A research report examining current practices of shared ownership in the UK and co-authored by Kent housing law expert Professor Helen Carr, is being launched in the House of Lords today (Thursday).<\/p>\n
The report, Exploring experiences of shared ownership housing: reconciling owning and renting<\/a><\/em>,<\/em><\/a> has been funded by the Leverhulme Trust and has been written in collaboration with Professor Dave Cowan from the University of Bristol Law School and Dr Alison Wallace from the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York. Its launch in the House of Lords will be hosted by The Lord Best OBE.<\/p>\n The research examines how buyers, lenders and providers understand the hybrid model of shared ownership, focusing in particular on how buyers \u2018see\u2019 themselves and on their motivations for buying.<\/p>\n The report makes recommendations for managing and improving communications between the various parties and suggests practical changes to address leasehold problems.<\/p>\n Professor Carr said: \u2018Shared ownership is a really important policy tool for delivering affordable housing. It is\u00a0important\u00a0that providers get it right. \u00a0Our research found that shared ownership offers real promise to a significant number of households but it is experienced in complex and contradictory ways. Significant reforms to law, policy and practice are required to put the ownership where it belongs in the shared ownership product.\u2019<\/p>\n Professor Carr\u2019s research interests lie primarily in the fields of housing, social welfare and public law. She is interested in the regulation of the poor especially the homeless, the asylum seeker, the anti-social and those in need of care. Professor Carr is also working with the Welsh Government on the reform of housing law<\/a>.<\/p>\n Previous research reports authored by Professor Carr include Renting Homes in Wales<\/em> for the Law Commission in 2013 and Tenure Rights and Responsibilities<\/a><\/em>, a programme paper for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Housing Market Taskforce written in collaboration with Professor Cowan, Dr Wallace and Professor Caroline Hunter in 2010.<\/p>\n Professor Carr\u2019s most recent article, written in collaboration with Professor Cowan, is The Social Tenant, the Law and the UK’s Politics of Austerity<\/a><\/em>, published by O\u00f1ati Socio-legal Series. She is currently completing a book on homelessness with Professor Caroline Hunter at York\u00a0University.<\/p>\n In addition to teaching commitments at Kent Law School, Professor Carr is a part time judge with the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) and has recently been appointed to a Civil Justice Council working party on\u00a0property\u00a0disputes. \u00a0For more details about Professor Carr\u2019s research and publications, please visit her staff profile page<\/a>.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Following the launch of the report in the House Of Lords, the following article was published by Hannah Fearn on The Guardian’s<\/em> website: ‘Shared ownership homes leave buyers frustrated and out of pocket<\/a>‘<\/p>\n