I bought my first home at 53 with my daughter – I couldn’t have done it alone

Vili Vangelova, 53, had long wanted to get on the property ladder, but being a single parent to daughter, Elena Ivanova, made this feel like an impossible dream. “I’d spent years bringing Elena up on one income,” she says. “I wasn’t able to work full time for a long time, and we were living pay cheque to pay cheque. Homeownership just didn’t feel possible for someone in my position.” Shorts But, when Elena turned 21 and got a full-time job working in audit, Vili, an NHS nurse, saw an opportunity for them to move out of the one-bedroom flat in Haringey that they had rented for 15 years and team up together to purchase their own home. “We needed Elena’s income to get on the scheme,” says Vili. “I could manage all the bills and repayments once we are on it.” The pair decided on a two-bedroom shared ownership flat at L&Q at Alexandra Gate inNorth London. They purchased a 25 per cent share, worth £135,625, with a deposit of £13,600 and a 10 per cent mortgage on the remainder. The property’s total value is £542,500 so, for the remaining 75 per cent, they pay a monthly rent of £440.78. The service charge is £337.59, and their repayment mortgage is £749.38, making their total outgoings £1,527.75. With service charges, mortgage repayments and rent, the mother and daughter pay a monthly total of around £1,500 (Photo: Christopher Andreou/L&Q) The rent on their one-bedroom flat was a similar amount, at around £1,500, while Vili says torent a two-bedroom would have been £500 more. “If I had a choice, I wouldn’t go withshared ownership, but I had no choice,” says Vili. “Even if I lose this money, I’m losing less than £2,000 a month. I could have afforded a studio flat with shared ownership on my own, but, together, we could get a two-bedroom. It was an informed decision for us.” Vili pays all of the bills, provided the deposit and funds the mortgage, but the mother anddaughter purchased the property in both their names, as a joint income of £65,000 wasneeded to be eligible for the scheme and this property. “I couldn’t have done this on my own,” says Vili. “But equally, Elena probably wouldn’t havebeen looking to buy at 21 by herself either. By doing it together, we’ve both been able to steponto the property ladder much sooner than we otherwise could have.” While Elena pays some money towards groceries, Vili says she “calculated everything basedon what I earn. Elena has a student loan, and I wanted her to concentrate on paying that off.I don’t want her to use her income [for this]”. In terms of the apartment itself, one of the big selling points was that the bedrooms were ofequal size and the kitchen and living room were separate instead of open plan. It is also welllocated for Vili’s work in Edmonton and Elena’s in central London. “We are very different in every way, and it took a lot of negotiation for us to live in peace,” says Vili. “She likes clutter and I don’t. We discussed it all beforehand and know the boundaries.” “We both agreed that if we were going to do this, it had to work for both of us,” Elena says. “We’re two generations with different lifestyles, so finding somewhere we were both excitedabout was really important.” The pair don’t have a formal contract in place, but Vili says: “With Elena, the good thing isthat whatever she says, that is [it]. Once we said this is how it is and agreed, it is more thanwritten and a signed piece of paper. We have a different bond, built on trust and respect. Ifone of us says one thing, it will happen.” In the future, Vili knows that it’s likely Elena won’t want to live with her and she is alreadymaking plans. “I can continue paying for the flat whatever [happens]; I can get a student in orsomeone else to live with me,” she says. “In the future, I want to find a quiet property outside London, and I’ll try and sell, although I know that might be difficult as it’s shared ownership.” Whatever the future holds, Vili has no regrets and would definitely recommend it to otherrenters. “When I share with friends that we’ve done this, they say they didn’t realise it waspossible,” she says. “I have one friend in a similar position, and they are also researchingbuying with their children.” For Elena too, it feels like a positive move: “People often think buying with a parent meansyou’ve somehow gone backwards, but for us it was the complete opposite. It’s given usindependence, security and somewhere we’re both proud to call home.”