Houses at Little Lees

Sun 5 May 2013, 21:42

Thanks for your enlightening and factual post, Reg.

Sat 4 May 2013, 22:44

The Housing Needs Survey in 2007 was carried out by Oxford Rural Community Council (not SOHA) and question 16 about suitable tenure had two tick-box options (1) Renting from a Housing Association and (2) Shared Ownership (part buy, part rent). At that time 7 household opted for shared ownership. The typical terms for Shared Ownership were indicated and these were similar to the terms now offered by SOHA.
With Shared Ownership the proportion purchased can be between 40% and 75% of the Open Market Value with the remainder rented from the Housing Association at a subsidised rent considerably less than a private sector equivalent. The houses / flats cannot be sold at a later date for profit but they will remain available for others in need. It seems a good deal to me for those able to raise a suitable mortgage (I know that is not easy) and I hope that people with a Charlbury connection can take up the offer.

Sat 4 May 2013, 13:53

I think that's rather the point - people with a Charlbury connection have first call on them, and Soha is genuinely anxious that they should be filled with Charlbury people. But if no Charlbury people come forward, you can't leave them empty for years while there are people in, say, Finstock who are waiting for a home. (After all, we'd be justly outraged if new-build houses in Finstock were lying empty while Charlbury people were desperate for them.)

That's why I posted the news item in the first place - to try and reach more potential people so that we can hopefully get people with a Charlbury connection in there. If you know other people who might be interested, please, please, do spread the word!

Reg has hit on the problem, I think - a lot has changed since 2007. 95% mortgages are much harder to come by, and people's economic circumstances are such that even a 5% deposit on a £86,250 purchase can be really hard to rustle up. I've forwarded the details to a few Charlbury people who'd benefit from these houses, and sadly they just can't get the finance from the bank. There isn't really much Soha or WODC can do about that, I'm afraid - if anyone's to blame, it's surely the banks and the national Government.

Sat 4 May 2013, 13:01

Hmmm ... you're right, Andrew. That's just "uncool".

Sat 4 May 2013, 12:27

I was also under the impression that the "Exception site" conditions were that the houses must be for Charlbury residents, or offspring of such persons, who therefore had real links to the town. It now looks as if those conditions are to be relaxed in order to fill the houses.

One despairs!!

Fri 3 May 2013, 23:59

I never really twigged about the properties on offer, nor what the arrangements would be, until the link to the terms was posted on the website here. Can someone explain to me whether this is seen as a good deal or not? The local people I know who would like a part-buy scheme would still find these very difficult to afford.

Fri 3 May 2013, 19:47

I think the problem here is with the wording in the survey.
If you ask
'Would you like to have a house in Charlbury on a part buy basis?
Then you will get one response if however SOHA had asked the question
'Some houses on Little Lees are going to be available at a cost of xxx pounds on a part buy basis would you be interested ?
(where the actual price is set on average market values for Charlbury) then you would get a different response.
I think this should be borne in mind in future surveys

Thu 2 May 2013, 09:34

There is a huge difference between ''need'' and ''demand" !!

Wed 1 May 2013, 19:15

The demand for affordable housing in Charlbury has not been proved incorrect, in fact there is probably a need for more. The housing association (SOHA) reports that so far there has only been take-up for one of the four shared equity dwellings from people with a Charlbury connection, although the Housing Needs Survey showed a demand for these. Unfortunately there has been a change in the housing market since the survey was done in 2007. Nobody has been conned.

Wed 1 May 2013, 13:48

I see from the news that as expected the whole reason given for building the houses in Little Lees of a demand for low cost housing in Charlbury have been proved incorrect. Having read the original report it was always evident this was not the case
Once again we have been conned