Does anyone know anything about shared ownership and what it means? I’m just looking on right move and keep coming across shared ownership properties for sale. What does it mean and has any of you gone for shared ownership.
Where do you stand if you wanted to sell or if you popped your clogs?
could google it but thought I’d ask here.
From what I gather, you buy a property from a housing scheme. You decide how much of the house you want to own and get a mortgage for it, and rent the remaining part of the property from the housing scheme. The bigger your mortgage, the smaller your rent.
A bit of bumf here:
There are high-rise blocks going up here in west London, the government says the developer has to provide a mix of sole ownership, part ownership and social housing. Nothing like a mix: prevents ghettoism.
Part or shared ownership is seen as a way for youngsters to get on the ladder. But you’re no spring chicken Queenie, and what’s this talk of popping clogs. I guess it could be seen as a way to free up money in old age(?)
It can work very well. You buy a part share of the house and pay rent on the rest and the people you buy it from are the leaseholders
To get my son on the housing ladder, we all dug deep and dug out the spare change from the back of the sofa to raise him the deposit for a mortgage on a quarter of a house
He had it for years and you can buy more share as you get on a bit. He eventually owned half of it before he bought a different one
Yes, I am a previous shared ownership owner. I bought a 25% share in my flat, new build, in 1994. This was the %age offered. I then paid rent and service charge on the remainder. Then two years later I staircased, bought another 25%. So then I was paying two very small mortgage amounts, and subsidised rent and SC on the remaining 50%. I found it a very affordable way of having my own property.
There were certain drawbacks. In my block, my housing association wouldn’t allow separate satellite dishes, so I joined the communal one, managed by a third party. Had to pay line rental which worked out about £120/pa. Never claimed on it.
We weren’t warned about the lease. We started off with 100 years and then a different company held a meeting at which flat owners were invited. They had looked into our leases, and the time left, and offered to help renew them, but wanted a minimum of 10 households. We were now getting to the danger level, so renewal was highly recommended. I went away, thought about it, and later approached the HA direct and renewed it myself. A few years later their terms changed, which meant they no longer paid for their half of the premium. The flat owner had to pay the 100% full charge (plus legal costs on both sides). I was one of the lucky ones.
I left in 2019, having lived there for 25.5 years. So now, add up those 3 years, meaning the other flats have just over 70 years remaining on theirs. The ones who have buried their heads in the sand and won’t or can’t do anything about it. I swear that renewing mine made it so easy to sell my flat. To the first viewer.
We paid, with our SC, in a cyclic fund, which meant if there were any works or maintenance, charges would come out of the fund. At each end of year accounts, if there was a short fall, we had to cough up extra. For years it went on the monthly rent, then they changed it to a lump sum, each 1st October.
If they wanted to do major works, as leaseholders we were obliged to pay 5% towards costs.
As they, and two other HAs, managed the buildings and grounds, we often ended up hitting our heads against a brick wall if nothing was done. When I left, the fencing was still down at the back of the car park, but I have been told some fences have been replaced.
These days, the %ages offered differ. They can be 25, or 30. And naturally, prices have risen so much since I first bought. One thing also, I do believe being a SO property, meant the price was valued quite low. We were not allowed to put on the open market, at a price WE wanted. An o/m sale was only allowed after a certain time frame of not selling through their own list of candidates.
Some time ago my old HA told the flat owners they would replace all doors and windows, with owners contributing as per the terms of their lease. Many were up in arms (talking amongst themselves, that they wouldn’t pay) but then recently they cancelled. So now my friend, who has several blown windows, is in a dilemma. Does she replace them herself, or wait till the HA has funds later?
I am glad now I no longer have the constraints of living in a leasehold property, with all their rules, regulations and T&Cs, but I did enjoy having a brand new home for all those years. Buying it was the best thing I did. Renewing the lease when I did was the second. And selling it was the third!!
Any more questions, please feel free to ask. I consider myself an expert, with 25.5 years under my belt. 
Forgot. They were quite strict, at the time, with applicants. I had my name on the council list, with only 9 points. At the time they only offered bedsits. Half my take home pay went on rent to my dad’s friend, who went on cruises and nice holidays, thank you very much.
So when I chatted to the scheme manager at the time, in one of the flats, he said when reading through my form they’d said ‘we have to help this one’. I held out my hand and offered my grateful thanks.
Also at the time I was planning a trip to somewhere in Asia. Might have been Thailand. No, Malaysia. Penang. I had to cancel it, when I knew I was successful with the flat. Couldn’t afford both.
There are advantages and disadvantages of shared ownership. A friend of a friend got caught out by this scheme. They did not realise that they were responsible for 100% of the maintenance until it was too late. They bought a previously council owned property where the council funded a buyer. They defaulted so the council offered a shared ownership sale. Three years along and wall ties needed urgently replacing as well as major roof remedials. The council quoted the shared ownership papers and matey had to fund all the work himself … lesson to be learnt here … read everything and make sure a very good legal eye is cast over everything.
This sounds incredibly complicated
I agree. I’m not planning on doing it but I kept seeing loads of properties today saying shared ownership and I wondered what it was all about.
The co-owner is protected up to the hilt for market deviations, you are not, so avoid like the plague.
One of my nieces has a very nice 3 bed detached house on shared ownership. She is a lot better off than when she was private renting. If they get a bit of extra money they pay off a bit more of their mortgage. It is a lovely house and built to a high spec.
My sister had a SO house but it was still leasehold. She wasn’t aware of this until after her bf died, and she then later sold it. She couldn’t understand about the extra charges.
I think for people starting out on the housing ladder, as I was back then, it is a good idea. Then maybe sell up later on for a FH property when finances allow.
Not necessarily. Anyone buying a flat, for instance, would be leasehold, but they wouldn’t necessarily be buying it on shared ownership.
@Jazzi , Yep l get that Jazzi, but surely the shared ownership ones are still
leasehold, the HA becomes the leaseholder ??
I agree SO can be the only way for some to eventually become sole owners
though !
Donkeyman! 
I may be wrong but, it think the organisation who are the shared owners are ring fenced against risk, IE, if their share of the property value is say 100k and, the property reduces in value, their value interest stays at 100k and the sitting owner takes the whole of the hit, if the property increases in value, their share proportionally increases at a greater rate than yours, if it still works this way it is best avoided.
All I can remember when selling was my HA and I received 50% each of the sale cost (mine was minus legal bills on both sides), according to what we each owned. But I reckon, even though the property rose in value from 1994, I had spent all that profit over the years on rent and SC, so didn’t profit as such. Though I was able to buy a house outright in Lowestoft, and replace my car.
