The very start of the shared ownership journey can vary for person to person, you could be really clued up on the scheme having done all your research, signed up for property alerts and already have your finances in order or you could just be discovering shared ownership and hearing about it for the first time.
For Dan and Olivia, now happily living in their new home at Helios Park, their journey started after a long 8 years of privately renting. They discovered shared ownership through a friend who had recently bought with the scheme and they began searching new homes online and researching shared ownership providers. After finding Helios Park, Dan and Olivia knew this development with Sovereign was perfect for them and they could finally stop renting and take the first step onto the property ladder!
The best places to live
For us, the shared ownership journey starts with choosing the best places to live for our customers. Sovereign have built up strong relationships with developers and have been working with some for many years. Sovereign’s Development team work behind the scenes, supporting the build of our homes and making sure they will meet the standard which we expect. There are many muddy site visits, early morning meetings in ‘shipping-container’ site offices, hundreds of un-rolled floorplans across tables, high-vis jackets and hard hats seeing the process through from field to family home.
Their perfect match
When searching for their home, Dan and Olivia registered their interest with Sovereign and spoke with a sales advisor who gave them a list of steps to follow in order to be ready for when applications opened for their development. In Spring 2020, Dan and Olivia found their match and reserved their home in May with their Sales Consultant for the site, Charlotte. The Sales Consultant for your development will become one of your main contacts on your shared ownership journey and will be with you from your initial enquiry to sharing in your excitement when receiving your keys on moving day!
Dan and Olivia filled out their application form, took their financial assessment and waited until they received the good news from Charlotte that they had been successful. Once their new home was reserved Dan and Olivia entered the legal stage of a home purchase called 'Conveyancing', this is where our Completions Co-ordinators work with yours and Soveriegn's solicitors to progress the sale of your home. The mortgage offer was granted, they gave the authority to exchange and the sale was legally bound - meaning their longed for home was finally theirs!
Worth the wait
Depending on the stage of build and time of reservation, you could exchange a while before you get handed the keys, but the comfort in that is the home is finally yours! For Dan and Olivia, who reserved in May, there was a little while until they finally were handed their keys by Charlotte. All they could do was put their feet up and relax whilst the builders made the finishing touches to their home and get busy planning interior design ideas, shopping for furniture and booking removal vans!
As soon as their home was ready, and the Sales Consultant had the keys from the developer, Olivia and Dan were contacted right away to organise their completion day! On the day, we let you soak up your new home by taking a few minutes to explore what you worked so hard for before going through the last few documents to sign and showing you all the important parts like where the gas and electric meters are, how to turn on your heating and the location of the stop-cock!
It's not goodbye
From here, your shared ownership journey moves to being your home-ownership journey, with a dedicated housing officer and team to support you now you’re settled in. With new build homes, depending on when you complete, you have up to 12 months warranty with the builder, reporting any defects to Sovereign within that time scale. You may also have warranties with the white goods in the property. When the defect period is near the end, somebody from Sovereign will contact you to arrange an end-of-defects inspection.
From field to family home
From our sales consultants and sales progressors to sales advisors and completion-coordinators, we do our best to make everything as clear as possible to our customers from start to finish, take away any of the stress and ensure you understand the shared ownership process. We are passionate about our homes and love watching them being built from just an empty field into a family home. Dan and Olivia have been happily settling into their new home since October 2020, you can read more about their shared ownership journey here and see how they’ve settled in.
To read more about the shared ownership journey, the ins and outs of finances, completions and reservations, click here.