Trapped by shared ownership

[TooManyAnimals94]

Looking for solutions but I'm not convinced there are any!

Bought a shared ownership property with ex husband 6 years ago. We split up 2.5 years ago. Initially, I wanted to stay in the property but after a huge service charge hike and ex husband reducing his contribution to the mortgage I decided I had to sell.

The flat has been on the market for two fucking years. I am broke... completely flat broke even with every single benefit I'm entitled to. I don't care about walking away with enough to buy a new property. I'd rather rent because I want to relocate in the next few years to somewhere cheaper.

The HA own 55%. The flat is valued at £275000 for the full 100%. I think this is high compared to similar properties in the area.
According to their rules, if I lower the price to sell, I have to find the difference e.g. I accepted an offer of £258000 so I owe them £18k.

I have had two offers in the last two years but both have fallen through because the HA are completely incompetent. They don't respond to emails, direct me to the wrong department, took months to sort management packs etc. Both buyers have got fed up waiting, run out of money and pulled out.

I don't know what the fuck I'm going to do. I feel so trapped and sad and depressed. I can't even finalise my divorce because this is our only shared asset and we thought it would be easier to sell and split whatever was left rather than start and spend lots on solicitors.

It's also getting to a point where it needs some serious money spent on it. The kitchen electrics are iffy, there's damp in the bathroom and the bedroom carpet needs doing. I can't afford any of this!

Is there anything I haven't thought of?
I'm at the point of putting it to auction, making sure the mortgage lender gets their money back and just saying a big fuck you to the HA if they chase me for 'their' money.

How much equity do you and your husband have in it?

This seems so unfair, how often will they revalue it? In this market, most houses I see accept lower offers.

@RunningThroughMyHead if it sold for £275k, then £27k, but both offers have been significantly lower than that.

There hasn't even been much interest which makes me think it's overpriced.

Surely your ex owns half the debt if you sell at a loss?

So it sounds like you effectively have no/very little equity and are also possibly low income/on benefits?

If any debt to the housing association would be wiped by Bankruptcy or a Debt Relief Order, that might be your least worst solution. Obviously you'd need to check that the debt would indeed be wiped and consider where you'd live if you did this, but it would mean you could put this behind you and get on with your life.

I hear this all the time with shared ownership houses, or very similar stories.
No specific advice on actually getting it sold but make sure you have a solicitor ready / do some good research that is good with dealing with shared ownership - it will be much easier with a well experienced solicitor to keep both sides running.

Surely if it sells for £258k your debt is actually £9k?
If it sold for £300k for instance wouldn't the ex be arguing for his share of the profits, you cannot have it both ways.

I don't think it's worth going bankrupt for such a small amount.

If you go to auction you might find the price just goes extremely low because of the limited pool of buyers. For instance I saw flats that are asking for £300k go for just above £200k. Obviously the asking price was completely unrealistic to start with.

You could take in a lodger, that's not ideal but it will ease the financial pressure.

Stuff like SO/HTB is stinkingly shit, the main problem being you pay a big premium on the property, which is the real obstacle here.

So another option could be to just wait, because if some kind of buying scheme makes a comeback a rising tide tends to raise everything.

I had a shared ownership flat, I made nearly 30k profit on my half in six years (, plus the equity I'd paid off), but it was a fifteen minute walk to a mainline station which took 23 minutes to a main London terminal on a small desirable new build estate and it was immaculate, it's worrying that a property only a few years old has damp needs new carpet and other repairs, why have they not done anything to remedy the cause of the damp as the freehold owner? The HA were also very slow to deal with when selling. My contract had a clause where is it hasn't sold within a specific time period they would accept a reduction and I could put it on the open market address there any loopholes like that? I don't imagine they'd offer but worth getting a solicitor to look over the initial contract

Could you get a new valuation? Its clearly not worth what they're saying anymore two years later.
When the valuer comes round tell them the offers you've had.

Also you can get permission to rent it out if you could make that work instead?

You could speak to the surveyor who valued the property and provide evidence of other similar sold (or under offer) properties nearby at a lower value and ask them to revalue your property.

It's easy to find these, either go on Rightmove and put in your postcode and radius or nethouseprices will show you sold prices.

They usually have to be within the last three months.

They might charge a revaluation fee it's usually around half of the original valuation fee.

Also, I wanted to sell a shared ownership property at auction and the housing association said it wouldn't be suitable as they have to approve all purchasers so check that just in case.

Good luck

My friend wanted out of her S/O flat and she converted it to interest only and rented it out. Is that an option for you?

I have to sell mine for 3 months with the HA then I can go to open market. The market is not good atm, lots of properties going for thousands less but is meant to pick up next year.

What do the HA say about renting it out?

Go through the complaints procedure and when this fails, which it will, go to the Housing Ombudsman who can give the HA directions if he finds they have failed you.

Going to try and answer all the questions. I have started a complaints procedure. I'm expecting it to fail but, as above, then I can go to the ombudsman.

Legally I can't rent it out. I can't really take a lodger as I just wouldn't feel comfortable having a stranger in the flat with my 3 year old daughter. Plus, she would then have to sleep in my room which isn't ideal.

I think I may have made a mistake with my maths in the OP but essentially, the HA operate on the valuation, not what the property actually sells for.

They are a terrible HA with a terrible record for maintenance (didn't know this when we bought it). They left us with raw sewage in our bathroom for two days when there was a drain blockage.

I suppose I'm just wondering if I sold to a company that buys any property and the HA came after me for the money, if I didn't have it, what could they actually do? Would I have committed a crime?

Yes the debt is legally shared with my ex but he's been remarkably uninterested in helping since I told him there was very little equity, even if we sold for the valuation price.

The most recent valuation was February. I told the guy about other local properties and the issues I've had selling. He still priced it high - exactly the same amount as two years ago.

We are way passed the HA selling it. They had their 8 weeks two years ago and it's been on the open market ever since.

The latest offer was actually a cash offer for the whole property... really couldn't have been more simple and they royally fucked up at every turn.

She may still have pulled out because of the damp issue but I'll never know now!

The cynical part of me thinks they stalled because if she bought the whole thing, they'd lose their rent every month so it was a low priority for them.

Did you instruct the valuer? If so and if you can afford it get another valuation. When I had mine valued I was ready with the comparables for him. We discussed the value and I explained I wanted it valued as low as possible (I needed a quick sale).

The estate agent marketed it at £10,000 more than the valuation so there was some room for offers but the first offer was for the full amount.

I spoke to the surveyor and they agreed to revalue if I could find three more comps which I did.

Are similar properties nearby selling for less? If so I'm sure a RICS surveyor will happily give a realistic valuation. They would need to have had comparables when they valued it are they similar and have they completed?

The block of flats I lived in was mostly sold to purchasers who owned 100% of their property by the time I sold mine and although the housing association were also quite rubbish I don't think this would have stopped them completing the sale. They would be getting their share back and if they were like mine they would be putting the service fund up every year and making money that way.

I thought I had to use a surveyor connected with the HA but if it was just a recommendation, I could try a different company and go armed with some examples.

I'll be honest. I feel completely deflated about the whole thing. Having to go through viewings and everything all over again just fills me with dread.

No you can use any RICS surveyor you want to. Chances are the housing association get a kick back when you used one they recommended.

Here is the RICS website to find one in your area:

www.rics.org/networking/find-a-member

I totally understand, I didn't want to sell my property at all and was actually gutted when I got the offer, however, I had to sell.

I don't know anything about legalities of you selling to one of those companies but I know our conveyancer and purchaser had to liaise a lot with the housing association during the sale and again, they might not accept a company purchasing the property as they need to approve them.

I think getting another surveyor in and a lower value is probably worth a go and best of luck.

Our housing association if you have part ownership you can just sell on the open market. As for maintenance with part ownership you have to do all the maintenance yourself.

The damp is a structural issue which is theirs to fix. I'm responsible for everything inside the property, they are responsible for everything outside.

They stitched me up there too though. They sent someone round to assess the doors and windows in every flat in the block and I was told the water that is clearly coming through a gap in the window seal was caused by me drying washing inside 🙄 in a room I have never dried washing in 🤬

Thank you that's really helpful. I will do some research.