‘It was sold as a dream but became a nightmare’

Touted as a stepping stone to getting on the property ladder, shared possession was designed to be one reply to a tricky housing market.

However behind the hope lies a rising wave of discontent, as complaints to the housing watchdog – over repairs, prices and promoting – have soared.

“We had not one of the rights of house owners, and all of the obligations of renters,” stated Diana, who collectively together with her husband Chris, purchased a shared possession property in east London in February 2020.

Shared ownership schemes contain buying a share of a property and paying hire on the remaining.

However the couple determined to promote in 2021 after discovering it “traumatic”.

They stated they needed to attempt to promote by what is called a nomination interval throughout which the housing affiliation or landlord has the unique proper to discover a purchaser for the shared possession house.

Two years later and £10,000 worse off, after the property was re-evaluated at lower than what they paid, they finally bought.

“It is a large con and we felt trapped,” stated Diana.

“Not with the ability to promote was a trauma.”

They’ve gone again to non-public renting as a result of, in keeping with Chris, it’s “a lot less complicated and simpler”.

Now out of it, Diana says she wouldn’t advocate the scheme as a result of “they promote it to you as a dream however then it grew to become a nightmare”.

There are presently about 250,000 shared possession households in England, in keeping with figures.

In 2019-20 there have been about 202,000, in keeping with the English Housing Survey.

Though more shared ownership properties were being delivered year on year, the criticism figures, obtained through a BBC Freedom Of Data (FOI) Act request, present shared possession complaints have risen by virtually 400% prior to now 5 years, and are persevering with to rise.

The FOI additionally discovered:

• There was a fast improve within the variety of complaints the ombudsman has obtained regarding shared possession tenures; in 2024 it obtained 1,564 – virtually 5 occasions the 324 obtained in 2020
• Shared possession complaints have risen sooner than wider social housing ones
• Of the complaints made during the last 5 years, 44% had been primarily based in London, and the South East having the second highest quantity

The commonest complaints relate to repairs, prices, managing relations, and shifting and promoting properties.

Kathy purchased a 40% share with a good friend in a two-bedroom flat in north London in 2017. She pays a subsidised hire on the remaining 60%.

“I haven’t got the financial institution of mum and pa. It was both that or put most of my wage into hire and have this sense that I might by no means be on the property ladder or have my very own house,” stated the 44-year-old.

“I really like my flat and the neighborhood. When it comes to the place the constructing is situated and the way shut it’s to London, these are all wonderful issues.

“But it surely has mega downsides, notably relating to funds and transparency and the extent of service that we obtain from the housing supplier.”

Prior to now eight years, she stated her prices had elevated a lot, together with greater than £200 a month rise in service prices, that she has needed to get a lodger and can’t afford to extend her share.

Repairs take years to finish, she stated, including a buzzer was damaged for a yr and a sewage system has been defective since 2012.

“The sewage was overflowing and flowing straight into the river, and going into the kids’s playground. It stank in summertime,” she stated.

“They despatched out all these consultants they usually charged the whole lot to us. The sewage system was not match for objective so why are we paying?”

Kathy’s housing affiliation just isn’t being named as a result of her neighbours are scared it should devalue the property.

“It is not reasonably priced anymore. I’ve to have a lodger dwell in my home simply to assist me pay and hold my head above water,” Kathy added.

“My long-term plan is to promote – I can not proceed like this.”

Fatima purchased a shared possession property in 2019 after being evicted from two rental properties when her two youngsters had been youthful.

As a single mum or dad, she stated there was “no approach” she would have been in a position to get a mortgage so shared possession was “the one choice”.

Now “in a bind” on account of an 80% improve in service prices inside the final yr, Fatima, together with others within the block, complained and stated they might not pay the rise till it had been investigated.

Repairs have been a problem for a very long time, she stated. When the BBC filmed at her flat, the communal corridors had been heated to 31C (88F) and the carry was damaged.

“The largest concern is all of the heating prices that go into our service prices are heating the communal hallways. The constructing is cooking from the within.”

She stated the shared possession mannequin was an “in-between choice which may work if there weren’t so many corporations concerned”.

There was a freeholder who had appointed a managing agent, in addition to a housing affiliation, she stated.

“We do not know who to go to, the whole lot takes so lengthy.”

Fatima added: “I’ve an asset but when it is unsellable and unaffordable it isn’t an asset.

“It is all the time on my thoughts. It causes plenty of nervousness.”

Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway stated the “inherent complexities” of shared possession introduced challenges to landlords and residents.

“Shared possession has been round for many years, and there are nonetheless some inequities with the best way during which it really works that’s driving complaints to us,” he stated.

He described a “mismatch” between the expectation and understanding of the shared proprietor and the owner.

“While it may possibly begin off as smiles, in a short time we are able to see that relationship break down.”

He added the variety of events concerned may very well be “miserable for a shared proprietor; that feeling of being handed from pillar to put up and being fobbed off at completely different components of the method”.

“I may also see from a landlord’s perspective they do not essentially all the time have all the levers of their fingers to resolve the difficulty,” he stated.

“Put all of that collectively and you have got an ideal storm – and that is what lands on our desks.”

He added that landlords should enhance communication and transparency, and the federal government ought to deal with “elementary inequities in the best way during which shared possession is designed”.

The Shared Possession Council, a cross-sector initiative, stated whereas it believed shared possession had a “key function to play” in addressing housing wants, it recognised it “has not all the time labored in addition to it ought to for everybody” and “key challenges” have to be addressed.

“We take the considerations raised by the Housing Ombudsman and shared house owners very severely,” it added.

It has not too long ago developed a code to “standardise greatest practices and shopper safety” guaranteeing, it says, “transparency, equity, and improved assist for shared house owners in advertising, buying and administration of houses”.

However Timea Szabo from the marketing campaign group Shared House owners community says it’s “too little, too late”.

“It is a sector that has persistently didn’t adjust to their statutory obligations – among the housing suppliers who again the code have a number of maladministration findings to their title,” she stated.

“We don’t assume {that a} voluntary code of follow may have a lot of an affect on their day-to-day expertise.”

Figures shared completely with the BBC present 83 of 140 (59%) of Shared House owners members surveyed in February 2025 have struggled to promote their share, for causes together with unresolved constructing issues of safety, excessive service prices, and a brief lease that the shared proprietor can not legally prolong.

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Native Authorities spokesperson stated it was “conscious of the challenges confronted by some who’ve entered the scheme”.

The spokesperson added the federal government was “contemplating what extra may be accomplished to enhance the expertise of shared house owners, alongside consulting this yr on implementing measures to drive up transparency of service prices, guaranteeing leaseholders and tenants can higher maintain their landlords to account”.