What is Shared Ownership Protection? It is a unique joint ownership agreement and a legally binding document, created by you and your joint owners with a solicitor's help, which sets down the terms and conditions which you must all abide by to cover all the expenses and duties associated with buying and maintaining your property.
It additionally stipulates the procedure to follow should you or any of your joint owners wish to exit the arrangement and what will happen in the event of someone defaulting on their agreed payments. It covers other matters specific to whether you are buying to live in a property or buying to let: please see below.
Click on Shared Ownership Protection or call 0207 112 5388 to ensure you protect your stake in a shared property.
Who is Shared Ownership Protection designed for?
Shared Ownership Protection offers security for all would-be mortgage sharers, whether they are partners, friends or have met through Share A Mortgage. It is unique for a joint ownership agreement in that it combines both a Deed of Trust as well as a Cohabitation Agreement .
The Deed of Trust element concerns how the ownership structure works when mortgage sharing and how beneficial ownership is calculated. The Cohabitation Agreement sets down how mortgage sharers will agree to live together during the course of sharing a mortgage and includes any House Rules which are mutually agreed upon to aid harmonious living. These House Rules can include, for example, any rules about whether partners, children or pets can be brought into the household or whether smoking is to be permitted or not and if so, under what conditions.
Once the Shared Ownership Protection (Joint Ownership Agreement) has been agreed and everyone it concerns has signed it, it cannot be changed unless all parties agree and this is notarised. It is legally binding and is relevant material in the event that a dispute goes as far as the courts.
Does it work differently for Buy to Let customers?
As buy to let joint owners won't be living in the property, there are no House Rules in their joint ownership agreement. Instead, the Shared Ownership Protection's Letting Rules cover all matters associated with tenants and renting which you and your joint owners have agreed. These can include matters such as New Tenancy Agreements, managing the property. monitoring of tenancy, how tenants are found and who conducts due diligence on them, who collects rent and how frequently rent is collected.
What if joint owners can't agree on the Shared Ownership Protection terms?
We understand that it might seem scary at the outset to have to go through, mutually agree and sign a document as comprehensive as the Shared Ownership Protection. We will, however, offer our expertise to make this as painless as possible.
We believe Shared Ownership Protection offers all joint owners the best legal protection against things going wrong in the long run because as many eventualities are thought about and calculated for at the outset. The very act of planning the best ways to live harmoniously, making it crystal clear how ownership is calculated at any point, how anyone can leave the arrangement and the very act of planning and completing a joint ownership agreement can only help harmonious joint ownership.
Share a Mortgage require you to invest in Shared Ownership Protection as a condition of trade with us, to give you as much chance of a positive outcome from sharing a mortgage as reasonably possible.
What if someone breaks the agreed House or Letting Rules?
We have created a Dispute Resolution Procedure, which you can find in the Shared Ownership Protection, which addresses this. Essentially, we encourage people to resolve any problems between themselves in the first instance.
The Dispute Resolution Procedure sets out a Dispute Resolution Letter in which joint owners can set out their dispute formally and request a meeting with joint owners involved to talk about any issues and attempt to solve them.
If joint owners cannot resolve a dispute, they have an Alternative Dispute Resolution Service to help them. The ADRS allows for any disputing party to ask Share a Mortgage to appoint a solicitor trained in mediation to look at the facts of a dispute, allowing all sides to contribute material information for consideration. The solicitor then issues a written judgment which is final and binding on all parties in the dispute. The costs of the ADRS are borne by the joint owners in dispute.
Nothing can stop joint owners from taking each other to court to resolve a dispute, but we counsel against this if at all possible to avoid potentially exorbitant costs, stress and shattering relationships.
What does a Joint Ownership Agreement Cost?
An average cost for a Joint Ownership Agreement from a solicitor would range from £1,000 to £1,500; however the Shared Ownership Protection costs from £299. The Shared Ownership Protection has been created by solicitors and made available to you and your joint owners to complete so you can be sure to know exactly how you'll live with each other.
If you are unsure of the detail to complete in your Joint Ownership Agreement be sure to give us a call on 0333 344 3234 or email us at help@shareamortgage.com.
