Owning your own home

Has anyone on here got any experience on shared ownership?

Yeah we've done it. Have been in this flat for seven years. Housing association is L+Q. No more or less problems than other buildings in this area which are different tenures. We have a nice two bed place in Bermondsey next to a park, which we would not have been able to afford outright back then, and certainly couldn't now that the area is so desirable. We haven't staircased or anything like that. We have two kids now and are looking to move on but stay in the area. Where we can go to is depending on a few factors, work and contracts etc., but we are starting to look at ex-council 3 bed flats, but even they are still a bit beyond us.

It's worked well for us, but I am fairly active in keeping the building up to scratch to be honest. I'm the admin of our block's facebook group which has actually been very good in fostering a bit of community here, long before the lockdown. L+Q do eventually get around to repairs but I'm happy to do them myself and not let the situation get worse. Examples are painting scuffs on communal areas, fixing the lock on the bin room door, cleaning the communal yard up out the back, and so on. But I hear from other people in private blocks and they have the same issues with their management companies.

It's better than private renting. Our rent is stable and linked to the RPI rate. Our block is a mixed tenure (council, shared ownership, market rent, outright owners) and any problems are not confined to any one tenure. The market rent three beds on the top floor are probably the most long term problematic with noise, dumping bulk waste in the bin room (high tenant turnover), and so on. We have had some issues of late with one council tenant and weed smoke floating into the upper floor balconies, which was probably always there but only brought into focus when people are working from home and have their doors open during the day.

(thanks for the heads up @T4NY4)