Co-Ownership rant

I am irate and need to get this out!  Apologies!

We applied for Co-Ownership at the beginning of the month to buy the house we've been renting for the past 2 (almost 3) years.

It took well over 2 months to get all of the paperwork together, etc., because they needed forms from our landlord, the company brokering the sale, our employers, proof of my income since I'm a freelancer, tax returns (which I hadn't filed yet), etc.  It was a MAJOR hassle.

Two days after sending the application in, we got a text asking us to ring them.  They said they needed more information, and that DF's employment paper was 'out of date' (two months old) so needed that re-filled out.  We went home, scanned our bank statements, had his employment form redone, and I hand-delivered the supplementary info two days later to the office.  She checked our reference number in front of me on the computer and said 'this is fine, i'll make sure they get it.'

the next day, DF gets a text that if we don't turn in our supplementary info soon, the application will be closed.  He rang, and they said it was just the automated texts and they had our supplementary info.  Ignore future texts.

Few days later-- a text that our application had been canceled.  He rings again, they tell him to ignore the automated texts.

Today we got a letter through in the post saying that our supplementary information had not been received and our application was canceled.  Our cheque was enclosed as well as our Landlord's Form and the old version of DF's Employer's form.

I am actually seeing red I'm so angry.  Not only are they saying we didn't do what we had confirmed TWICE that we did properly, but they only sent back like a tenth of the application, so if we need to re-apply, it's back to square one with filling all the papers out.

I actually want to choke people.  WHHYYYY are people so incompetent!  It seems like everything we do (open bank accounts, get new mobile accounts, apply for a house, switch the electric company-- EVERYTHING) requires at least 10 exchanges with the company followed by an appeal where we need to explain why they've done things wrong.  It is actually killing me.

Anyone else have any co-ownership horror stories?  I really thought this process would be easy...  

That really sucks and I'm sorry I have no advice. To answer your question though, I've not had any co-ownership horror stories but I have a mile long list of horror stories (of which I won't bore you) in trying to set up the most simplest of transactions or services. The latest, very briefly, was our inability to send my mom some flowers, despite 6 phone calls and a week's time. We gave up.

Last night we went out with a friend and the three of us spent the better part of 5 hours ranting about incompetence and our rage and tears of frustration.

ugh, it really is horrible.

To make things worse, we were just informed that we cannot apply with both of us on the application because I don't have my ILR yet (here on spousal visa).  And because we're legally married, all of the mortgage companies are saying that we BOTH need to be on the mortgage.

So now we have to re-apply for Co-Ownership in just the Other Half's name, and then find a mortgage bank who will give just him the mortgage, until I can put my name on it next summer.

This info would have been lovely from Co-Ownership before we spent 3 months putting it all together.  They were well-aware of my immigration situation.

 

I can sympathize.  We just bought a house, and while it's great now that it's over and we're in it, during the process it was a gigantic pain.

To make things worse, we were just informed that we cannot apply with both of us on the application because I don't have my ILR yet (here on spousal visa).  And because we're legally married, all of the mortgage companies are saying that we BOTH need to be on the mortgage.

It was the same for us, and without both of our incomes being counted we couldn't get a loan for anything within a reasonable distance of where we do most of our work.  Luckily, I was pretty close to ILR when we started the process, so it only delayed is by a few months.

It seems like banks in the UK can only deal with a customer who has lived in the same town for their entire life, only moved once when they left their parents' house, and has worked at the same job since finishing school.

You start throwing things like "freelance" and "immigrant" into the process and banks start getting very nervous, as though all of your evidence is actually part of a complex plot to allow you to somehow steal a UK house and move it back to the US.

I hope your situation clears up soon.

You start throwing things like "freelance" and "immigrant" into the process and banks start getting very nervous, as though all of your evidence is actually part of a complex plot to allow you to somehow steal a UK house and move it back to the US.

You said it!

We have a meeting on Monday afternoon with a mortgage adviser.  Luckily, my earnings weren't really going to be considered on the applications anyway since I make so little (I've been working part-time for a year while I did a full-time postgraduate degree), so actually being approved shouldn't be a major issue...it'll just be finding someone willing to add my name to the mortgage at a later date after I get my ILR.

I guess the only up side of this is that we're buying the house we're already renting, so it's not like phsyically moving will have to be postponed or anything, and it seems like the landlord is happy enough with the current situation, since he continues to get our monthly rent until the sale of the house is final.  It's just more money for him!

But really, I cannot WAIT for it all to be over so we can get the builder in, house fixed up, puppy purchased, etc.  So much to be done!