We have been looking for shared ownership properties in our area. We fit all the criteria such as, under the £60000 a year income, no debts/ccj's etc, but we keep being told that for a 3 bed property, you need to have at least 3 children to be considered.
The last home we looked at was a three bed (50%) share, and the housing association told us the property ended up being taken off the market because no one was meeting the criteria in terms of the amount of children they had. And that families with 3 children had applied and been turned down because they wanted a larger family in the house.
(In the photos you can see a bunk bed and single bed in one bedroom and a bunk bed in the second bedroom,so they obviously have 5 children and 1/2 adults in the house.)
Now surely as long as you can get the mortgage and you are buying your shared, it shouldn't matter.
I could understand if a big family had applied and needed the space and no other homes were available. But they specifically told us it was families of 2/3/4 children that were being turned down?
Surely you purchase a home to live in , with space to extend your family? We already have one daughter and soon would like another, if not 2 over the next few years - so do they expect you to buy a two bed now, then have another child/children and only then be entitled to BUY a 3 bed, after we are already overcrowded? And pack up and move each time you have a child?
It's not like we are being homed by the council and expecting too much, we are trying to buy our own home with a mortgage and have a deposit to put down too!!!
Will this differ within each housing association? Or is it a strict rule that you can't buy a three bed unless you already have a second child no matter what HA is selling a share?