Jargon Buster

Eligible

are able to/allowed to

Equity

the market value of your home minus the outstanding amount you have to pay on your mortgage

HomeBuy

a government scheme to help make home ownership more affordable

HomeBuy Agent

my4walls arranges HomeBuy properties for West and North Yorkshire and Humberside

Independent Mortgage Advisor

a professional who will advise you how much money you are able to borrow to buy a house

Intermediate Rent

where you pay a reduced rent on a new-build home, enabling you to save for a deposit and then purchase the property at a later date

K

thousand, as in £60,000

Key Worker

clinical staff (doctors/nurses etc), people who worked in the armed forces or the fire or police services, social workers and some others. See the FAQs for full details

Leasehold

the right to own, occupy and use a property for a long period of time

Local Authority

your local council or local government

Market value

when something is bought or sold at a competetive price at the time of buying or selling

Mortgage

a document which shows that you have borrowed money and agree to pay the money back to your mortgage lender over a certain time period of time

Mortgage Advisor

a professional who can help you work out what you are able to afford to buy or rent

Mortgage Rescue

This is where my4walls pays off a proportion of your mortgage for you or pays your mortgage back completely and you pay money to my4walls at an affordable level for you. (Full terms and conditions apply.)

Open market

in our case, the open market refers to the property market where everyone can buy, sell and rent houses in, whatever their circumstances

Priority need

we class pregnant women, someone with dependant children or someone who is vulnerable because of old age or a physical or mental impairment as being of priority need

Private developer

a company or business who build properties

Repossessed

if you get behind on your mortgage payments, your mortgage lender may get possession of your home

Section 106 Agreement

where Local Authorities give planning permission to private developers but set a restriction that some of the properties have to be sold at a discounted price through housing associations

Service charge

a set amount of money to cover the upkeep of communal areas which you might need to pay if you live in a flat or apartment

Shared ownership

where you own part of the property and the landlord (or housing association) owns the other part

Staircasing

where you increase the share you own in your home bit by bit, until you own 100 per cent of the property

Stamp Duty

the tax that you have to pay when you buy a house

Vendor

the seller of the property