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

Andrew Theoff, Managing Partner, Direction Law

Peter Hawley, Director, Shared Director, Shared Ownership, Ownership, Leaders Romans Leaders Romans

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 Oak View Court, Milton Keynes, 18 apartments for shared ownership sale, guide price from £205,000 grandunionliving.co.uk

Not enough deposit

Q My husband and I have been

saving for some time to buy our first home together and were hoping to purchase this year, but we just don’t have enough deposit as yet and we’re worried that prices seem to be going up all the time, putting our dream home out of reach. We’re ideally looking for a two bedroom apartment in a modern building with good transport links. We currently rent in Bletchley and I am a nurse based at Milton Keynes University hospital. My husband, Rakesh, is a signage fitter so he travels all around Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire for his work. We would be grateful for any advice. Thank you.

Akira Chandra, Bletchley

AShared ownership is a great solution for a couple who can’t quite reach the deposit needed for a property on the open market, as the maximum salary income cap would be your two combined salaries, allowing flexibility.

Outside of London the cap is £80,000 or inside London it’s £90,000. Also, you’ll only need to provide a 5% deposit of the share you’re purchasing, so you may qualify already! Remember to allow enough for legal costs and moving expenses on top though.

For example, you could buy a 35% share of a two bedroom apartment at Oak View Court, Walnut Tree, Milton Keynes (very close to your work) for £71,750 (guide price £205,000 full market value). The deposit would be much more affordable than buying on the open market. 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 are able to afford more. You pay rent on the balance you do not own, and this reduces as you buy more shares.

Good luck with your search!

Fees for conveyancing

QI’m purchasing my first home

and the housing association I’m buying through has said that I need to instruct a solicitor. Should I approach more than one solicitor for a quote, or are their prices much the same?

Daisy Moore, Ashford

AWhen purchasing a shared ownership property (or any property for that matter), you will need to instruct a solicitor to act on your behalf. I would suggest getting a few quotations from different firms for a comparison of costs and be very careful of cheap headline fees because they often aren’t as economical as they first seem – the cheapest isn’t necessarily the best, and the cheapest isn’t necessarily the cheapest either!

To give you an idea of what to expect, firstly there should be a quote for legal fees, which is the price the solicitor charges for their services. This differs depending on the purchase price of the property and whether it is leasehold or freehold.

There will also be details for bank transfer fees, preparing the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) form, and a mortgage lender fee. Most firms charge for these items, but the amounts can vary, resulting in very different final charges. The quote should also include disbursements, which are expenses payable to third parties and are paid via your solicitor; however, these can still vary from firm to firm. These include a bankruptcy search fee, HM Land Registry Search fee and other search fees. Other disbursements include the Land Registry registration fee and Stamp Duty Land Tax which are based on the property price or share being purchased and whether you are a first time buyer – and the rules are the same irrespective of conveyancing firm.

Other things you should budget for when buying a new build shared ownership property are further fees payable to a superior landlord or managing agent and possible additional costs from your housing association. These amounts will be the same irrespective of which solicitors you use, but most don’t mention them in their quotation.

Finally, it is worth noting that price is only one factor when choosing your solicitor. Buyers should also consider level of experience in affordable homeownership, expertise, recommendation, and customer service. Good luck with your search.

Can we afford to buy our first home?

QMy partner and I are looking

to buy a two bedroom house in the Nottingham area; we only have a small deposit and between us earn less than £35,000 per annum. How can we buy a property and where should we look?

Melissa Palmer, Nottingham

AJust because you have a small deposit and your earnings are not enough to buy a property outright, this does not mean that you cannot buy at all. With house prices in the UK at a record high, getting on to the property ladder is becoming more challenging for first time buyers, with many feeling that the deposit and income required make homeownership a distant dream; shared ownership can make this dream a reality.

Shared ownership provides an excellent alternative, which gives purchasers the opportunity to get on to the property ladder. Under the new revised model it could be possible to purchase as little as a 10% share of a new home with the option to buy further shares over subsequent years until you eventually own the property outright. As long as you meet mortgage lending criteria, you will only need a 5% deposit on the share you’re buying, which makes shared ownership a very attractive and affordable option.

At Leaders Romans we can assess your buying capabilities via the Homes England calculator, which will allow our team of expert financial advisers to look at your personal circumstances and help you understand what is affordable and sustainable while letting you know what size percentage of a home you could be eligible to purchase.

When looking for a shared ownership home you can search the traditional property portals, but there are also specialist portals that will give a wider range of choice such as Share to Buy and Help to Buy. At Leaders Romans we have a dedicated shared ownership division and specific listings just for shared ownership can be found. You will also find that most housing associations and registered providers have their own websites that showcase a full range of both brand new and resale homes.

It is important to consider what you need from a new home when starting out on the journey. Factors to consider could include aspects such as “what size property do I need and why?” along with thinking about the costs associated with buying a property such as mortgage and solicitor fees.

Leaders Romans has specialist shared ownership hubs based in Wokingham, London and Nottingham. Our experienced and friendly team guides purchasers through the whole shared ownership journey, right from the start to handing over keys to your new home. Currently, we have several developments in and around Nottingham, so do go to leaders.co.uk and romans.co.uk and take a look.

Andrew Theoff