Agony Agent

Readers put their property questions to our guest panel of experts: solicitors, mortgage advisers, property gurus and Help to Buy providers

THIS MONTH’S PANEL OF EXPERTS

Sue Dance, Sales & Commercial Manager, Grand Union Housing

Simon Scott, Assistant Director of Commercial & Property Marketing, Origin Housing

Minnie Dando, Head of Marketing Head of Marketing & Communications, & Communications, Hyde New Homes Hyde New Homes

TEST THE PANEL

We need your questions...

If you have any queries, or diffi culties in understanding the property buying process, our panel of experts is waiting to help. Send our team your questions on buying property, Help to Buy, legal issues, or your fi nancial problems and we’ll fi nd the best person from the panel to give the advice you need.

Email your questions to: lynda@ rsttimebuyermag.co.uk Plot 5 Benedictine Close, Wellingborough, Northants – a two bedroom house due to launch summer 2022

Help with shared ownership

QMy partner and I have been

saving for a while and were hoping to buy a shared ownership property as our first home together, to enable us to plan for a family. We’re currently renting on the outskirts of Kettering but ideally looking for a two bedroom house close to local amenities. However, we’ve just spoken to a financial adviser, hoping to get qualified for a scheme we’ve seen nearby, and unfortunately, we can’t quite afford the minimum share on offer, which is 35%. My partner works in retail as a supervisor and I run a mobile dog grooming business. With prices going up all the time we’re wondering if we’ll need to move away from this area to afford our dream home?

Katy Fletcher, Kettering

AThere’s good news on the horizon for potential buyers like yourselves, as the Government has just introduced the new shared ownership product which will allow the purchase of initial shares as low as 10%. The other benefit with the new product is that you’ll be able to purchase additional shares as you can afford to do so, in as little as 1% portions instead of the current 10% minimum (this process is known as staircasing). For full details on the new product, please take a look at sharetobuy.com which has all the latest news on the new model and will enable you to search for properties in your area. It’s worth noting though, that the old product will still be in existence for some schemes, so you will need to check with each provider which model they are offering, and this only applies to new build properties.

As an example, our first Grand Union Living scheme offering the new model of shared ownership will be Benedictine Close, Wellingborough, where you could buy a 10% share of a two bedroom mid-terrace house for just £23,700 (full market value approximately £237,000, although prices will be released nearer the time). This scheme is in a great location, close to shops and schools.

Speak to an independent financial adviser who specialises in shared ownership to check you can qualify.

With most shared ownership properties, you could purchase more shares until you own 100%, as your careers progress and you can afford more. You pay rent on the balance you do not own, and this reduces as you buy more shares. Do go to grandunionliving.co.uk for more details. Good luck with your search!

Sue Dance

How do we staircase?

QWe are a young professional couple living in

London, currently living in a shared ownership home, which we bought a 25% share in four years ago. Our salaries have recently increased, so we’re eager to own more shares in our home. We’ve heard of staircasing, but we don’t know where to start! Can you advise on how to start the process, please?

Harry and Ellie Brown, Harrow

AFor shared ownership buyers, staircasing is an excellent way to purchase more shares in your property over time, giving you flexibility to buy a greater proportion of your home as and when you can afford to. Depending on your lease, staircasing is applicable to both new build and resale properties.

The first stage in the staircasing process is to arrange a valuation to confirm the current market value of the property. This will mean the valuer can calculate how much you need to pay for additional shares. For example, if your property is valued at £400,000 and you want to buy an additional 25% share, the purchase price of the extra share would be 25% of the valuation, which is £100,000.

A major benefit to staircasing is that the greater the share you buy in your home, the less rent you pay to your housing association. Once you staircase to 100%, you become the outright owner, and will no longer need to pay rent. As the outright owner, if you choose to sell your home, you can do so on the open market to whoever is interested.

When staircasing, buyers must be aware of expenses involved in the process, which include the valuation fee, legal fees and any Stamp Duty costs. You may also be required to pay mortgage fees or pay penalty charges to your existing lender if you remortgage before the product end date.

Buyers are advised to check the terms of their lease for any restrictions on staircasing.

For more information about staircasing with Origin, please visit originhousingsales.co.uk/staircasing

Simon Scott

Buying off-plan

QWe are first time buyers and

feel ready to get on to the property ladder. We have seen a home we really like but we are nervous about purchasing our home in a development off-plan; how can you reassure us?

Brogan Smithhurst, Brighton

AConsidering buying a home is probably the most expensive purchase we will ever make, so it is no wonder that we hesitate, particularly when one can’t actually set foot in the finished home prior to making this massive commitment.

There are positive benefits for offplan property transactions, for both the buyer and vendor. For the vendor, sales are de-risked by knowing that there is a purchaser out there and income is more or less secure. For the buyer, it presents an opportunity to select a home in a development early on, when the choice is wider, offering a better chance of securing the type of home which best suits your needs. You are also likely to benefit from a better opportunity on pricing, as most vendors are likely to maximise their sales values as sales progress and the development is approaching completion.

At Hyde, we always ensure that we have one or more show homes available for visitors to view when we launch. These showcase the specification, as well as providing you with an accurate expectation of the standard of finish of our homes. We are very careful to only open our show homes to visitors once we have ensured that the finishes reflect the standard expected from all the other homes on the development; in fact, the show home is used as a benchmark for this. During the planning process, we try and select show homes which are representative of the majority of house types that will be available, so that you are able to get a feel of the space and layout. We also dress our show homes, so that you can envisage how furniture can fit into it and also pick up ideas around how space can be optimised.

We conduct our sales in-house, so that our team is fully conversant with the standard of product and service that we offer our customers. Your sales consultant will be there to support you with any questions you may have and smooth over any bumps which may arise along your journey to homeownership.

Hope you find the home of your dreams and wish you all the best with your exciting purchase!

Minnie Dando