NCHA Case Study: Bakewell Shared Ownership

 

 

Cuddling her son Sydney, she explained “My husband Tom is a postman and I only work part-time because of the children.  For the last 5 years we’ve been living in an old-fashioned cottage riddled with uneven surfaces and steps in awkward places.  We couldn’t decorate let alone make any structural changes.
 
That’s bad enough if you are an adult but our son Gage is disabled.  He was born without a pituitary gland and has to take steroids.  He was also born with a spinal defect resulting in limited mobility.  Luckily he can attend the local school where he has one-to-one help with his speech and mobility.  Like any child, when he gets home he wants to play with his brother but the only garden in the old house was down a steep path.  We couldn’t put up rails to help Gage walk and he was always falling over.  Once he even fell down the cellar, which was an awful fright and I lived on tenterhooks the entire time.
 
Tom was born and bred in Bakewell so we wanted to stay local but houses are so expensive in the Peak Park.  We approached Derbyshire Dales District Council and were put on the waiting list and then we heard about Highfield Drive.  We thought that the price tag of £180,000 was beyond us but with a 50% shared-ownership deal from Nottingham Community Housing Association it meant we only had to find £90,000 mortgage and we pay £170 a month in rent and service charge.
 
This new home doesn’t just mean we are finally on the housing ladder after years of paying out rent,  but even better, it’s perfectly suited to the needs of Gage with no dangerous surfaces, wide access a downstairs toilet and a garden right outside both doors.  In fact, it’s our own little palace.”

 

 

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