This is something my brother is starting to look into as he hasn't got a hope of buying outright.
One of the questions which were raised while our family were discussing it was who fixes stuff like the boiler breaking down. Obv if my boiler breaks down, as a homeowner I fix it, and my parents as renters, get the landlord to do it. So what happens in a shared ownership case?
They go fifty fifty on cost and they take it in turns to stay in waiting for tradesmen to come in. Or do it proportionately if one party has a bigger share of the ownership than the other.
It's all about give and take if you're sharing. Consequently one person might find it easier to have time off for these things than the other at certain times so it's best not to stick to a set ruling on that, but so far as cost goes that should go into the contract they sign up before it all goes ahead. And they do need something in writing.
*It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them. -- Pierre De Beaumarchais
Government shared ownership is a terrible idea (in my opinion). You pay for half a house, if it increases, so does the next rung on the ladder, making the gap (and financial standing) even bigger). If house drop, then you end up with less money and possibly negative equity? But all along you are still paying rent.
Seems it would be better to rent and save in my opinion.
Shared ownership via a housing association-the home owner is liable for repairs. Normally the house owner will have the contents insurance, the housing association the building insurance. That's how it was with me a few years ago. Ultimately if you run the house down, when it comes to selling you will loose out on the bit you own. Usually the contract between you and the housing association will detail some basics-keep the outside of the property clean and tidy, no works vans, caravans etc.
A collegues' brother had a shared ownership house back in the '80s. When he came to sell the value had gone down, but the housing association refused to accept that it had, so he had to make up the short fall to pay them off. Luckily this was only a few grand back then, but at todays prices it could be a nasty hit if values do fall by 10-20%.
Government shared ownership is a terrible idea (in my opinion). You pay for half a house, if it increases, so does the next rung on the ladder, making the gap (and financial standing) even bigger). If house drop, then you end up with less money and possibly negative equity? But all along you are still paying rent.
Seems it would be better to rent and save in my opinion.
For some key workers (such as my friend who is a maths teacher) there are schemes where they key an interest free loan, with no rent to pay on the part they don't "own". Essentially they live in the home exactly as anyone else that has a mortgage but they can get a better home than they would if they were not in the scheme. I cannot see any downside to this.
In answer to the question, there are a number of schemes and only the people that administer the scheme in question should really be giving advice.
I've seen a quite a few Shared Ownership houses for sale in my area. 3 Bedroom townhouses selling 50% stake for more than half of what it would cost to buy a similiar place outright.
When the HA sell the share first time round, they can ask for whatever they feel the house is worth and will not budge-despite what a mortgage valuation said. However when we sold our share, we had to pay for an independent valuation and both us and the HA had to abide by that valuation, so at least we knew we were getting the best price and not having the HA grab more money!
Our first home was a bought through a shared ownership scheme. It was not a HA house though, The Kent County Council used to run what they called a "do-it-yourself shared ownership" scheme whereby you found your own house from the housing market within a certain area and for under a certain price, then they bought the other half. If it were not for this scheme, we would not afforded to get on the housing ladder at the time.
It does have MANY a downside though.
You are liable for the cost of ALL repairs (they will not give you a penny towards them)
You pay rent on their half which goes up every year (but only by about a fiver each month)
You must ask permission to do alterations such as new kitchens/bathrooms/windows etc. (we did not bother)Any improvements you do make are taken into account whan you sell up.
As the house prices rise you owe them more money should you ever want to buy the other half. (of course it does work the other way round too, not that this is very likely)
If you want to buy them out, THEY do the valuation (this in non-negotiable but fair) and tell you how much you must pay them. After this you must wait 3 months otherwise any profit you make in those 3 months must be shared with them.
If you want to move on without buying them out then they do the marketing and try to sell the house on to THEIR prospective shared ownership buyers.
It is a very flawed system and the pro's for them far outweigh the pro's for us, although I would expect that all HA's have their own rules.
We did manage to buy ours out, but we would have been MUCH better off saving long and hard and tried to buy outright in the first place.
In my opinion shared ownership schemes are an attempt to keep the cost of housing ludicrously high whilst pretended to help FTB's.
If these schemes really take off people in future will find they just pay ever more daft amounts for an ever smaller portion of a house. In fact they could potentially create an entirely new market considerably more expensive than todays which is probably why many people who make money out of property are keen to back them.
I was a FTB when i purchased a 50% share in a 2 bed detatched house near Dudley (fairly new estate). The other 50% was owned by an association, and included in the rent was building insurance, and maintenance to the exterior (including sending a gardener once a month in the summer). The mortgage for my share was for less than £60k, which is all i could borrow so i hadn't got many options. I lived there for 2 years before i decided to sell (4 months ago) and an independent valuation said the property value had gone up by £25k (absolutely no changes to the property apart from painting the hall and stairs - best bit of DIY i ever did ). Obviously i was thrilled (a nice tidy profit which easily outwayed the rent i had paid for two years). I realise, that i was possibly lucky (right place at the right time etc) but my experience is that shared ownership is a very good idea and very helpful when you're buying your first home. RE the question about the boiler...you as the tennant are normally expected to pay for repairs to this like but i was told that in some circumstances the cost is shared by the association (shared owner). Hope this helps with your brothers decision.
All Hail the mighty hamsters! 
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