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Shared Ownership apartments at Hartington Street, Loughborough
Prospective applicants are likely to be first-time buyers and may be registered on Local Authority or Housing Association waiting lists, or be existing Local Authority or Housing Association tenants. You must have a housing need, and when assessing need, consideration will be given to the following:
• your current accommodation and its suitability
• your ability to meet your housing need through other housing options
• Your ability to meet the outgoings of home ownership without hardship
1. A Reservation Fee
Once your application has been successful, NCHA will require a payment of £150 as a sign of your genuine interest. If the sale proceeds, this fee will be offset against the costs of the purchase. If you do not proceed with the purchase, NCHA reserves the right to retain 50% of the fee.
2. Exchange Deposit
3. Building Society/Bank Costs
If you require a mortgage from a building society or bank, you will have to pay for their valuation of the property and the legal fees relating to the mortgage. Your building society or bank should be able to estimate this, and you may also be required to pay a mortgage indemnity premium if you are borrowing more than 80% of the purchase price.
4. Legal Fees
You will have to pay your Solicitor for advice on the purchase of the property, to make a Local Authority search, to approve the lease on your behalf, and after completion, to pay stamp duty land tax if applicable and to have the lease stamped and registered at the HM Land Registry.
Before instructing a solicitor, always obtain a detailed estimate of the legal costs.
Once you have moved into your property, your outgoings will be your monthly mortgage, rent and service charge payments. In addition you will have to pay your own gas, electricity, water and Council Tax bills.
Rent
Your monthly rent is paid for the part of the property owned by NCHA. Rent payments are due monthly in advance, payable by Direct Debit on the first day of the month.
Service Charge
1. a management charge which covers NCHA’s management and administration costs
3. a charge for any communal services that are provided by NCHA, e.g. gardening and cleaning
Please note that you should arrange your own insurance for your contents, fixtures and fittings.
If you live in a house, you will be responsible for all repairs and maintenance costs. If you live in a flat, you will usually be responsible for repairs inside your home, and NCHA will carry out repairs to the structure of the building and any communal areas. These repairs will be paid for out of the service charge.
The only exception to this is for repairs which may be covered under a defects liability period. The defects liability period relates to newly-built homes and usually covers the first 6 months following completion of the building work.
The mortgage contract is between you and the Bank or Building Society. If you fall behind on the repayments, you should seek the help of the Bank or Building Society and contact the Association immediately. The Bank or Building Society will try to do their best to find a solution in conjunction with the Association and would only sell the property as a last resort. However, in the event of such a sale, you would be entitled to any of the proceeds of the sale as appropriate to your share, after all your debts have been paid.
Your home is at risk if you do not keep up with the payments on a mortgage or loan secured on it.
If you sell, whatever the purchaser pays for the share is yours, subject of course to you repaying any mortgage you may have on the property.
As with any owned property, the value may go up or down in comparison with the current market value.
You can increase the share you own by purchasing further shares in multiples of 10%. This process is known as staircasing.
You will have to arrange for your property to be valued to assess the value of your share, and the cost of this will be your responsibility.
As soon as the valuation is received, you have three months to buy a further share.
Please note that this is a brief summary of shared-ownership. You are strongly advised to take full instruction from your Solicitor before entering into a binding contract or lease.
