Unfair Shared Ownership purchase practices

Clackers

I am looking for some assistance or advice in regards purchasing a Shared ownership property. I am asking on behalf of my son and daughter who have both experienced problems in purchasing properties. 

The main issue is that although both of them have very large deposits and have previously been through affordability checks including getting a decision in principle for the mortgage with the same appointed broker they have found themselves placed in a queue by the broker to have an affordability check done again. This has meant that by the time the broker gets round to completing the check they are then at the back of a queue for the property. This has now happened several times. Even though the last 3 times they have literally applied the moment the house/flat was advertised by the housing association via the broker they then are told they are in a queue for an affordability check but it appears that there is no system to ensure those who applied first have the opportunity. When we challenged the broker they stated it was done on a first come basis but we have since found out this is not true. 

My son recently enquired why after he had contacted the housing association directly they had no record of him applying for a flat via shared ownership. When he spoke with the  mortgage broker they stated he was in a queue but my son informed them that according to the housing association nobody had applied for the flat. This was when it became apparent that the broker had not assigned my son’s application to the property for two weeks. Nor had they carried out an affordability check or progressed to next stage. When my son spoke to the existing shared ownership tenants they had been told that no one had applied to their property. This delayed them in their next move. 

Is there an ombudsman or complaint process which we can use to highlight the issue and incompetence of the broker. 

It is hard enough to purchase a property in todays market where lenders will not lend you enough to buy outright especially when you have a £40k deposit and a salary above £35,000. So your only option is shared ownership and then you are forced to go through the housing association and broker who run the same check each time you apply for the same or similar priced property despite having done this several times before so the process is a lottery which seems to be controlled by a broker who is incompetent at best but possibly negligent at worse. 

chanz4

change broker vey easy

DullGreyGuy

Clackers said:

I am looking for some assistance or advice in regards purchasing a Shared ownership property. I am asking on behalf of my son and daughter who have both experienced problems in purchasing properties. 

The main issue is that although both of them have very large deposits and have previously been through affordability checks including getting a decision in principle for the mortgage with the same appointed broker they have found themselves placed in a queue by the broker to have an affordability check done again. This has meant that by the time the broker gets round to completing the check they are then at the back of a queue for the property. This has now happened several times. Even though the last 3 times they have literally applied the moment the house/flat was advertised by the housing association via the broker they then are told they are in a queue for an affordability check but it appears that there is no system to ensure those who applied first have the opportunity. When we challenged the broker they stated it was done on a first come basis but we have since found out this is not true. 

My son recently enquired why after he had contacted the housing association directly they had no record of him applying for a flat via shared ownership. When he spoke with the  mortgage broker they stated he was in a queue but my son informed them that according to the housing association nobody had applied for the flat. This was when it became apparent that the broker had not assigned my son’s application to the property for two weeks. Nor had they carried out an affordability check or progressed to next stage. When my son spoke to the existing shared ownership tenants they had been told that no one had applied to their property. This delayed them in their next move. 

Is there an ombudsman or complaint process which we can use to highlight the issue and incompetence of the broker. 

It is hard enough to purchase a property in todays market where lenders will not lend you enough to buy outright especially when you have a £40k deposit and a salary above £35,000. So your only option is shared ownership and then you are forced to go through the housing association and broker who run the same check each time you apply for the same or similar priced property despite having done this several times before so the process is a lottery which seems to be controlled by a broker who is incompetent at best but possibly negligent at worse. 

If they have an issue with the broker why are they sticking with them? Just switch broker.

Clackers

You cannot switch broker as they are appointed by the housing association.