Housing Associations | Property Classifieds - Rent, Sell Or Buy For Free

The UK property market has seen a surge in prices in recent years. This is great news for existing home owners who may have seen the value of their property rise a lot but it's not such good news for those looking to get on to the property ladder or to rent a home. With house prices so high it can be hard for people to qualify for a mortgage based on their earnings, scrape together the necessary deposit or to meet mortgage repayments if they can get a mortgage in the first place. It can also have an impact on people looking to rent a flat or a house as rental prices are tied in to the general rises in the home ownership sector. This can be an especially difficult issue for people on low incomes, single buyers/renters and for keyworkers such as nurses and teachers. In many cases, people are turning to housing associations as an alternative to help them take their first steps on the property ladder.

What are housing associations?
Housing associations are organisations that are committed to helping people buy or rent their own homes at an affordable cost. So, for example, the housing association may develop or buy a site of houses and/or flats and then either rent them out at preferential rates or sell them on a shared ownership basis. If the properties are rented then people who qualify for a housing association scheme may well find that they will be paying lower rents than the average market rates.

Many housing associations also offer shared ownership schemes that make it easier for people on low incomes to buy their own homes. These kinds of schemes work by allowing the potential home owner to buy a flat or a house that they otherwise could not afford. In most cases you will not buy the property outright -- hence the term shared ownership -- you will buy a percentage of the property in the standard way (so will have a lower mortgage) and will then pay rent on the percentage of the property that the housing association holds. Percentages vary here and many housing associations will allow you to buy further percentage points in the property as time progresses.

Housing associations are run on a not-for-profit basis in most cases. Rental housing associations have, in some cases, effectively taken over the role of council housing for many local councils. Most associations nowadays work on a committee led basis and all profits that are made from the rental or sale of their properties will be ploughed back into the properties that they manage and/or used to build/buy new properties to expand their portfolio in the future. In most cases committee members will be made up from volunteers and/or paid staff who work for the housing association. A lot of housing associations now will also allow some tenants/property owners to work on their committee. If they ask every tenant/property owner to join the committee then the association will actually be known as a housing co-operative.

Housing associations can raise funds in many different ways. Some, for example, will use finance from financial institutions and others will apply for government or charity grants or will be funded by local councils. Some housing associations -- depending on their size and make-up -- may use a combination of methods to raise the money they need to build, develop and/or maintain their properties and to run their scheme.

Who can qualify for a housing association home?
Each individual housing association will have specific rules that govern who can apply for a home with them and who cannot. It is unlikely -- in most cases -- that you will be allowed to make an application for a housing association home if you earn over a certain amount annually or have savings in excess of a certain sum.

Some housing associations will limit applications to people who live in a certain geographical area. And, many will set restrictions on how long you must have resided in that area before you can qualify for consideration in the scheme. Most housing associations will operate on a waiting list basis -- which will vary in terms of time from association to association -- and you may be expected to wait until an existing tenant moves or an existing property owner decides to sell before you can be approved for a property.

Certain housing associations also set other conditions for membership. They may, for example, only rent or sell their properties to key workers who work in certain professions -- such as nurses and teachers. Others may only use your earnings and/or time spent in the particular town or area as a condition. And, some housing associations will prioritise applications from people who have the greatest housing needs when a property becomes available.