AIBU to go for shared ownership

[yesiamworthit]

Hello all,

I am considering going for shared ownership. I am a single parent to one disabled child. I currently live with my mother. I have been on the council list for 8 years. We had to live our prior home due to Domestic abuse and the risk of living by myself when ex would stalk me, threaten, show up to my house etc. Throughout the years, I have written letters, MP's, domestic charities to get us moved quicker with housing but there's such a shortage. I just feel like a failure that I'm unable to give my child a suitable home.

Anyway, being at home I was able to save up a lot of money but due to my child's needs, I spent a lot of money on schooling, therapy, tutoring etc. Currently, I have been able to save but it's not enough for a deposit. I currently work part time and earn £1,500 a month. I have been looking at shared ownerships and was wondering O was AIBU to consider this and for others to share their views. I want to move out of London anyway due to crime..

YANBU in my opinion. Me and DP have one DD and now another one on the way; we own a house but it’s a smallish two bed with no extra space so it’s literally a kitchen, living room and two bedrooms (and bathroom) - there’s nowhere to have your own space and it feeling pretty cramped. We’re on the market now but for what we can sell out house for there is just absolutely 0 chance of us getting anything bigger at all. - We’re going to have to do shared ownership.

Hi OP.

I've just purchased a flat on a shared ownership basis (80%). After working full time and saving up for years (I've rented on my own for the last 6 years so it's been difficult to save up whilst paying all bills every month) it was the only I was able to get on the property ladder. Yes I could of saved for many more years to buy outright, but I don't see the point. I currently pay £500 a month now for a property that will never be mine. I will be paying a small service charge every month on the new flat but that's just to keep the communal areas clean and tidy etc. I'm thankful that this scheme was put in place otherwise I would of been stuck in the renting trap for many more years to come! I know a lot of people turn their noses up at shared ownership but sometimes it's the only way for people to get their foot in the door, especially people on low incomes or who aren't able to save as much etc.

Good luck whatever you decide!

YANBU its how I got onto the ladder and I work building / selling shared ownership now. the few downsides have been fixed with the new model which was updated recently (much easier and cheaper to staircase more shares and very long leasehold) so its a good option.

If I was able to get shared ownership and I wanted to move- what happens then? Do I have to stay in the shared owner property. Sorry if this is a stupid question- this is all new to me.

I believe in some cases you may have to sell back to the provider you rent to, and/or when you sell your home in any instance you will only get the percentage that you own at that point. I.e if you buy 25% and sell in 5 years you’ll only get 25% if the value of the house at that time.

You can however, sell your shared ownership and love into another bigger/upgraded shared ownership.

I am also looking into this as an option. I have a one bedroom flat and need to sell for a bigger place and it seems only possible through part share to move onto a house.

If you're buying under the new model you only now need to give the housing association 4 weeks to sell your property to someone else before you can chooose to sell it outright on the open market. you can then sell it for 100% (but you would keep the value of the share u currently own)
in many cases the housing association may not even want these 4 weeks and just agree for you to sell straight away.

if anyone wanted an alternative there is also the new Rent to buy which a few HA"s also do - where you rent at around 80% Market rent and the idea is you save the extra 20% each month to help build up your deposit. when you had enough you can then purchase the house either on a share or outright.

We are in shared ownership, at the time it was our only option to buy rather than rent (south east, rent here is astronomical!). To be honest I haven’t found a downside. We have since moved to another shared ownership and the rent/mortgage combined is less than half the cost of private renting the same size property. There can be a lot of paperwork and hoops to jump through but it was relatively straightforward. We own 50% of ours and can staircase in 10% chunks if we choose to. Selling the first property was easy, we had over 20 interested parties and it went very quickly. We also have a clause where if we make any improvements to the house we benefit 100% from the added value when we sell.

Thank you all for your suggestions. Can anyone suggests any good sites or charities/agencies I can talk to get good information? It seems this is my option for now as I'll be on the council list FOREVER and my child is getting older

where are you wanting to move to? there will be different associations to recommend depending on the area. your best bet is to look on their websites and speak to them to find out about new sites coming soon.
already available properties can also be found on;

sharetobuy.com
rightmove new homes has a shared ownership filter