Other ways onto the ladder

If you’re having difficulty getting onto the property ladder, here are some options you might like to consider:

Buying With Friends Or Family

Buying with friends or other members of your family is one way of getting on the property ladder sooner. It also means that you’ll be living with people you know and trust. That said, it’s still a sensible idea to get legal advice before choosing this option.

Home Ownership Schemes

If you live in England and can’t afford to buy a home, you may be able to get some financial help through a home ownership scheme:

Help to Buy Equity Loans

– You buy your newly-built home with at least 75% of the cost met by a mortgage and a deposit of at least 5% of the purchase price. The rest is paid for by the government through an equity loan. The government also launched a new “mortgage guarantee” scheme in October 2013, making available £12bn of guarantees to lenders to support high “loan-to-value” mortgages. This “mortgage guarantee” scheme is due to run until 31 December 2016.

Shared Ownership Schemes

– These are provided through housing associations. You buy a share of your home (between 25% and 75% of the home’s value) and pay rent on the remaining share.

New Buy

– This lets you buy a newly built home with a deposit of only 5% of the purchase price.

Right to Buy

– This allows council house tenants to buy their property if they’re eligible.

Right to Acquire

– This allows most housing association tenants to buy their home at a discount.

You can get more information on all of these schemes from the government website – http://www.gov.uk

The Welsh government and Scottish government have information on affordable home ownership schemes in Wales (www.wales.gov.uk) and Scotland (www.scotland.gov.uk).

Guarantors

If your lender doesn’t think you can afford a mortgage on your own, you could consider asking your parents or other close family to be ‘guarantors’. A guarantor legally agrees to be responsible for the mortgage payments if you’re unable to make them. This is usually a short-term option and, if your lender agrees, you can get a guarantor removed at a later date if your circumstances change. Guarantors should get their own independent legal advice.