How can I move on?

There may come a time when you want to sell your home. Here we tell you how to go about doing that.

 

Selling your property

The rules for selling your home are set out in your lease. There are some variations in the terms of leases, so this section is a general guide.

If you are a shared owner and you want to sell your home, you must tell us and ask us to find a buyer for you. We provide this service through SBHA’s Housing Services Department. Your lease will tell you length of the ‘nomination period’ but it is usually two months.

If we cannot find you a buyer, you can sell your home on the open market.

If you own all the shares in your flat, and we are the landlord, check your lease to see if you have to offer to sell the property to us. This is known as a ‘right of pre-emption’. If not then you can sell your home on the open market.

It is your responsibility to provide a Home Information Pack for purchasers even if SBHA is finding a buyer for you and you need to obtain this before you start to sell the property.

You will normally have to refer questions raised by the buyer’s solicitors to us to answer. Whilst you are a shared owner we are responsible for approving your buyer’s mortgage offer and providing evidence that you have complied with the rules in the lease for selling your home. This approval and confirmation will be contained in a document issued by our solicitors and you will have to pay our solicitor’s costs.

Note: Please note that in the more recent shared ownership leases, when you notify us that you want to sell your property we have the right to require you to sell it back to us (known as ‘a surrender’) instead of finding a buyer for you. We will let you know, during the nomination period, whether we will find you a buyer or buy the property back from you.

If we want to buy the property back the price that we will pay is the market value of your share as determined by the valuer.

 

Valuing your home

If you want to sell your home (and you are still a shared owner), you must have it valued because you cannot sell the property for more than the value of your share in it. You can ask us for a list of approved valuers. You will have to pay the valuation fee, even if you don’t go ahead with the sale.

 

Nominations

The valuer will send us the property value and we will pass this on to you. If you still want to sell your property, you must give us written notice. The nomination period starts when we have your written confirmation.

Viewers will contact you to arrange a convenient time. If they are interested in buying, we will interview them to check that your home is suitable for them and they can afford to buy.

 

Your costs

When you sell you have to pay:

• The total amount required by your mortgage lender to pay off your mortgage.
• Your solicitor’s fees.
• The cost of a Home Information Pack (containing terms of sale, evidence of title, leasehold information, an Energy Performance Certificate and local authority searches). This is your responsibility to provide to purchasers.
• Our solicitor’s fee.
• Our administration fee (for finding your buyer and arranging the sale).
• Pre-sale enquiry fee.

You should check to make sure you will get enough money from the sale to cover all these costs.  The cost of the Home Improvement Pack and pre-sale enquiries are paid up front.

 

How long will it take?

It takes about three months to sell your property from the date you tell us you want to sell after you have seen the valuation. It may take longer if the buyer also has a property to sell.

 

Rent and service charges

You are responsible for paying rent and service charges, until your home is sold, and if there are any arrears on your account you will have to pay these. Your solicitor will need to agree any adjustment on your account with the buyer’s solicitors.

 

Other charges

We provide some additional services that are not covered by your service charge, but for which we incur costs. We make a direct charge for these services as we do not believe other residents should share these costs.

The prices, which may be subject to review, are listed below. Our standard response time is up to ten working days and we will charge more if urgent service is requested and we can provide it. We only provide the service on receiving payment.

 

Pre-sale enquiries pack

When you sell your property, your potential buyer will want to know about the financial liabilities under the lease of your property. This pack includes all the information that is likely to be needed in this regard including the last three

years’ service charge accounts, current estimate of service charge, future planned maintenance/major works, buildings insurance etc. There is a charge for this.

 

Remortgaging or further advance

Your original mortgage lender will already have a first charge on the property. Sometimes, to get a better deal, you will re-mortgage for the same amount with another lender. Your new mortgage must be agreed by us. In exceptional situations our own surveyor may need to visit the property and there will be an extra charge for this.

 

Copies of documents

If you ask us to send you extra copies of documents – such as NHBC warranty we will do so if we can. If we must apply elsewhere (say to the Land Registry) in order to supply you with a document, there will be extra costs. Sometimes copies of documents will be available through your solicitor or mortgage lender, but they may also make a charge.

 

Deed of variation

If you ask us to vary the terms of your lease and we agree, we will require you to pay our legal and administrative costs (see section 5). There may also be your own legal and Land Registry costs to pay (usually through your solicitor).

 

Sub-letting

We will consider sub-letting from shared ownership owners only in exceptional circumstances. We will charge you for considering your request. This is non-refundable.

 

Assignment consent (not re-sale)

If you ask us to agree to add or remove a name from your shared ownership lease but you are not selling your property, we will charge for considering your request. There will be other costs in addition to ours that you will also have to pay, including Land Registry, Notice of Transfer and your own legal costs.

 

Notice of Transfer

When you sell your lease, the new owner is responsible for registering the change of ownership with us. Under the lease, notice of change of owner (and any new mortgage taken out by the new owner) must be issued to our solicitors, who will make a registration charge. Your solicitor will usually ask you for this payment.