How Affordable Housing can help you get on the property ladder

Getting on the property ladder is fraught with enough difficulties. But if you are self-employed or have irregular earnings, lenders are frequently reluctant to take both incomes into account making it almost impossible to get on to the property ladder.

For many aspiring first-time owners Affordable Housing can be an ideal solution to this dilemma, but getting your application right and dealing with difficult documents can make the difference between success and failure.

Pip and Becky Andersen decided that Affordable Housing was the best option for them. Pip is a self-employed professional athlete with irregular income so lenders would only consider Becky’s income which meant that the amount they could borrow was limited.

Determined to make the Affordable Housing option a reality, Pip and Becky moved back with their parents to save the necessary deposit, but it meant sacrificing both their rented accommodation and their independence. They wanted a solution as quickly as possible. But they realised that they needed some legal advice from people who understood the ins and outs of Affordable Housing.

“As young first time buyers we were nervous about dealing with solicitors. We heard you were easy to talk to and would explain the steps we had to take in a language we could understand.

There were a couple of conditions in the Lease that Joanne spotted might cause problems with our Lender’s valuation and cleared this quickly with our Lender. Having a solicitor that knew this from her experience of dealing with shared ownership leases meant there were no “last minute” problems with our mortgage.”

Establishing the right personal chemistry with clients early on and putting them at their ease is really important.

“We could ask Joanne Stone any question; she didn’t make us feel stupid just because we are young and she explained everything in a language we could understand not legal jargon".

So would you recommend RWK Goodman to others looking at Affordable Housing?

“Definitely! Any first time buyer, especially someone buying under Housing Association scheme would feel comfortable using RWK Goodman. We expected you to know the legal bits, after all you are solicitors, but you went further and made us feel our purchase was just as important to you as us.”