Harrogate Borough Council
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Homebuy could help ...
Do
you want to buy your own home but can't quite afford it?
For further information, contact:
Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust,
Leasehold & Lettings Team,
The Garth,
White Rose Avenue,
New Earswick,
York.
YO32 4TZ
Telephone 01904 735011 or 735012
Open Market HomeBuy
What is Open Market HomeBuy and how does it
work?
Open Market HomeBuy is a low-cost government-backed
home-ownership programme that aims to help people to secure 100%
funding of the value of their first home. It is a flexible equity
loan scheme designed to help households earning up to a maximum
household income of £60,000 a year to buy their own homes on
the open market.
There are two Open Market HomeBuy products, which are designed
specifically to help local authority and housing association
tenants, key workers and others who are not able to afford to buy a
suitable home in an area where they live or work without
assistance.
MyChoiceHomeBuy
MyChoiceHomeBuy is part-funded by the Government and is
offered by eight housing associations, each of which is an equity
loan provider in its own right.
Key features:
- you can borrow between 15% and 50% of the property price;
- if you qualified for a mortgage of £120,000, for example, you could buy a property worth up to £240,000, depending on your circumstances;
- you would pay a monthly interest charge on the loan based on up to 1.75% a year, which would then increase by the Retail Price Index plus 1% each year;
- you would be able to obtain a conventional mortgage from a range of lenders;
- you would not have to pay a deposit, though you could if you wanted to.
Ownhome
Ownhome is provided through a partnership between Places
for People and the Co-operative Bank and is part-funded by the
Government. Places for People is an equity loan provider in its own
right.
Key features:
- you can borrow between 20% and 40% of the property price;
- if you qualified for a mortgage of £120,000, for example, you could buy a property worth up to £200,000, depending on your circumstances;
- you would not have to make any payments on the equity loan for the first five years;
- after these five years, you would be charged at a fixed rate of 1.75% interest on the equity loan each year. After a further five years this will increase to a fixed rate of 3.75%;
- you would need to get your conventional mortgage from the Co-operative Bank in the first instance;
- you would not have to pay a deposit, though you could if you wanted to.
For both products, when repaying the equity loans, you would
have to share any increase in the property's value with the equity
loan provider.
How can I apply?
If you are not on Harrogate Borough Council's housing
register, you will need to complete a housing application form.
For MyChoiceHomebuy you will need to apply to Joseph
Rowntree Housing Trust, as the HomeBuy Agent for North Yorkshire,
on free phone: 0800 6335670 or click on the following link to visit
their website:
http://www.jrht.org.uk/Housing+and+care+services/HomeBuy/Open+Market+HomeBuy.htm
For Ownhome you will need to apply to Places for People on:
0845 6070110 or click on the following link: www.ownhome.co.uk.