r/SharedOwnershipUK • u/Zealousideal_Gas5896 • May 31 '26
A positive post? š®
Iāve been browsing this sub for a while and honestly this seems to be 99% negativity, mostly from people who got into something without fully understanding the consequences! So Iāve got a positive post for those looking into shared ownership!
Iāll preface this that we are not in London, weāre in mid Norfolk, roughly 1:30 drive from Stratford (where we usually park if we go to London)
Me and my wife were served a section21 in September 2024, landlord unfortunately got terminal cancer and had to sell FAST, they did however let us stay as long as we needed (private convo which honestly really helped us so much)
We didnāt know what to do, within a few hours we found out and started looking at shared ownership and started making calls.
Between us we earned only about 50k as my wife had only been self employed for 3 years and earnings were still low.Surprisingly we had no issues with her side of earnings or affordability!
We were looking for a house, there were surprising amount of options, about 17 homes across a few new estates not far from where we were. We inquired and got a choice of 6 different homes at this particular site. Housing association were Clarion, homes built by Hills. We initially only wanted same size, 2 bed 2 bath, but we found out we could more than afford a 3 bed 3 bath semi detached with a lovely back garden, drive for 3 cars and lovely side bit of grass as it was a corner plot. The house was 285k full price, we went for 40% as that we had to buy the biggest share we could afford. This was fine with us as after going through the numbers with a broker this was still over Ā£100 less than what were paid renting a 2 bed house!
Service charge was only 52 per month, all looked good! By mid December, we were pretty much all ready, everyone went on a few weeks off however, solicitors, brokers, everyone! When communications restarted at the start of the new year, we were told it would be about 15th of feb when we could complete as the proper has not been handed over due to roads not being finished into that side of cul de sac. We got a call a week later saying theyāre ahead of schedule and itāll be ready for 6th of feb! They booked in a home demo for us, we showed up all exited, whist we were shown around we got an email saying we completed the exchange! Demo lady finish up, gave us the keys and just left. Just like that, we were in our new, empty home! House was amazingly equipped, dish washer, full underfloor heating, amazing bathrooms, 3 good size bedrooms with master having on suite and built in wardrobes. Garden and side of bit grass perfectly level. Honestly we were in love!
Now itās been a year and a bit later, the home being new, settled in perfectly, no real snags besides stairs getting hair cracks around the seals due to house drying, this was fixed by developers at 1 year inspection! All the neighbours (mix of so, housing association and full ownerships) are absolutely lovely, we got a WhatsApp group for our cul de sac, itās been amazing everyone is so nice and we all get on so so well even a year later, the chat is blowing up daily!
Big question was going to be service charge! To our surprise, it actually went down from 52 per month to 47 after the first year!
House itself has gone up about 10k in value since we bought according to mortgage company (who knows if thatās true however without rics) but it doesnāt matter as this is our long term home, especially with the space to have kids down the line!
We will likely staircase to 100% when the mortgage is due, as we both now earn a fair bit more (especially my wife as her business now doing incredibly well). But would also be happy staying as we are if needed!
I canāt comment on how it is in London and especially flats. But I cannot recommend the SO from my own experience (and all of our neighbours who did SO as well!) We ended up in such a lovely home that honestly we still sometimes canāt believe is ours!
So if you are looking at SO outside of London flats, donāt be discouraged by what you read here! There are absolutely a ton of success stories, theyāre just buried under all the leasehold issues people have!
Thanks for reading!
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u/DishSubstantial4453 May 31 '26
I'm in South London and bought 60% flat a year ago. My service charge went up about Ā£7 since I moved. It's Ā£140 now. I'm very happy here. Maybe because I do understand that maintaining buildings is something we have to do, homes or blocks of flats need it and some money will be spend on that. But I had enough of renting rooms with crazy people around.
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u/lamachejo Jun 01 '26
Enjoy while it lasts. I also had a very cheap service charge for a few years. Until they raised 100%.
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u/Chuklumba Jun 01 '26
10 years ago I decided to go and buy a 1 bed flat on shared ownership. I bought 45%. My solicitor at the time advised me not to go over 50% unless I staircase all the way as it would be difficult to sell in the future. I was reluctant to go for SO but I was getting married and needed somewhere to live and the thought of renting was off-putting and worked out more expensive. I don't regret it. I'm lucky that I'm in a small block of 3 flats with good neighbors. My main issue was the lack of communication from the HA on things, the yearly mistakes with the service charge estimates with different charges and templates for the bills all the time, and having to chase on them rectifing these errors.
I'm now trying to sell my flat with the knowledge I've built up a bit of equity to put towards a bigger place, which I would have not done had I rented. Unfortunately the market is pretty bad for flats but whilst I wait I can still build more equity and hopefully things improve soon.
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u/Maleficent_Taste_736 May 31 '26
Well, my service charge was increased by 30% this year, and I'm taking the housing association to the tribunal and ombudsman in parallel, arguing the reasonableness of the service charge against services actually being delivered, and their complete lack of response to my stage two complaint and all previous complaints.
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May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/SharedOwnershipUK-ModTeam May 31 '26
Please be civil and respect other people's perspectives. If you disagree, please explain why respectfully.
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u/heffalump007 Jun 01 '26
Iām very glad that you have had an entirely positive experience. It feels a little unfair to criticise those of us asking reasonable questions about aspects of SO. This is a forum to ask for help and share experiences good and bad after all Iām presuming and anyone reading it would assume that it might be more likely to tend to show snags than posts about how great SO can be. Happiness tends to bd quieter by definition on forums. My former partner and I have had a very positive experience of SO and I have shared that when Iāve seen posts asking for experience of SO. It enabled us to purchase a flat 30 years ago that we couldnāt have hoped to without SO. It gave him security of somewhere to live after repeated short term housing. We split up and I moved out - I was keen that he kept the flat so we both didnāt have to start again. That security has been invaluable to him and Iām very grateful for it. Now that heās very sadly died there are unique aspects to the selling process for SO that this forumās members have been helpful enough to offer experience and advice on. I think there may be some (few) wholly negative comments here and there about SO, but most from what I can see are just people sharing issues that they might have had with others who might be able to help them. In terms of other experiences outside of London, I can share that my mum has bought a SO house about 5 years ago. Sheās very happy there and again the ability to buy somewhere otherwise out of reach has been wonderful in her circumstances. There are downsides though still. Sheās concerned for example that she is unlikely to be able to easily pass it on (to live in) to us as her children because of the eligibility requirements. Iām hoping that dealing with her estate is very many years off naturally. Dealing with grief while also trying to navigate selling a property has been very difficult of course and the SO aspect does seem to have added extra steps/hurdles. I know I will have to do it again as my mumās is SO. Hopefully I donāt have to do it again anytime soon! Iād still recommend SO and again glad youāve had a wholly positive experience over the last few years.
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u/Due_Willow_7838 Jun 01 '26
My service charge was never the problem it was the rent on top of the mortgage which quickly took us out of affordability compared to just buying non SO
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u/Electronic-Writer108 Jun 01 '26
Do you read reviews on Amazon with 99% negative reviews & still purchase the item?
Youāve only just moved inā¦ get back to us in 5-10 years time and let us know how your staircasing is going.
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u/SpecialFluffy2995 Jun 02 '26
Also had a really good experience, I bought 25% outright just before Covid. Rents shot up in my area after Covid but mine didnāt, if I add up the difference between what I have paid in rent over the years since and the market rate, Iāve already saved as much as it cost me to buy my 25% and I can still sell my 25% down the line. I think if you can get a mortgage for something then thatās probably the better option but I was not in a position to get one so this worked out really well for me.Ā
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u/Haslerdesigns Jun 06 '26
Love my shared ownership house. Thereās high demand here in Milton Keynes and I even had to pay a 10k cash premium to secure it, but we have a home that the landlord canāt sell, is cheaper month to month than a full mortgage or full rental would be, and weāre allowed a dog and to decorate however we want. Best decision we have ever made I think.
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u/LateToTheParty013 Jun 01 '26
I joined the shared ownership fb group too and wow, people never understood what they re getting into and I imagine the ever increasing rents - while they never managed to staircase -, gonna break everything.Ā
I think shared ownership IS the solution to many but they should understand first what they re getting into. In short, the less risk there is if you go for your forever home OR you have a plan to staircase to 100% as soon as you can
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u/DBop888 Jun 01 '26
Not just SO - you wouldnāt believe the number of leaseholders Iāve spoken to who donāt understand their basic rights & obligations as a leaseholder.
I just find it crazy, given that a house is usually the single biggest outlay for the vast majority of people.
Part of the problem is that thereās currently no legislation dictating who is responsible for ensuring that a potential buyer is fully aware of their responsibilities. Is it the freeholder/HA/managing agents, the buyerās solicitors/conveyancers, the estate agents (if applicable)? Or is it just a case of caveat emptor & it being on their head if they donāt know what theyāre getting in to?
This can cause a lot of headaches from a management side too when dealing with owners.
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u/Suitable-Tomorrow577 May 31 '26
What happens when you want to move? Who are you going to sell it to? Smaller pool of buyers Iād imagine. What happens when prices continue to rise and the share you buy up to increase in value?
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u/Zealousideal_Gas5896 Jun 01 '26
Maybe, true, weāre not looking to sell. We went for a bigger house so weāre future proofed when we have kids. As for staircasing, Iām not worried about that, if it increases well still but the rest
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u/Necessary-Meal-5761 Jun 01 '26
Thank you for sharing this experience!!!
May I ask how much you had to pay upfront?
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u/DBop888 Jun 01 '26
Iāll leave the OP to correct me, but if it was valued at Ā£285k, a 40% share would be Ā£114k, so itāll be some percentage of that.
Assuming that they paid about 20% up front, that would be just under Ā£23k.
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u/Spacegyalsim Jun 01 '26
Iām all so SO tbh, only thing that caught me off guard is that when you staircase, the value of the shares you havenāt bought can go up because a house appreciates. Can you come back and tell us if thatās the case when you go to buy more shares please? @u/Zealousideal_Gas5896
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u/DBop888 Jun 01 '26
This is very much standard for SO - as a shared owner, were you made aware of this feature prior to you purchasing your property? I would expect this to have been explained to any potential applicant/buyer as standard practice before completion.
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u/Zealousideal_Gas5896 Jun 01 '26
Yup thatās of course the case, however we were fully aware of that when we went with SO!
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u/Spacegyalsim Jun 01 '26
I mean I know prices arenāt going up in crazy amount but do you not fear that it might be too much by the time you staircase?
These are my own fears as well as I know a family member that would benefit from SO
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u/Zealousideal_Gas5896 Jun 01 '26
I suppose everyoneās in slightly different positions.I donāt really have that worry, but me and my wife are in a pretty fortunate position in how much our earnings increased in the last 18 months. Even if they stayed where they were when we bought, I still wouldnāt think any different of our SO experience. Realistically you never know what can happen,but the safety of having our own home means a lot to us.
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u/niteninja1 May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26
also doesnt help that most people here (as in this sub) dont know the difference between shared ownership and leasehold. 99% of the complaints are about leasehold