First Home Scheme/Affordable Housing Scheme - Are you using it?

NicG22

I’m currently using the FHS/Affordable Housing Scheme as it’s called in my county. The process in my county has been that houses have been purpose built solely for this scheme and the only way people can purchase them is through applying for the Affordable Housing Scheme with our local authority. An issue I’m having at present is with the developers. So in my contract I’m not allowed to paint my door, my outside walls, I can’t make my front garden more private with a fence or bush, etc. I’ve also been given no say in the finishings to the house such as carpet colour, tile colour, kitchen colour, etc. In my eyes I’m buying this new build like I would buy any other new build except with an extra loan on top of my mortgage, and I know other developments that have been built by the same company and those buyers got a lot of say in their home finishings even down to shelves in their wardrobes. To me, I feel as though we’re being treated as though this is social housing and you’ll just get what you’re given when at the end of the day we should be treated like any other buyer because at the end of the day, the developers are going to get full pay for these houses so I don’t see the issue in us buyers having a say in what our houses are going to look like when we are literally putting ourselves in debt to buy them, the same as buying any house outright.

If anyone is availing of this scheme or has already availed of this scheme, I’d love to hear your feedback on the process.