Does anyone know much about shared ownership?

[Blueberrycakes]

I don't know whether I would meet the financial eligibility. I tried an online calculator for one and they said sorry but no, but it didn't really allow for my circumstances.

I would be able to raise very little mortgage, low income etc, but I have some equity. If the scheme allows I could buy 35-40% outright and then rent the rest of the property.

Financially I would be better if I had stayed where I am paying a mortgage instead of rent. But it would be lovely to live in a new property.

Some info here
vm.tiktok.com/ZMNYU5BfR/

but then I saw this the other day
vm.tiktok.com/ZMNYUM9oT/

the bad stuff
vm.tiktok.com/ZMNYUhLhM/

There are lots of other videos on TT from owners & you might get some info looking at the comments made on the videos too.

You don't need a mortgage if you have enough to buy 10% plus of the property. although some housing associations are trying to sneak around the rules and only offer 25% minimum share at the moment. As long as you're under the income threshold and aren't saddled with lots of debt you should be ok. Did the online calculator say where you failed? if you call up the company offering the property they can do a quick assessment over the phone.

I've looked into this a bit recently, the property I found would only allow a max of 80% ownership which put me off.

You talk about having 'equity' and being able to put down 40 per cent deposit. So you have enough money to put down say £120k on a £300k property? I'm not sure you would qualify - shared ownership is for people who can't buy through normal means - which you clearly can if you can put down a substantial chunk on a new build, and also you already own somewhere? Or have I misunderstood?

Also why on earth would you want to be financially worse off? Just spend the money on the property you already have? Your plan sounds nuts.

Shared ownership is great if you can't buy a place outright. But you can. Why would you go for a worse option?

I don't think you'd qualify as you already own a property.

A good friend of mine is in a shared ownership property and actually, owning a lot of the property can be problematic as then if you come to sell, your market is smaller as people buying shared ownership properties generally don't have enough money to buy a big percentage of the property. I think my friend is sticking with somewhere near 50/50

Not sure if this helps:

www.sharetobuy.com/guides-and-faqs/shared-ownership-eligibility/#:~:text=If%20you%20already%20own%20a,be%20eligible%20for%20the%20scheme

I'm a house where i can manage the mortgage repayments but I can't sell/buy somewhere else as I wouldn't be able to raise the mortgage. House needs quite a bit of work that I can't afford to do.

But in the long term I will have more equity when I sell when DC are 18 compared to renting/shared ownership until then. My job and income qualify. I will speak to them during the week whilst I consider if it makes terrible sense financially.

you can buy shared ownership if your other property is already on the market or sold. Its also based on income rather than deposit so having equity shouldn't be an issue.
As long as its normal shared ownership, and not like an over 55s scheme which limits 100%ownership - you can just staircase once and own it outright then if you had to sell it on the open market .. this would be easier than trying to re-sell a used shared ownership at say 80%.

Things to research are ground rent (if applicable), terms of leasehold (again, if applicable - can also apply to houses), and covenants re. pets. Personally, if you have a smallish deposit for a non- shared ownership place, I would do that instead. Mortgages for SO often are limited and charge an extortionate rate.

I'm currently in a SO flat caught up in the cladding scandal, so haven't had great experiences.

I'm in a shared ownership flat which I bought 4 years' ago from new. I got my mortgage easily with my bank although the housing people will tell you what you can afford in terms of the percentage share you can purchase.

I have found it to be a positive experience. The only snag I had was everyone in my block was pushed to exchange in June but then completion got delayed by 6 months whilst they sorted out the cladding and fire doors, post-Grenfell. It meant my mortgage offer expired and I had to re-apply which was a bit stressful!

Realistically I can't see me being able to increase my equity share. Would prob stay at 40%.

The difference financially would be I would continue to pay off a mortgage if I stay put but if I moved into shared ownership that money would be going on rent. So would impact my retirement but would mean a nice home for the children and less stress for me about maintaining an older house now.

I have debt that is factored into the calculations but would be settled from the equity if I sold. I can't see a way round that but maybe a financial advisor would have suggestions.

Really sorry about the cladding issue @DiscoStusMoonboots . That's awful to be caught up in.

Oh yes and also to mention, on top of the rent I pay to the housing people, there's also the following charges; ground rent, service charge and buildings insurance so make you factor all that in.

@Sofasogood1 shared ownership can be great/better than whole ownership if you're not sure which way the market is going to move. If it goes down, you don't lose as much money.

OP, I bought a shared ownership flat in London zone 2 and it was great for me. I was single and didn't have much deposit. I paid a little over £500 in rent/mortgage a month. The market rental rate in my area is around £1300. We then saved a load of money for a deposit on a family house when I eventually met someone.

Some properties are sold with rules in place that say you can never staircase to 100% so there continue to be shared ownership properties available in the future.

There is a service charge but I'd be happy with that given my experience of maintaining an older house. That plus rent would still be roughly the same as my monthly mortgage payments.

It seems its a matter of weighing up maximising my equity in the future compared to living more comfortably now (part renting).