Q. I want to sell my shared ownership (Part buy part rent) property and am in the privileged position of now owing the property outright. Firstly, can I just take it to the open market or do I have to inform the housing association first as do part owners and also can I expect to realise the same type of premium as a similar property in the private sector given I own it 100% now?
A. Each housing association has their own criteria when it comes to selling one of their properties. Of course part ownership always dictates that they have the first choice to market the property for normally around the first three months and if no joy they will then usually allow you to market yourself in the tradition way via estate agents. However, given you own the property completely now you will need to check the small print on your initial agreement to see if there is a variation on that for 100% owners, as it could be that you can by-pass the housing association altogether and go straight to the high street agent. With respect to the market value this will be determined by a few things. Namely the location, the specification or finish of the property and the volume of privately owned units and those rented via the local authority within the block. If the property is located adjacent to a private block in a highly desirable area then you shouldn’t see a huge difference in price. However if you are on a mixed landing for instance along with local authority tenants and the condition of the communal areas isn’t to the same level as buyers would expect to find within a completely private block it could affect the price somewhat. In general too when developers build they tend not to put such a higher specification finish to the homes that they give back to the government for social housing and shared ownership, so this too could mean a discount on the pricing unless of course you have refurbished yourself to a higher level. Overall the location will be the overriding factor and if you listen to the expects and keep your expectations realistic accepting there is a little difference between the private sector and shared ownership you cannot go wrong.