Fortis Living Shared ownership (A 3 point Review)

The shared ownership scheme is a first-time buyer scheme provided by the Government to help you get on the property ladder quicker. With Fortis living shared ownership properties you will essentially own part of the home and pay rent on the side you don’t own.

You can then increase your ownership in the shared ownership property by buying more shares with a shared ownership mortgage or with cash.

As with all shared ownership, there are some issues but in general, we weren’t able to find any negative review in regards to the Fortis Living shared ownership team.

• What restrictions are there on your Fortis Living shared ownership property?
• Is the rent fair market value on your Fortis Living shared ownership property
• Selling your Fortis Living shared ownership property might be very hard
• What are the conditions for staircasing on your Fortis Living shared ownership property? Are there any costs involved?
• Is your shared ownership property located amongst other housing association properties?
• What is the rate and service charge on your Fortis Living shared ownership property and how often will it increase and by how much?

Recap: To be eligible for Fortis living Shared ownership properties you will need to

• To have an annual maximum household income of £80,000 outside London
• To have an annual income of £90,000 in London
• Be a first-time buyer
• Be a UK resident
• To have a monthly income which is at least 65% more than the monthly cost of the shared ownership property you intend to purchase. This, of course, depends on the price of the property and how much you want to purchase(which will directly affect the rent you pay)

Alternatives to the shared ownership scheme

Government schemes help you reduce the amount of mortgage deposit you may need to put down, reduce the price of the property or create a structure that increases your mortgage affordability much sooner than it would have been.

Some of these include first-time buyer government schemes whilst others in this list are accessible to you even if you are not a first-time buyer.

Government schemes are not available to you if you are getting a buy to let mortgage.

The Government schemes include:

• Lifetime ISA– gives you a government bonus of £1,000 if you save a maximum £4,000 a year.
• Help to buy ISA– gives a maximum bonus us £3,000 if you save the maximum allowed of £12,000. Before you get either you should consider which is better. Lifetime ISA vs Help to buy ISA.
• Help to buy equity loan– gives you up to 40% as a 5-year interest-free equity loan. You begin to pay interest at 1.75 % after the fifth year and 1% plus RPI for every year thereafter.
• Armed forces help to buy– similar to the help to buy equity loan but specific for the armed forces personnel giving them an increased chance of acceptance.
• Rent to buy– This is the right to buy scheme on which this guide is currently discussing. A different marketing name is just used. Watch out for this when shopping to avoid missing out on eligible properties due to confusion.
• Right to buy– allows you to buy your home at a discount price.
• Preserved right to buy– same as above.
• Right to acquire– similar to the above.

Depending on where you live, you may also be able to take advantage of home buying schemes provided by your local council. Example: In Norwich, the local councils provide the Norwich home options scheme.

If you need financial advice and you live in the UK then you could contact the Money Advice service over the phone or via chat for impartial advice.

You can also contact the debt charity “Step Change” if you are in debt and need help.