HOW TO GET ON THE LADDER FOR LESS
AS SHARED OWNERSHIP WEEK BEGINS, ANDREA DEAN PASSES ON A FEW TIPS TO HELP GET YOU THE KEYS TO YOUR OWN HOME
ALTHOUGH life’s slowly returning to normal, changes in working arrangements mean that many of us are spending far more time at home than before the pandemic. All well and good if you love where you live – but if you’re stuck in an overpriced and overcrowded rental with flatmates who get on your nerves, few things will appeal more than having a place and space of your own.
Once you’ve made the decision to buy, don’t let the prospect of sky-high property prices and deposit requirements destroy your dream – with the help of shared ownership, you could be getting the keys to your first home sooner rather than later.
Shared Ownership allows people to buy a share in a home, while paying rent on the rest. This can frequently work out cheaper than renting an equivalent property and, of course, you’ll have a proper stake in it. You will also have the option to buy more shares as and when you can, and the deposit is a fraction of what you’d pay when buying on the open market.
Around 202,000 households now live in shared ownership homes, including 43-year-old Laura Lucas, an NHS business manager. As a single parent she thought that she’d never be able to buy but after years in social housing she found out about the scheme and bought a share of a three-bed house at L&Q’s Saxon Reach in Milton Keynes.
‘Once you’re in the council system, you don’t want to get out and lose your place, so I was really nervous about giving up my home, but I’d managed to save up a deposit for a shared ownership property and started to think that maybe owning a house was something I could achieve,’ she says. ‘I registered online. The sales team were absolutely brilliant and talked me through everything and really reassured me and I came away thinking “this really is something I could do”, so I went for it.
‘I never imagined I’d be able to own my own home and want to stay here for the long term.’
This year’s Shared Ownership Week starts today and this special Property supplement looks at how the scheme works, homes in and around London that you can buy with really low deposits – starting at just £3,325 – and developments that are perfect for post-pandemic lifestyles.
We also meet a range of buyers who’ve used shared ownership to step on to the ladder. If you’re inspired by their stories, check it out for yourself and you could be joining their ranks before you know it.