Anyone know about Fairview Homes buying scheme?

[Irecan]

Hi,

My husband and I are looking to buy a small property in london, our deposit is not huge and we came across Fairview’s buying scheme where they charge you a set amount of rent and all of what you pay goes towards a deposit for the property. I’m wondering what the catch is tbh.. has anyone any experience with them? On trust pilot there are mixed reviews but they have lot of properties throughout the UK and the reviews aren’t necessarily for the properties eligible for the buying scheme, which are in New Hayes and Debden.

tbh we don’t have a huge amount of choice if we want to buy, we have limited deposit, limited salaries etc so beggars can’t be choosers and all that.. another option is wait for house prices to come down in the recession but still, our deposit will take another while to build for that option.

we are starting family hopefully soon and want to live somewhere with good schools, community etc, new hayes seems slightly better for that than Debden but unsure as haven’t researched thoroughly just yet. We live in south east london and love it, wish we could buy here!

Hi OP, I hadn’t heard of it so had a quick read. Sounds like it’s a very small
pilot scheme as developers scramble to try and work out what to replace help to buy with. It sounds very interesting and I hope someone will come along and be able to advise you. I found this article from the Financial Times which just sort of confirms no one is really sure what it will turn out like in practice:

www.ftadviser.com/mortgages/2023/01/16/save-to-buy-scheme-looks-to-fill-the-shoes-of-help-to-buy/?page=2

Ah thanks, I’ll have a read!

Trust pilot reviews have said there’s issues with cladding in some of their buildings (not sure if it’s the two buildings I’ve mentioned) which would affect selling in the future but not sure what to look for when we go to view.

Is the cladding on flats? If so I would expect if you are buying new they wouldn’t be using the now banned cladding on new builds. I would speak to them about it though. Perhaps have a google of cladding issues following Grenfell.

Yeah it’s something I need to look up but I don’t know if they would be honest.

Very short on information, it all comes out when you meet their salesman.
Their one bed apartment is tiny, unsuitable for having a baby.
Personally, I’d wait and try and save.

@C4tastrophe oh have you been for an appointment with their salesman? Apart from size what else made you decide against Fairview? And if you don’t mind me asking which location did you view? I sent a few emails but have heard nothing back yet, they called me on Saturday but I asked them to reply to my email as I prefer questions being asked in writing.

@Irecan Sorry, my post was not clear.
What I meant was there are no details online. The only way you can find out is going in to see their salesman.
I have no idea what they can offer, but currently they have discounts that most likely will not be available to anyone on their help scheme, essentially meaning you pay 10% more, and that’s before you get tied into their ‘special’ mortgage.
Tread carefully.

@Irecan
Did you managed to go into this scheme ? I am very interested in it as well, but I do not see much reviews of people who actually went into this scheme and I am very interested in it.
However I am enquiring about it for last two weeks, daily now and nobody gets back to me.
Thank you!

I didn’t, we didn’t earn quite enough to meet their criteria which is 90k for a 2 bed. We decided to go with a normal mortgage, got maisonette with garden/ parking for much cheaper than this scheme.

@Irecan
Thank you very much for letting me know! I though there is a catch somewhere, I bet this is not the only one...

I am glad you found our home! Good luck with everything!