Purchasing a House through Co-Ownership
The helping hand you need to get on the housing ladder
Given the spiralling costs of purchasing a house over the last 30 years, it is growing increasingly difficult to get on the first rung of the property ladder. When you also consider the stagnation in wage growth in recent times, buying your first home may seem like a distant prospect. Fortunately Northern Ireland Co-Ownership Housing has developed a scheme which may help you purchase your first home.
You buy a share of your new home’s value (between 50% and 90% of the total value) and pay rent on the remaining share. You need to obtain a mortgage for the share of the property that you purchase. You then pay proportional rent in relation to the part of the house that you have not purchased. This rent is paid to Northern Ireland Co-Ownership Housing. At any time after the purchase of the property you may purchase an additional share of the property. This is called staircasing.
There are a number of qualifying criteria relating to your age, the property itself and whether you currently own a house. For instance you cannot purchase a house in the scheme which costs more than £160,000.
It is advisable to contact Northern Ireland Co-Ownership Housing before you bid on any property. Their website is https://www.co-ownership.org/.
Once you have had your bid accepted on your new property and NI Co-Ownership Housing have reviewed your application and given the go-ahead you can then instruct us to get to work.
How we Help you Purchase your Property
- We will review the deeds to the property to make sure that you are receiving good title. You do not want to buy a property and find something untoward number of years down the line. You can rely on us to protect you.
- We will review your survey report to ensure there are no physical defects apparent.
- We will check all property certificates, searches and replies to pre-contract enquiries provided by the seller’s solicitor.
- We will check your mortgage offer and discuss it with you;
- We will liaise with your bank, insurance company, building society and mortgage broker on your behalf;
- We will review the contract of sale as drawn up by the seller’s solicitor;
- We will meet you to discuss in detail the title deeds and any conditions in the deeds you must adhere to;
- We will guide you through completion and process all payments in a timely fashion;
- We will ensure that your stamp duty land tax return is sent to HMRC and your duty is paid;
- All necessary land registry formalities will be attended to.
We understand that you have spent considerable time and energy finding a new home that you love. You can see from the above just how much goes into making sure your conveyance is effected properly. Boyd Rice Solicitors are a local law firm that you can trust to look after your interests.
The Wills Imperative
Following the purchase of your new home we would advise that you have a will in place to ensure your control over your legacy. Please see our Wills and Probate department for further advice.
As with all of our services, initial enquiries are completely free of charge. You will be under no obligation to instruct us and we will be delighted to advise in any way that we can. We will provide you at the outset with estimates of all our fees and charges. We are strongly of the opinion that transparency is important in developing a strong relationship with our clients.
So call us now on 02891 817715, email property@boydricesolicitors.com or complete our Online Enquiry for a FREE, no-obligation discussion and let us explain how we can help you.
Free Initial Consultation, Speak to our Specialist Solicitor
DIRECTOR
- Ben manages the property department in Boyd Rice Solicitors.
- He has a particular focus on residential conveyancing.
- Ben works closely with some of the biggest property developers in the province.
- Call Ben for a free no-obligation consultation and competitive estimate of fees.
- For further information, please have a look at Ben’s client testimonials on Google, he is renowned for his excellent client service.
