You may own half or a large share of a property under shared ownership, but you will still have responsibilities when it comes to the maintenance of the property.

Shared ownership is not like renting in the sense that the housing association will not be responsible for things that go wrong with the property, but neither will you be left to your own devices.

What Your Responsibilities Will Be

You will not be expected to cover the cost of all of the repairs and refurbishments to the property that need doing. The housing association which owns part of the property will be responsible for maintaining the structure of the house. If for example the roof on your property needs repairing, this will be down to the housing association. If however you need a wall plastered inside your home, this will be down to you. You could look at it as you are responsible for the inside of the property and them the outside.

Some housing associations will charge a yearly service charge to cover the cost of any repairs that they might need to carry out, this will normally be broken down into monthly payments.

Your responsibilities will be similar to those if you were renting a property, but you will also have some flexibility in terms of what you can do to the property. It will be your responsibility to pay the rent, make sure the building is insured, keep the property in good repair, to seek permission before you alter the structure of the property and to allow the association reasonable access to the property if they give you adequate notice. It will also be expected that you do not undertake in any anti-social behaviour while in the property and that you will give the association notice if you intend to sell your share in the house.

When you sign the contract for the property it will say what your role and responsibilities are when living in your home. It is important that you read the small print carefully and if there is anything you are not happy with you query it before signing the contract.

The Responsibilities of the Housing Association

You will not be the only one that holds responsibilities when it comes to your shared ownership property. The housing association will also need to play their part and stick to their end of the deal. It may in practice seem like you have a landlord when you buy with a housing association but this is not the case. They will need to leave you in peace and allow you to live in the property independently.

They will not be allowed to show up unexpectedly and expect to gain access to your home. They like you will need to give advance warning if they wish to visit the property. They will also need to alert you if they wish to sell their share in the property for any reason. You contract will also list what your local housing association’s responsibilities will be and what elements of the property they are responsible for.

If You Want To Make Improvements

You will be responsible for the quality of any improvements you want to carry out on the property. If you wish to carry out any work to the property or any improvements you will need written permission from the housing association to do so. Unless your requests are unreasonable they should be willing to let you carry out the work, especially if it will improve the condition of the property, as this will increase its value.

You may stumble into trouble though if you wish to extend the property as this could cause a dispute as to who owns what and how this changes the value of the property.

When buying into a shared ownership property you may feel like you are still bound by the restrictions of renting because you only own half of the property and to some extent are answerable to the housing association. In practice though a housing association will not interfere in the day to day running of your home and it will feel like your own.