A minimum investment of 5% of the property purchase cost is required.
We don’t have a minimum household income per se, however, the rent of your property should not exceed 33% of your annual income. The deposit amount and other checks and costs also determine your affordability, besides income.
We’ll need to know:
How much money you have for a deposit (Minimum of 5% for properties under £300,000 and minimum of 10% for properties over £300,000)
Sole or Joint Application
Your annual and household income
Your credit report (We require an Experian credit report)
If you’ve been declared bankrupt or defaulted payments
We may also ask you for some additional information depending on your personal circumstances.
It is important to note that when calculating your annual salary and household income, we do not include any government benefits received.
We conduct due diligence on each Investor looking to invest in the property with you:
The Investor will have to pass our Compliance checks and our knowledge test before investing. As an FCA regulated business we are required to carry out the necessary due diligence checks and understand the investors risk appetite, to ensure the investor meets the FCA investment criteria. If the investor does not pass these or if we have any concerns while carrying out these checks, we are within our right to refuse to do business with the party in question.
We comply with Anti-Money Laundering regulations and ensure our due diligence checks are robust to mitigate any risk.
No. Mortgages are debt based financial products, which is usually reflected on your credit record. With us, you’re not borrowing money. Instead, your home is partially owned by you and the remainder by our community of investors.
Unlike a mortgage, you are not obligated to repay the full cost (plus interest) of the property over a period of time.
You will however be required to pay rent to the investors, on the share that you don’t own.
No, our product allows you to remain debt free.
Unlike the shared ownership schemes, if you choose to sell your home, your property can be sold in the normal way on the open market, without restrictions some of the shared ownership schemes have. For example:
No ‘right to first refusal'. Generally shared ownership providers have first refusal to try to sell your house before you are permitted to market your house on the open market. Their pool of suitable investors is usually limited and as such this often results in a delay to your sale process.
No additional restrictions on your buyer. A number of shared ownership providers will only sell your property to individuals who meet their strict eligibility criteria, which is in addition to the usual criteria placed on buyers from their mortgage lender. To make matters worse, there are a limited number of mortgage lenders willing to loan on shared ownership properties.
Limited Shared Ownership Stock. There are currently only a small number of shared ownership properties available to purchase in the property market. However, with our CrowdToLive® product you are able to apply with most properties currently listed for sale in the open market.
Leasehold. Most Shared ownership properties whether a house or a flat are leasehold. The CrowdToLive® scheme gives you the option of purchasing a freehold property on the open market.
Subletting. Subletting is usually not allowed under the terms of a Shared Ownership lease. CrowdToLive® does not allow subletting under any circumstances. This is based on the provision that you are responsible for the rent. This activity is prohibited.
Suitability. We acknowledge that in some cases Shared Ownership might be a better fit than our CrowdToLive® scheme.
We are a team of professionals that believe in offering alternative solutions to conventional debt financing, we continue to build innovative solutions and challenge the status quo. We are regulated by the FCA.
Elite Capital and Management Services Limited is a UK based company, that owns and operates the CrowdToLive® Scheme.
Elite Capital and Management Services Limited are regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority (Reference Number: 822039).
We will review all freehold properties where the Purchase Cost is below £500,000. We look at several factors, these include but are not limited to:
Yes. This is your home so you can paint the walls, change the carpet and put up your favourite pictures! We call these aesthetic changes.
For any more substantial alterations that will impact the value of the property, such as extension, loft conversion... you would need to seek the prior approval of your other investors.
Yes, you are able to put an offer on a property. Once the offer is accepted you will need to give us the estate agents details, and we will take it from here and request a memorandum of sale from them. This will then start the process of purchasing your dream home.
You and the Company would own the property together based on your respective share, (investors will purchase shares in a Company that will co-own the property with you). Both names would be entered in the Land Registry and the percentage of ownership recorded.
No, this is up to you. You just need to have a minimum of 5% of the Purchase Cost.
We work out your home-buying budget using information like your household income and the amount you’ve saved for a deposit. Where a bank uses this information to work out how much to let you borrow, we use it to work out how much you can afford to pay in rent. This could mean that you can afford a nicer home in an area you actually want to live in.
Investors that are looking to invest in the UK property market. Most of our investors are looking for an alternative to the conventional buy to let market.
You would own the property, as well as the Company (investors will purchase shares in a Company that will co-own the property with you). Both names would be entered in the Land Registry and the percentage of ownership recorded.
Registering and sharing your project with us is totally free. Once you have selected your home and the seller has accepted the company offer, we will require you to send your deposit to your e-wallet on the platform. We will also ask you to pay for a house survey to ensure that the property does not have any major defects and that the selling price is within market value.
It is important to note that the cost of the house survey is non-refundable.
A project Champion (you), is required to pay:
Prior to purchase
The property Purchase Cost (“Purchase Cost”) involves:
Yes, annually you will pay:
We will arrange the Insurance policy and the Gas safety check on your behalf and provide you with the invoice to pay annually.
Buildings insurance protects against things that go wrong and Gas safety checks are to ensure that your property is safe for you to live in.
As you are living in the property we believe it is fair to make this your responsibility.
As you will live in the property, you will be responsible for the maintenance.
You split this cost with the other investors, according to how much of the home you own. For example, if you buy 5% of the home, you only pay 5% of the Stamp Duty.
Stamp Duty is a tax paid to the government every time a home is bought. It’s worked out as a percentage of the home’s value.
Unfortunately not. Because you’re buying a home with our investors via a Limited Liability Company, the government charges a higher tax rate.
But, you only pay Stamp Duty in proportion to your ownership. For example, if you start with 5% ownership, you only pay 5% of the Stamp Duty
We work out your rent by looking at similar homes in the same area. This is the normal way to determine rent for any home.
Remember, you only pay rent on the amount of the home you don’t yet own.
Example: If you own 5% of a home and the rent is £1,000 per month, you only pay 95% of the rent. In this example, your rent will be £950 per month.
If you do not pay your rent it is likely that you will be evicted and your home will be sold. Once the property is sold, deductions will be made from your share of the property before any capital is returned back to you, if any.
If at any point you believe that you will be unable to meet your rental payments, we urge you to contact us as soon as possible.
Yes, this product was built to enable you to live in the property as your main residence. Therefore, this product is not meant for buy to let projects.
Yes. Once a year your rent will go up at the rate of CPI (Consumer Price Index) + 0.5% per annum.
Example: Let's say the rent in your first year is £1,000 per month. CPI (Consumer Price Index) is 1%+ 0.5%, then the rent in your second year would be £1,015 per month.
Yes, your rent can go down when you purchase more of your home.
The product is part owned & part rent. You pay rent on the part you don’t yet own.
Although you don’t immediately own 100% of the home, you can treat it as your own and some of the benefits are:
Yes. Every three months you will be given the option, not the obligation, to purchase an additional share of your property. The amount you purchase is up to you, however the minimum amount that can be purchased is £5000. The only limit being, we would not oblige the investors to sell their shares if they are in negative equity (selling their shares at a lower price then they bought them for).
Simply complete the provided form and return it to us for processing. A 3% admin fee will be applied to the purchase amount. For example, if you buy equity worth £5000, the admin fee will be £150.
Yes, this is what we want for you too!
The purchase price is calculated as follows:
sum which is A + B:
Where:- A is the higher of:
(a) the Initial Purchase Value; and
(b) the sum determined by multiplying the Initial Purchase Value by the
index value of the HPI for the month that falls two months before the
month of the Exercise Date, then dividing the product by the index value
of the HPI for the month that falls two months before the date of this
Deed (“HPI Purchase Value”); and
B is 1% of the Initial Purchase Value for each completed year from the date of
this Deed until the Exercise Date (up to a maximum of 10% of the Initial
Purchase Value).
No, there is no limit on how much you can buy every year.
Yes, you will need to provide us with 3 month’s notice to increase your ownership.
In the first 5 years, as long as you continue to pay the agreed rental payments (monthly and on time). The agreement between you and the Investing partner means that nobody can tell you to leave as long as you are paying rent and not breaching the contract. We want you to feel safe and secure.
It is important to note that on each 4th year of your lease agreement, you will be offered the opportunity to renew the lease agreement for a further 5 years (at the end of the current term). If you do not want to renew said lease then the property will be marketed for sale.
If you decide that you would like to renew the said lease, the Investing partner will be offered the opportunity to agree to a 5 year renewal (at the end of the current term).
In the event that the majority of the Investing partner (51%) decides that they do not wish to renew the lease then you will be offered the opportunity to purchase the remainder of the property you do not own.
If you decide not to purchase the remainder of the property you do not own, then the Investing partners share of the property will be offered to other Investors.
In the case that there is no other willing investment party to purchase the remainder of the property you do not own, then the property will be marketed for sale.
The property will be sold, however, you will still be responsible for the property rental until the property is sold.
If you decide that you want to sell the property before the expiry of the lease agreement, we ask you to pay for the property valuation which normally costs about £350.
You will also be solely responsible for other sale associated costs i.e. Legal Estate agent fee’s (this is because you’re initiating the end of the partnership).
For example, if the property is sold for £300,000 and the Estate agent’s and Legal fees cost £5,000, and you own 10% of the Property, you would receive £25,000.
As with all property purchases it is important to know that investing in property involves risks, including loss of capital and illiquidity.
This is not an exhaustive list of risks and you should read the full risk warning alongside the FAQ’s (please read the full risk warning here).
This product is not protected under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
This product offered is not a mortgage, hence, you have none of the protections of MCOB 13.
For further information on what MCOB 13 is, please click here to review the Financial Conduct Authority definition.
Providing great customer service is important to us and as such we do everything we can to prevent complaints occurring. However, we do appreciate that despite our best attempts, sometimes things might go wrong.
If you are unhappy with any aspect of the service we have provided then please email us at customer@CrowdToLive.com or call us on +44 203 542 1452 to tell us how we can help.
What you’ll need to tell us so that we can help you:
We’ll be in touch with you as soon as we can and let you know what will happen next. We’ll try to resolve your complaint within 3 working days of receipt – if we’re unable to do this we will write to you acknowledging that we have received your complaint and the next steps that will be taken. For more complex issues it’s likely that we will need longer to look into what’s happened and we may ask you for further information to help us reach an outcome.
If we are unable to resolve your complaint, then UK Residents can ask the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) to carry out an independent review of your complaint.
You have the right to ask the FOS to review your complaint if we’ve been unable to resolve it within 8 weeks.
If you are unsure whether the FOS will consider your complaint, please contact them directly for advice. The service the FOS provides is free and impartial and contacting them at any stage of your complaint will not affect your legal rights.
The contact details for the FOS are:
The Financial Ombudsman Service
South Quay Plaza
183 Marsh Wall
London
E14 9SR
Telephone Number: +44 (0)300 123 9123 or +44 (0)800 023 4567.
Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk