Couple move from shared to full ownership of Wembley flat

Anindya and Oishani Chowdhury bought their two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment on Matthews Close in December 2015 through Sovereign Network Group’s (SNG) shared ownership scheme.

Mr Chowdhury, 37, 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.”

The couple, who previously rented in West Hampstead, were keen to stay in the area due to nearby friends and family.

They initially purchased a minority share of the property for £149,000, paying around £500 per month in mortgage payments and an additional £1,000 for rent and service charges.

Their total monthly outgoings at the time were approximately £1,500.

The couple said the most challenging part of the journey was saving the deposit needed to buy the property outright.

Mr Chowdhury said: “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.”

The couple managed to save nearly £60,000, which enabled them to purchase the remaining share of their home and cover additional expenses.

They estimated that legal and valuation fees totalled around £5,000.

Now full owners, their monthly costs have risen to £1,900.

Despite the increase, they said they are “thrilled” to own their home outright.

Ms Chowdhury, 36, said: “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.”

The couple worked with SNG’s staircasing team to achieve full ownership.

Mr Chowdhury 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.”

Mr Chowdhury, a financial consultant, and Ms Chowdhury, an editor in the venture capital markets, now plan to save for a larger home and eventually use their current property as an investment.