Shared ownership offers couple a second chance at getting on the property ladder

Jason and Lisa have recently purchased a new home in the Parc Eirin development through Pobl Living’s shared ownership scheme.

The couple have been together for seven years and are enjoying settling into their new home in Tonyrefail.

Jason told us: “We’ve both previously been homeowners with previous partners. But after having not been on the property ladder for seven years, it was really hard for us to get a substantial profit together to re-enter the market. Shared ownership made it easier for us to buy a house instead of renting.”

Lisa added: “It’s the second time round for both us with relationships. That’s what appealed to us about the shared ownership scheme; it helped us to get a mortgage that we could afford, and for less years than other products.”

Before moving to Parc Eirin, Jason and Lisa were living in the private rented sector but are not sorry to have left it behind:

“This house is much better quality than where we were living before. It’s in a better area, and it’s closer to work as well; there are so many positives.”

Jason told us that shared ownership has allowed him to fulfil his aim of living closer to his workplace and helped him to achieve a better work life balance: “I’d been looking for a long time for a house closer to Cardiff: where we living previously was 45 minutes each way for me to travel to work, and it was getting monotonous having to do that every day. We wanted to buy together, and I have previously had a shared ownership property, so I knew about the scheme already. I searched online and the Parc Eirin site came up, and I thought ‘brilliant!’, as it was only down the road in Tonyrefail. I sent some pictures to Lisa and we drove down to have a look at where it was going to be, and we decided to go for it!”

The couple want to reassure first time buyers who might be entering the market for the first time: “The process was very straightforward: we met with Jess from Pobl Living and put a deposit down. We had no complications at all from Pobl, they have been fantastic throughout, even with the disruptions that the pandemic brought. I would advise that people stay on top of chasing up their solicitors, and try to get one named contact, as that can help if you just have to speak to that one person, rather than three or four different people each time!”

Jason and Lisa are enthusiastic about recommending shared ownership to other people who are looking to get onto the property ladder:

“We’d definitely recommend it; there are no negatives really! Parc Eirin is lovely, it’s quiet and peaceful and we can see that it will be very, very nice when it’s all finished”

“It’s great to hear first-hand the benefits that Jason and Lisa have experienced when purchasing a new home through a shared ownership scheme. It’s an alternative way to purchasing a new home that has so many advantages; we see buyers being able to put down less of a deposit, and the mortgage and rent combined is comparable to the rent they would have paid in the private rented sector and of course they can purchase more shares if they want to until they own 100%. Shared ownership is an integral part of the range of purchase options Pobl Living are able to offer customers; whether it’s shared ownership, Help to Buy Wales or buying outright, we’re sure that we’ve got a product that will suit the majority of home buyers.” Pam Bickel, Head of Sales at Pobl

What is shared ownership?

Shared ownership is our most flexible purchase option; you can choose how much of a property you buy and buy more if you want to as and when it’s convenient for you.

Typically, you buy a share of between 50-70% of a property and pay a rent on the part that you don’t own. The higher the share you purchase, the less rent you will have to pay. Over time you have the option to increase your shares if you can afford to do so, this is called staircasing.

Dependent on the development, we can either offer our own Shared ownership scheme or the Welsh Government’s Shared Ownership Wales initiative. Shared ownership is a great way of getting your foot onto the property ladder and we’re passionate about promoting the benefits of shared ownership to more buyers in Wales.