Published January 21st, 2021
A Cornish social housing provider has completed on its 500th shared ownership home.
St Austell based Ocean Housing handed over the keys to Amy and Debbie’s new home in Cubert on Friday 15 January 2021. Their house is one of six affordable properties built by Kingsley Homes in the village which are owned and managed by Ocean Housing, comprising four homes for affordable rent and two for shared ownership.
This is the couple’s second home purchased through the shared ownership scheme, which has helped them to move up the property ladder from a flat which they have outgrown, into a house.
Amy said: “I grew up in Cubert. It’s a lovely village with a great mix of coast and countryside, but due to high property prices I didn’t think I’d be able to return to living in such a sought-after area.
“I was so excited to see that some of the houses at the scheme were shared ownership, and due to being local with my family still living in the area, we were lucky enough to be accepted for one of the properties. We have purchased a 75% share, and will pay rent on the other 25%.”
With the UK placed into another lockdown at the beginning of the month, Ocean’s sales coordinator Nicola Mitchell explained that the sale was still able to go ahead despite the coronavirus pandemic.
She said: “Ocean is committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of its clients and employees. We have a secure handover procedure, in accordance with the latest Government guidelines, which means we can safely continue to deliver much needed homes to our buyers, such as Amy and Debbie, whilst keeping everyone in our communities safe.”
The company now has designated appointments for viewings and key handovers, has redesigned its viewing processes to ensure social distancing is allowed for, and introduced additional safety measures such as hand sanitising, and wearing masks and gloves.
Ocean Housing Group’s chief executive, Mark Gardner, said: “I am really proud to have reached such a significant milestone which has helped so many families get their foot on the property ladder. Our team has adapted to new ways of working to make this possible, whilst offering the same level of customer service we strive for.
“Shared ownership is an important part of our programme to provide high quality, affordable homes for people in Cornwall, and we look forward to welcoming others like Amy and Debbie into their new homes in the future.”
For more information about shared ownership opportunities with Ocean Housing, visit oceanhousing.com.
