BUYING A SHARED OWNERSHIP PROPERTY

If you’ve been dreaming of owning your own home but are feeling overwhelmed by the thought of house prices, then shared ownership schemes might be the solution you’re looking for!

With a shared ownership scheme, you buy a share in a home and pay rent on the remaining part-owned by a housing association. Ultimately, this helps make homeownership more affordable.

By taking the shared ownership route, you'll step onto the property ladder and live in a place you can call home. By owning a share in the property, you'll also benefit from any appreciation in its value in the long term.

The mortgage process can be daunting, but our Independent Finance Advisers have experience in shared ownership purchases. They will advise you on the amount you can borrow, the deposit needed and the monthly mortgage payments. You will also need to consider the rent payable to the housing association. With an IFAs professional guidance, you will feel comfortable that you're not over-stretching your outgoings.

For more information please call 0203 960 1555 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

To help our customers we offer a range of services that complement the moving process. This includes the use of a local solicitor for the legal paperwork relating to your sale or purchase and an associated financial services provider that will assist with any mortgage requirements.

It is your decision whether you choose to use their recommended services. If you decide to use them, we may receive a referral fee. Please note, this will not add any additional costs to the fees quoted directly by the service provider.

In the case of solicitors, we refer sellers and buyers to Cook Taylor Woodhouse. We have worked with CTW for over a decade because they work effectively alongside our Sales Progressors. For conveyancing services, we receive a fee of £280 per completed transaction. For more information about Sales Progression and Conveyancing click either link.

In the case of financial services, we work with independent financial advisers that are available to meet at our branches. If you use their services, we will receive a fee which is typically around £250 and is dependent on the value of the mortgage or related products obtained. For more information about the financial services provided click the link.

Within the following In-House Complaints Procedure, our references to ‘The Organisation’, ‘we’, and ‘us’ represent one or more members of the Robinson Jackson Group of businesses. For a full list of members, please contact the branch you have registered with. In the first instance, branch contact information can be found here.

We are a member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme and aim to provide the highest standards of service to all our customers. This ensures that your interests are safeguarded and that a complaints procedure is in place. The aim of this process is to resolve any issues or concerns as quickly as possible.

All complaints should, in the first instance be directed to the Manager of the Branch you have been dealing with.

Your complaint will be acknowledged within 24 hours but no longer than three working days and investigated thoroughly in accordance with established in-house procedures. We will write to you within 15 working days of receipt of the original complaint.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of our initial investigation, you are provided with a further opportunity to have the complaint reviewed by a Partner/Director. We will write to you within 15 working days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final viewpoint on the matter.

In the event that the final review as detailed above still fails to satisfy your complaint, then you are at liberty to have the matter referred to the Property Ombudsman at the email address listed below. We will submit our file to the Ombudsman on request. You are also entitled to have your complaint referred to the Ombudsman should we fail to deal with matters promptly or do not comply with our in-house complaints procedure within 8 weeks from the date we receive your written notification. Please note that you must do this within 12 months of the date of the final letter.

The Property Ombudsman
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
01722 333 306

https://www.tpos.co.uk

The Robinson Jackson Group is committed to ensuring that it has adequate controls to counter money laundering activities and terrorist financing activities, in line with legislation, paying particular attention to the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and Terrorism Act 2000.

This means we have to undertake due diligence processes to obtain identification and proof of address for all customers. Additionally, we are also required to establish whether there are any beneficial owners on whose behalf the transaction or activity is taking place, therefore, we would request thet you identify anyone who you would consider to be a beneficial owner. Where appropriate, the source of wealth, source of funds, or destination of funds may also be requested. Without this information we will be unable to proceed with marketing a property For Sale or To Let or concluding an agreed purchase or tenancy.

Risk

We are aware that the real estate industry is a target for organised criminals seeking to launder the proceeds of criminal activity, therefore risk sensitive policies and procedures must be established in order to anticipate and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.

A risk sensitive or risk-based approach is where businesses assess the risk of customers laundering who may possibly launder money through their business. Businesses may take the start point that most customers will not launder money but will identify criteria that would indicate a higher risk of money laundering - e.g. where there is no face-to-face meeting to establish identity.

How we manage the risk

The Robinson Jackson Group is committed to staff training in anti-money laundering legislation.

We have Money Laundering Reporting Officers (MLROs) whose responsibility is to receive internal reports. Our MLROs seek to prevent criminal activity by cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities and reporting suspicious activity to the National Crime Agency, as necessary.

Identification procedures

Adherence to the due diligence identification procedures on every occasion will mitigate the risks of our business being used to launder money or fund terrorism.

It is a legal requirement that all vendors, landlords, purchasers, and tenants must be fully identified, and will be subject to an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) check. Additionally, we may need to collect information on and identify other individuals who have an interest in the property who are not considered to be our customers such as anyone who is gifting money towards as deposit.

The cost of the AML check is £30 (including VAT) per person and is non-refundable. 

Rather than traditional methods in which you would have to produce multiple utility bills and a photographic ID, we use an electronic verification system. This system allows us to verify customers from basic details using electronic data, however it is not a credit check of any kind so will have no effect on you or your credit history. To do so, the Credit Referencing Agencies may check the details supplied against any particulars on any database (public or otherwise) to which they have access. They may also use the details in the future to assist other companies for verification purposes. A record of the search will be retained. In certain circumstances additional information may be required.

If for any reason the verification of the customer's identity is done by documents, then a list of acceptable documents is available.

For customers other than private individuals

For customers who are not private individuals, such as incorporated entities, trusts and charities, the business must obtain information that is relevant e.g. company registration number, registered address and evidence that the individuals have the authority to act for the company. We are required to obtain personal information for the beneficiaries of the entity and those in a position of control.

Suspicious activity reporting

A report will be made if a member of staff/the nominated officer thinks that there is a possibility that a person is or has been engaged in money laundering or terrorist financing.

The report will be made to the appropriate Money Laundering Reporting Officer who, should they be satisfied that there are grounds to suspect money laundering or terrorism, must forward a report to the National Crime Agency.

What is suspicious activity?

This list is by no means exhaustive.

New customers:

• Reluctance to provide details of their identity
• Customer is trying to use intermediaries to hide their identity or involvement
• There appears to be no genuine reason for the customer using the business's services

Regular/existing customers:

• Money is paid by a third party who does not appear to be connected with the customer
• The customer requests payment to a third party who has no apparent connection with the customer
• A cash transaction is unusually large and the customer will not disclose the source of funds.
• A transaction is carried out for less than market value with an unconnected person
• Should a report be made then it is important that this fact, and any information about the transaction in question, is kept confidential.

Record keeping

The following records are required to be kept for five years:

Copies of, or references to, the evidence obtained of a customer's identity for five years after the end of the customer relationship, or five years from the date when the transaction was completed; and

Supporting records relating to a customer relationship or occasional transaction for five years from the date when the transaction was completed.

The purpose for keeping these records is to demonstrate the business's compliance with the regulations and to aid any resulting investigations.