Be aware

Be aware of clever advertising or ‘too good to be true’ deals offering the full value of your property.

Having looked closely at one particular product that offers ‘full value’, we uncovered that you only receive 70% of your home’s value on completion, the remaining 30%( without any interest paid to you ) is offered to you 10 years later and only if you move out of your home - if you decide to stay, you will have to wait a further 10 years for your final full payment (20 years in total!). This makes the deal much less attractive, especially when factoring in 20 years of inflated rental charges (we were quoted £700 per month on a property valued at £550 per month - which works out at an incredible £36,000 extra in rent by the time you would qualify for your final 30 percent payment).

If you have already entered an inflated rental contract and believe that your rent is significantly higher the going market rent, don’t worry - so long as you have an Assured Short hold Tenant agreement, you have an additional right to refer your rent to the Rent Assessment Committee who will help to reduce your rent appropriately. If the company does not offer an AST agreement you should take independent legal advice before signing anything.

In addition to losses through inflated rental prices, you would also lose any interest that you would have accrued if you had received your payment on completion. Just £15,000 would earn a huge £65,905 in interest over 20 years based on a standard bank account at 6.3% interest.

When we asked if the 30 percent final payment was guaranteed & registered on the land registry so the house could not be sold without our payment or knowledge, the answer was "NO it would be just a side letter"

Always seek independent legal advice (not arranged by the buyers) before entering such a complicated transaction/purchase.