to say that these are the only methods of buying through shared ownership. Just that it is possible by one method at least. 

Also, obtaining a mortgage for your share will also be something that you need to look at. You don't yet have a 10% deposit, for example. 

Firefarie71

Thank you. I can use Google.... but I was looking to hear from others who have been or are in a similar situation to myself. I have also read on various sites that one is expected to purchase a bigger share if finances allow and I didn't know if we'd be expected to take a longer term or forced to take shorter term mortgage 

We have an appointment with a mortgage adviser coming up, so just wanted to hear from others experiences of going down the shared ownership route. 

Bookworm105

Firefarie71 said:

 I have also read on various sites that one is expected to purchase a bigger share if finances allow and I didn't know if we'd be expected to take a longer term or forced to take shorter term mortgage 

one is expected to do whatever the terms and conditions of the housing association that your purchased through asks you to do. We can't see their T&C from here, some may want you to go to 100%, but more often some may in fact have a cap in place preventing you from going above x% since they are in business of offering shared ownership to those who need it, not selling off their stock of properties.

the term of your mortgage is a matter between you and your mortgage broker. The HA won't care what your term is since they are not going to force you to sell up at a certain date.

bouicca21

A friend has a 25% share with a housing association.  Not sure how old she was when she bought it, but the development is only about 15 years old so I suspect she was about the same age as OP.

The upside is that it is a lovely flat, well maintained and obviously more secure than a traditional tenancy.  The downside is that rent and service charge together are very expensive and she is worried that it will become increasingly difficult to maintain her standard of living.

_Penny_Dreadful

Firefarie71 said:

Hello all. Looking for advice please. 

I'm 52 and husband is 49. We have been renting since we moved in together for 5 years. Total annual income.e is £70k.We have no children. At end of 2025 I'll be 54 and he'll be 50. We will have savings of £20k. We are on a rolling tenancy and can be served 2 months notice anytime. 

A decent 3 bed property in our area is upwards of £250k. I would like to retire when I'm 70 so we'd be looking at a 15 year term. I don't want to be paying a mortgage into my retirement. 

I'm thinking that shared ownership would be the better option for us.  It will give us security into our old age and could offord the rent/service charges from our pensions. Could this option be a reality? We are first timebuyers. 

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Thank you for reading this. 

A recurring concern with shared ownership on the forum appears to be increasing rent and service charges. If you search the forum for “shared ownership” you’ll find them. With all the HTB schemes it’s important to have an exit strategy. HTB SO can work if there is a plan to staircase to 100% although note that not all HTB SO properties can be staircased to 100% ownership of the leasehold. Alternatively the plan is to buy a share to give some stability then sell and purchase somewhere else outright. 

In your shoes I’d be looking to see if I could purchase somewhere outright rather than using HTB SO. Whilst a 3-bedroom property would be nice a 2-bedroom property would be adequate for a couple and I’d choose a smaller property over a larger HTB SO property any day of the week. 

whizzywoo

My brother who is 63 years old recently bought a shared ownership house.  It was a new build 3 bedroomed semi.

The purchase price was £250,000.  He only wanted to buy 25% but the Housing Association insisted on 30% so he went with that.  He had a 10% deposit for the 30% share.  

So 30% of £250,000 was £75,000.
Less his 10% deposit of £7,500.
So he managed to get a mortgage for the balance of £67,500 over a 7 year period.  So he will be working until he is 70 years old.  
And then of course there is the rent to pay for the 70% he doesn't own.

The Housing association will do an affordability check and you would be best going to mortgage broker for the mortgage part.  You are younger though so it might not be as much of a problem for you.

There are quite a lot of hoops to jump through and the Housing Association places a lot of restrictions on what you can and can't do.  The purchase price was probably too high for the area by about 10% but he didn't have a lot of choice.  There are quite significant legal fees to be met if you want to buy further shares in the future.

This particular Housing Association only lets you get up to 90% ownership and if you sell you have to offer it back to them at a current valuation.  If they do not complete on the sale withing 8 weeks you can offer it on the open market.

Firefarie71

Thanks everyone for your contributions. I really appreciate it. We are going to look at purchasing outright. 

ThorOdinson

whizzywoo said:

My brother who is 63 years old recently bought a shared ownership house.  It was a new build 3 bedroomed semi.

The purchase price was £250,000.  He only wanted to buy 25% but the Housing Association insisted on 30% so he went with that.  He had a 10% deposit for the 30% share.  

So 30% of £250,000 was £75,000.
Less his 10% deposit of £7,500.
So he managed to get a mortgage for the balance of £67,500 over a 7 year period.  So he will be working until he is 70 years old.  
And then of course there is the rent to pay for the 70% he doesn't own.

The Housing association will do an affordability check and you would be best going to mortgage broker for the mortgage part.  You are younger though so it might not be as much of a problem for you.

There are quite a lot of hoops to jump through and the Housing Association places a lot of restrictions on what you can and can't do.  The purchase price was probably too high for the area by about 10% but he didn't have a lot of choice.  There are quite significant legal fees to be met if you want to buy further shares in the future.

This particular Housing Association only lets you get up to 90% ownership and if you sell you have to offer it back to them at a current valuation.  If they do not complete on the sale withing 8 weeks you can offer it on the open market.

What is your brother going to do when he reaches 70 and has to pay the rent? Work until death?

Myci85

ThorOdinson said:

whizzywoo said:

My brother who is 63 years old recently bought a shared ownership house.  It was a new build 3 bedroomed semi.

The purchase price was £250,000.  He only wanted to buy 25% but the Housing Association insisted on 30% so he went with that.  He had a 10% deposit for the 30% share.  

So 30% of £250,000 was £75,000.
Less his 10% deposit of £7,500.
So he managed to get a mortgage for the balance of £67,500 over a 7 year period.  So he will be working until he is 70 years old.  
And then of course there is the rent to pay for the 70% he doesn't own.

The Housing association will do an affordability check and you would be best going to mortgage broker for the mortgage part.  You are younger though so it might not be as much of a problem for you.

There are quite a lot of hoops to jump through and the Housing Association places a lot of restrictions on what you can and can't do.  The purchase price was probably too high for the area by about 10% but he didn't have a lot of choice.  There are quite significant legal fees to be met if you want to buy further shares in the future.

This particular Housing Association only lets you get up to 90% ownership and if you sell you have to offer it back to them at a current valuation.  If they do not complete on the sale withing 8 weeks you can offer it on the open market.

What is your brother going to do when he reaches 70 and has to pay the rent? Work until death?

Many many people are not privileged enough to ever buy their own house and so have no choice but to rent throughout their lives including once retired. I expect rent on a SO property will be less than rent on a private rental. If their pension is not enough to cover the rental portion, they may be entitled to pension credit/universal credit to help cover the cost, just as people who rent at that age. 

EssexHebridean

If you are first time buyers as it sounds like you may be, then ensure when you buy that you make a “full market value” election for the stamp duty. Due to your FTB status there will be nothing payable (unless of course things change on that in the meantime) and it will safeguard you from having to pay SDLT in the future if you come to staircase to 100% ownership. If you do this, get a letter from your solicitor confirming that you have made that election, and keep it somewhere with other documents relating to the purchase. It will come in useful as proof when you staircase.