Shared Ownership/Affordability

[JHLU]

Marital home is on market, we have decided to split. We have two boys, 5 and 1. Looking at doing a 50/50 split on the equity in the home (which will be around 85-95k each dependant on sale) and call it a day. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I started my own business in October last year so due to submit my first year's accounts by the end of this year/early Jan.

Ideally don't want to private rent as my equity won't last very long in the grand scheme of things and it's so expensive and difficult to do!

Possibility of buying a cheap 2 bed terrace/similar at auction, doing it up and living in it. This will be disruptive for the kids though as no family closeby. Also won't have a huge amount to throw at it. I have the option of moving back to hometown but this would mean pulling my eldest out of the school he has just started and loves. Also means he would spend a lot less time with his dad which is quite sad really. (I'd move back in with parents temporarily which is just not great in itself).

I came across another option yesterday - shared ownership. I'm unable to take out a mortgage due to only having 1 years of accounts so would put all of my equity into the shared ownership at around 50%. The only thing left to pay would be the monthly rent on the SO and the leasehold costs, maintenance etc.

Emailed the sales team for the development and they said 2 years of accounts required just for the rental portion of the property too. (Affordability criteria.) Is this normal? Can I get a guarantor for the rent part? Accounts will average to around 18k annually after 2 years which is still so low. I'll be receiving child maintenance too. My husband is on around 85k per year so looking at approx £800 per month.

What am I to do? I have no family to help with childcare so I can't get a full time job unless I pay for expensive childcare. My business is growing and it's the best thing I've ever done for myself. I can't see myself doing anything else now.

I feel like every time I try and come up with an option it comes crashing down.

This is one of the reason's I've stuck this marriage for so long - getting out is too much of a headache. 😥

Are you entitled to UC? If so, they will pay up to 85% of childcare fees which may help if you need to increase work hours. Doesn’t help secure a property now though which is difficult. If the kids are with you a majority of the time, it’s a shame you couldn’t get more equity to go towards rehousing you and the children. Although I suppose it still doesn’t help if you need accounts for the rent portion. I didn’t realise this, what a nightmare.

Plan on renting for a year and claiming uc. Uc will help pay rent and childcare. As long as you ringfence the equity you receive uc can disregard it for a certain length of time ( I believe a year) as long as it's intended to purchase another property. At that point you'll have your two years accounts for the income requirements for the rental part. If at all possible I'd strongly suggest getting a small part time job for the year, you won't see an awful lot of benefit during the year but for the affordability criteria it would help massively. Once you've qualified you can always stop. Just as an aside you can claim uc help with the rented side of a shared ownership. On that thought check with the sales team of entitlement to uc will be taken into account for affordability.

That sucks especially when you are paying the the share outright!

No real advice but I hope you come up with a plan.

Never even thought about UC, that would be amazing if it helped with childcare costs. I’ll have a look into it, thank you.

Sorry to jump on your post OP, but I wondered where I could find information about UC equity/renting as you mention?
I can't find anything online and this sounds like a possible scenario for me. Thanks

It's all on the gov.uk site under uc guidance. It's not really easy to find, you have to trawl through it a bit, but it is there.