Back in December 2015 Anindya (37) and Oishani (36) Chowdhury became the proud owners of their two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment at Matthews Close in Wembley. The couple had purchased the property through Sovereign Network Group’s Shared Ownership scheme, this was the start of an extremely happy 10 years living in Wembley, which they love.
Moving from a rented apartment in West Hampstead the couple were keen to remain close to the area as they have friends and family locally. They fell in love with the stylish apartments at Matthews Close, a low-rise apartment block situated within striking distance of train, tube and wonderful amenities.
Talking about Matthews Close Anindya said: “The development is lovely. We have a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with a balcony. There is ample shared outside space here and we have made great friends. We often go for dinner with our neighbours and invite them to ours too – it’s a lovely community here.”
In 2015 the couple purchased a minority stake of the home for £149,000 with a monthly mortgage cost of around £500 and another £1,000 for rental and service charges, bringing the overall total to £1,500 pcm. Saving up for the deposit to buy the home outright was the hardest challenge they had. The couple work hard and are savvy with their money so when they had accumulated a decent sum, they approached SNG to discuss taking the steps to full ownership.
Anindya comments: “Saving for a deposit requires a long-term view, and Oishani and I have been putting money aside for years to take this next step. It might seem a while back, but COVID helped us save considerably. Overnight the virus stopped the daily commute, holidays, day trips and eating out, it all became a thing of the past, so we got really good at saving money. We ended up saving close to £60,000 and this provided us with a solid deposit to take on the remaining share of our home and the supplementary costs required to make the purchase. There are costs for legal services and valuations, which shouldn’t be forgotten, for us this came to around £5,000.”
The couple have had to up their monthly outgoings to £1,900 (from £1,500) but they are thrilled with owning the home outright. Oishani adds: “I can't imagine living anywhere else but Wembley. We are so well connected here with trains and tubes on the doorstep. I love going shopping or just window shopping in the London Designer Outlet and we have a huge choice of restaurants to enjoy with our family and friends. We can eat around the stadium and arena but we often opt for Wembley Central – there are some wonderful Indian restaurants there.”
Working with the SNG staircasing team Anindya and Oishani decided to take the plunge and go for full ownership.
Anindya said: “It’s not a five-minute job to staircase and we needed to have a little patience, but there were no periods when we were left in the dark and not knowing what was happening. We worked closely with the Staircasing and Resales Manager at SNG, Emir, who we got to know quite well through the process and he was good at keeping us informed and helping us with the next steps to keep the process moving. The whole process from start to finish took about three months and it was a smooth operation. We were happy with the support from Sovereign Network Group.”
Anindya, who works as a financial consultant and his wife who works as an editor in the venture capital markets, have plans to save up further and eventually purchase another house and use this one as an investment property. Anindya said: “I can see the benefits of buying another property and having one home for rental. It will support our long-term pension plan and give us another interest and an income.”
For anyone who isn’t sure about whether to consider Shared Ownership, he says: “It’s been brilliant, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend buying a home this way. We want our next home to be significantly larger, but just as lovely as our current apartment has been – so that is our goal – even if it takes another ten years, we will get there.”
If you would like to find out more about staircasing, click here.
If you would like to find out more about Shared Ownership, click here.