Case study
Our client was Louise, a single mum renting a small 2-bedroom flat in Brighton. Since her divorce in 2005, Louise never thought she would be able to be a homeowner again and resigned herself to a life of renting. She put herself through university, gained a Doctorate and is now a lecturer at her local university. With no savings and scraping by month to month, a friend and existing client, suggested she look at shared ownership and to contact Rachel at Bluebell for advice. She needed to put down roots and provide a stable home for her family so was excited when she was accepted on to the shared ownership scheme.
It took a while, but Louise finally identified a 3-bedroom detached house that was within the children’s school catchment area, so she applied. However, without a deposit she didn’t know how she would be able to secure the property. Speaking with her, she mentioned her parents who are in their 70’s and own their property outright. With this in mind we, arranged to release some funds from their property to cover a 5% deposit and associated costs.
The housing provider allocated the property to her and the purchase was underway. Louise completed on her purchase in 2016.
With a 5% deposit, she purchased a 25% share at £70,625 and a mortgage loan amount of £67,093 was arranged through Leeds Building Society. We arranged a 2-year fixed rate mortgage to ensure Louise was achieving the best interest rate available. With the shared ownership rent and service charges of £600 and a mortgage payment of £346 per month, her total housing cost was under £1,000 per month. This saved her £200 per month compared to renting.
In 2019, she had enough equity to staircase (purchase additional shares of her property) to 50%. The property is now valued at £315,000 and as she is in a new relationship, intends staircasing to full ownership at her next mortgage review.
Within 5 years, We have been able to guide and assist Louise’s dream of owning her own home again.
Shared ownership is an affordable housing scheme with the aim to enable first time buyers and those who have already owned a home own their own home but are unable to afford to buy on the open market.
Help to Buy are a government appointed agency who oversee the scheme across England. Help to Buy agents are split into 4 geographical areas:
The Help to Buy scheme (also known as the Help-to-Buy Equity Loan) closed to new applicants in October 2022 and ended on the 31st of March 2023.
With house prices and private rents rising, we see more and more shared ownership enquiries for those looking to get on the property ladder. Take a look at our Shared Ownership page.
