Housing Association/Shared Ownership

Hi, all. Not sure if this is the appropriate place for this question, but it is ultimately to do with visa restrictions....

DH and I are feeling extremely discouraged about buying a house. We pay a ton of money in rent every month, but we can't qualify for a mortgage because we don't earn enough and live in an area where the AVERAGE house price is in excess of 600K.... So we've been looking into different schemes including "shared ownership." But DH says that in order to get that ball rolling we have to be on the Housing Association list. As far as I can tell, I absolutely can't be on that list because I won't have ILR for nearly two years.

So a couple of questions to put out there: has anyone done any research into shared ownership, and do you truly have to be registered with the housing authorities in order to do it? And is DH allowed to put HIS name only on the list even though he's married to someone who is expressly not allowed to be on it? And if it was acceptable to just have his name on the list, wouldn't it then be imposible for us to own the house (or rather part-own it) together?

We so desperately want to get our foot on the blooming property ladder, but until I finish my MA, there's no way I can move out of commuting distance from London, which means we can't just up and move somewhere in Yorkshire or something where housing is more reasonable....

Your husband is perfectly able to join a housing association list.  They'll factor your income into his application to determine your need-basis for a housing assocation home, but he's perfectly w/i his right to join a list.  In some councils, such as Edinburgh, all housing associations use the same application, together with those applying for council housing.  In other councils, like Glasgow, ALL 'social' housing is now handled by a housing association; there's no such thing as 'council' housing a/more as the ownership and control has all been given over to one or more housing associations.

Depending on the demand for affordable rented housing, shared ownership is being offered less and less in some areas, and can be close to non-existent in certain councils (Edinburgh, for example) where the average price of a two-bedroom 'home' far exceeds the average wage.  This ensures that the stock of social housing will remain available for rent.  In some councils, the right to buy has been suspended for a specified period or even indefinitely due to extreme shortage of affordable rent properties.  It is possible to buy s/one's 'share' privately, but at full-market value, which puts it out of the range of most of those who are finding it hard to get on the property ladder.  You may find such shared ownership properties for sale in your local property pages. 

Waits can be VERY, VERY long for any susbsidised housing in urban areas such as London if you are not considered homeless or in exigent need, so don't give up and don't stop pursuing other options! 

Hth.