Craig and Samantha, Dartford

Craig and Samantha have lived in Dartford most of their lives. Craig also works locally, selling car parts on telesales. Samantha is a part-time waitress in nearby Greenwich. Together with 7 year old Paige, they were living with Craig’s parents in extremely overcrowded conditions, compounded by baby Ronnie’s arrival in August last year. Since late May this year things have changed considerably and Craig and Samantha are now part-owners of a three bedroom house with a garden, close to Paige’s school and ten minutes walk from shops in Dartford town centre.

Craig and Samantha applied to Moat in November 2001 when Ronnie was only three months old. They purchased their property with assistance from the DIYSO scheme, funded in partnership with Dartford Borough Council. They couldn’t afford to buy a property outright. With this scheme they were able to purchase 35% of the £110,000 property value. They are shared owners of the property with Moat and pay an affordable rent on the remaining equity. “We couldn’t get a big enough mortgage to buy a property,” says Samantha. “This would have been impossible without help from the Moat scheme.”

Having applied to Moat for affordable home ownership, things happened very quickly and Craig and Samantha moved into their home at the end of May 2002. “It only took about three months,” says Samantha, “We found a house we liked nearly straight away via an estate agent and now we are really settled and happy.” She continued to say, “This has made such a big difference. The house is just lovely, the children have their own bedrooms and can play in the garden. The road where we live is nice and quiet, it wasn’t where we were before."

Please be aware that the market value of properties can go down as well as up.

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or any other debt secured on it.