Shared ownership experiences - good and bad

[TheWitchIsBack]

My best advice is go and speak to an independent mortgage broker who will sit down and hash out the figures for you and let you know what you can/can’t afford. You’d be surprised at what’s available and affordable to you on the market and brokers are best placed to get you where you need to be in the best way possible for your circumstances. Look for one with lots of reviews and shop around for costings. If you do decide to do SO then they can also help you with that.
Best of luck!

 

[purplepixie_3]

Can anyone give me some advice on shared ownership we have a three bedroom house and own 50%... it’s a gorgeous hoise in a great location but the kitchen isn’t very big what are the ins and outs of making changes internally to the house?!

You need to check the special conditions. If in doubt, contact the party you are in shared ownership with and get any consent or acknowledgment of works in writing. When you come to sell, if you’ve breached conditions it is a massive ballache (and bloody expensive!) to rectify it

If it’s shared ownership is with the local authority please bear in mind that the planning department giving you consent is not the same as the shared ownership department giving you consent! Part of the planning permission conditions is to comply with any consents (mortgages, covenants etc).

 

[Drea1984]

Has anyone had experience of buying their council property?

 

[AutumnGhost]

I work in property and deal with SO daily.
Basically the only time I would ever recommend it is if you have a large family and need 3-4 bedrooms but can never save the deposit required for such a sized house. So therefore you could save a 10% deposit for that part of the mortgage. Overall you will pay more as you pay your mortgage (and its interest alone) plus your rent. Plus they are leasehold- don’t get me started. Plus selling them is a nightmare!

All in all I would either save more and have a bigger deposit or look for a cheaper place! It’s a con.

Why is it a nightmare to sell SO? What’s the process?

 

[ADBABE]

I’m in the process of buying my first home and have had to do SO after my relationship broke down.

3 bed new build on at £173,000 (North West) I’ve gone straight in at 75% ownership so only pay £99 rent and £15 service charge per month, as well as my £513 mortgage after a £9000 deposit. There’s no way I’d have been able to buy a home without SO and anything I did manage would have needed a lot of work which I simply didn’t have the money for.

I thought shared ownership was a lot smaller deposit then that?

 

[101d]

This is really the only thing I’ve heard so far that puts me off! Monthly, we could afford a “normal mortgage” - our struggle will be getting a big enough mortgage. Even with a fairly reasonable deposit I think we’d still struggle to get anyone to lend enough. Even 2 beds are around £220k

Where are you and what sort of deposit do you have? If you don't mind me asking. I am not profesh in mortgage speak so can only speak from experience

 

[Charl28]

In a few years I would like to swap my downstairs loo to my under the stairs cupboard and knock my kitchen wall down to make the kitchen bigger this is the reply I got from Walsall housing group

My sister was told anything inside is down to her to fix/deal with as they only repair external and communal areas

Obviously she would need permission if she wanted to knock a wall down inside the property but things like a new bathroom and kitchen was fine.

Basically all I want to know is can I knock a wall down I would be adding value to property by making kitchen bigger c

 

[B4rney]

Why is it a nightmare to sell SO? What’s the process?

Often you can only sell it to people who meet the criteria etc. So you cant just sell it to the open market.

 

[Gggshh]

We have A 50% share and bought our 3 bed house worth 320k in 2017. No regrets for us, it is a house we never want to leave in an amazing area and we could never have afforded to live around here otherwise.

I think my opinion would be different if I lived in a development or blockof flats and had to pay maintenance etc, ours was a resale so rent hasn’t increased by much over the years (I’m assuming they can only increase by so much a year?). Our rent on 50% is £190 a month, we put down 16k deposit and paying £490 a month on mortgage of 144k

we do plan to buy the other half eventually. And yes it is all up to the owner to do repairs etc which we don’t mind as we know we want to live here forever.

got family living very close by on new build estate and the rent on the other half is astronomical, so I would advise if anyone is thinking about SO to look for resale properties! They are usually listed on the housing associations website, our house has needed a lot of work done but was livable and 3 years on we have done loads just the garden to look at then the kitchen in about five years time.

 

[Hello Kitty]

I thought shared ownership was a lot smaller deposit then that?

Depends on the percent of the share you are purchasing/how much you are borrowing

 

[Charl28]

If we were allowed to knock the wall down it would be getting rid of the disabled toilet (all new builds have these in now larger doors and space etc) that’s what I’m worried about if they say no to that.

 

[Charl28]

The email says anything that will affect structural layout you must get permission. Removing a downstairs loo, knocking out the wall and increasing floor space of your kitchen is altering the layout.

Is there a chance they will give me permission though?

 

[Hello Kitty]

My sister has a shared ownership flat, she's had it for about 5 years and will be selling soon. My friend also lives in the same block and has been there about a year. They both love where they live but the Housing Association who they pay the rent to are a nightmare and are useless and the service charge is alot too.

Where they live the flats sell pretty quick and if they cannot find a S/O buyer, it can go on the open market and they sell pretty quick too.

 

[Bogwoppit]

Has anyone had experience of buying their council property?

Yes I have

 

[Thatswhattatsaid]

The help to buy ISA goes towards the deposit. How have you managed to get it back? Or do you mean you have saved money because you've used the ISA?

You've done a good thing going with the high percentage, well done!

I was told the Help to Buy ISA bonus can’t be used towards the deposit. They only pay the bonus after the deposit has been paid, a few people I know were sent it in a cheque and didn’t even have to use it towards the mortgage. I’m not sure how I’ll get it yet

 

[Charl28]

Can anyone give me some advice on shared ownership we have a three bedroom house and own 50%... it’s a gorgeous hoise in a great location but the kitchen isn’t very big what are the ins and outs of making changes internally to the house?!