FASRE - Rent to Buy

LinziH

Hi
I signed up with Fasre in November 2009 and got my house in July 2010. I since learned over Christmas that FASRE in letterkenny has gone!?!?

I know my contract is with the builder but still??

What happens now? Does anyone know?

thanks Lynsey

LinziH

Hi. I have since spoken to my solicitor and everything is OK. my contract is with the builder so Fasre going wont affect me. my dealings with them were finished. Will only be solicitor and builder now at end of 2 years.

Marigold40

We too, signed up for the R2B scheme but we have not signed contracts between the solicitor and seller!!! We originally started the whole process more than 10 months ago, however, the original house we wanted via the scheme didn't work out. We were just about to get our deposit back and we came across another house that suited us better. Rather than have the deposit returned and we write another chq, we suggested that Fasre simply transfer the money over to the new house. We were then horrified to learn that Fasre are no longer trading!!! We have been left with no information and have no idea how to go about trying to get the money back that we paid out to register for the scheme!! Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Senna

AFAIK a booking deposit isn't transferred to the builder before contacts are exchanged, but did you contact the builder to see if he knows whats going on?
I see on the FASRE wedsite that they have/had offices in Ballybofey and Derry, are these both closed as well?


Letterkenny Office
Tel: 074 91 20470,
Fax:074 91 20473,
Email: letterkenny@fasre.org

Ballybofey Office
Tel: 074 91 75005,
Fax:074 91 75288,
Email: ballybofey@fasre.org

Derry Office
Tel: +44 (0) 28 71 261001,
Fax:+44 (0) 28 7136 0750,
Email: derry@fasre.org

Marigold40

Hi - yes, all offices are closed and have been since before Xmas. We are currently still dealing with the builder as it was he who rang us and told us that Fasre had ceased trading!!! He just received a letter from them saying that wef 31st December, they would be no longer in business. We weren't notified at all and have heard not a word from them. The solicitor who would have been dealing with the contracts doesn't have the money we paid in nor does the builder, leaving that the only place it must still be is with Fasre. We have no idea how to go about trying to get it back as there is no one to contact!!!

Senna

I was thinking they would still have the deposit.
You could get a solistor to try chase it up, or just try yourself. It was an estate agents, so they should be registered.

edit;
Just looking at The Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers (IPAV) website, FASRE is registered under the name "Robins, Bridget". Did you meet her? is she local?

Either way, by being a member of the IPAV, they have a deposit protection fund, so i'd contact them straight away. You will get your deposit back. Just make sure you have all the documents and receipts they gave you.
http://www.ipav.ie/Home.aspx

Member firms contribute to IPAV’s Deposit Protection Fund. This fund provides added protection to members of the public who pay a deposit to IPAV member firms.

LinziH

I think at the minute all of the mans business accounts have been frozen. So i dont know if that will affect anything. There was a bulletin on Highland Radio Website there on Friday. I wouldnt give up on it just yet.

Marigold40

It seems like an awful lot of people have lost large sums of money, all thanks to this person. Things are hard enough, financially, as it is and then this man comes along and essentially, rips people off. I have no idea how he sleeps at night. I am just crossing my fingers we might get something back but I am not holding out much hope. What we have lost is very small compared to some who have lost tens of thousands. I guess is something sounds too good to be true, it generally is hey???

Marigold40

Hi there - we have already been onto IPAV and it turns out that the agency itself did not belong to IPAV, just that Bridget did. As such, the compensation scheme won't pay out. It just seems that there is no real regulatory body that we can try and get in touch with to help us.

Senna

Marigold40 wrote: »

Hi there - we have already been onto IPAV and it turns out that the agency itself did not belong to IPAV, just that Bridget did. As such, the compensation scheme won't pay out. It just seems that there is no real regulatory body that we can try and get in touch with to help us.

Thats the biggest pile of crap i ever heard. They have FASRE listed as a member, i assume this Bridget is the main person. So there saying if you handed the money to FARSE, its not covered, but its covered if you hand it to Bridget who either owns or runs FASRE :rolleyes:

I wouldn't take that kind of bullsh1t answer from them.

garyvanc

Hi, Sorry for bumping this. We also signed up for this scheme 2 years ago this month. We recently got the house valued, it came out at 180k, down from 240k we agreed 2 years. So as that is all the house is worth that is the value of any mortgage any person will get.

We today got approval for our mortgage... Happiest Day Ever, right? 10 minutes after we got the letter the seller rang us to say he cant afford to sell the house at that price and is pulling out of the deal. OH but we are welcome to stay there and rent from him for as long as we want.

so we have basically wasted the last 2 years of our lives and the 20k 'deposit' is down the chute! FASRE are gone we have no one to turn to, this is just a disaster!

Learpholl

garyvanc wrote: »

Hi, Sorry for bumping this. We also signed up for this scheme 2 years ago this month. We recently got the house valued, it came out at 180k, down from 240k we agreed 2 years. So as that is all the house is worth that is the value of any mortgage any person will get.

We today got approval for our mortgage... Happiest Day Ever, right? 10 minutes after we got the letter the seller rang us to say he cant afford to sell the house at that price and is pulling out of the deal. OH but we are welcome to stay there and rent from him for as long as we want.

so we have basically wasted the last 2 years of our lives and the 20k 'deposit' is down the chute! FASRE are gone we have no one to turn to, this is just a disaster!

Don't mean to be a prick and I genuinely do feel bad for you but did you not even think of the consequences of agreeing the purchase price of house 2 full years before you'd actually be buying it?

hmmm

Learpholl wrote: »

Don't mean to be a prick and I genuinely do feel bad for you but did you not even think of the consequences of agreeing the purchase price of house 2 full years before you'd actually be buying it?

I wouldn't touch any of these R2B schemes, there is too much that can go wrong. I remember we discussed R2B a few years ago and there were a lot of warnings issued, but of course there is always a group of people who want to go ahead and "get on the ladder".

dory

garyvanc wrote: »

Hi, Sorry for bumping this. We also signed up for this scheme 2 years ago this month. We recently got the house valued, it came out at 180k, down from 240k we agreed 2 years. So as that is all the house is worth that is the value of any mortgage any person will get.

We today got approval for our mortgage... Happiest Day Ever, right? 10 minutes after we got the letter the seller rang us to say he cant afford to sell the house at that price and is pulling out of the deal. OH but we are welcome to stay there and rent from him for as long as we want.

so we have basically wasted the last 2 years of our lives and the 20k 'deposit' is down the chute! FASRE are gone we have no one to turn to, this is just a disaster!

I wouldn't be too cut up about that. If you had bought for 240k and for any reason had to move to somewhere else and sold it for 180k you're be down 60k!!! Now that would be a reason to be pissed off. 20k is a small price to pay to stop you being 100k+ in negative equity as some others are.

Victor

garyvanc wrote: »

Hi, Sorry for bumping this. We also signed up for this scheme 2 years ago this month. We recently got the house valued, it came out at 180k, down from 240k we agreed 2 years. So as that is all the house is worth that is the value of any mortgage any person will get.

We today got approval for our mortgage... Happiest Day Ever, right? 10 minutes after we got the letter the seller rang us to say he cant afford to sell the house at that price and is pulling out of the deal. OH but we are welcome to stay there and rent from him for as long as we want.

so we have basically wasted the last 2 years of our lives and the 20k 'deposit' is down the chute! FASRE are gone we have no one to turn to, this is just a disaster!

What does your contract say about this?

_Kaiser_

garyvanc wrote: »

Hi, Sorry for bumping this. We also signed up for this scheme 2 years ago this month. We recently got the house valued, it came out at 180k, down from 240k we agreed 2 years. So as that is all the house is worth that is the value of any mortgage any person will get.

We today got approval for our mortgage... Happiest Day Ever, right? 10 minutes after we got the letter the seller rang us to say he cant afford to sell the house at that price and is pulling out of the deal. OH but we are welcome to stay there and rent from him for as long as we want.

so we have basically wasted the last 2 years of our lives and the 20k 'deposit' is down the chute! FASRE are gone we have no one to turn to, this is just a disaster!

Genuinely sorry to hear that mate. I have to say though I think the seller is being an idiot for whatever that's worth - he has someone willing to buy (albeit at the lower/current price) and he "can't afford" to? Ask him can he afford to be stuck with an empty depreciating house for god knows how long??

m'lady

garyvanc wrote: »

Hi, Sorry for bumping this. We also signed up for this scheme 2 years ago this month. We recently got the house valued, it came out at 180k, down from 240k we agreed 2 years. So as that is all the house is worth that is the value of any mortgage any person will get.

We today got approval for our mortgage... Happiest Day Ever, right? 10 minutes after we got the letter the seller rang us to say he cant afford to sell the house at that price and is pulling out of the deal. OH but we are welcome to stay there and rent from him for as long as we want.

so we have basically wasted the last 2 years of our lives and the 20k 'deposit' is down the chute! FASRE are gone we have no one to turn to, this is just a disaster!

I hope you can work things out, perhaps by looking into your contract to see if you can try even getting your 20k back, you could speak to a Solicitor?
One thing I would say is do not get dragged into negotiating with him (I am thinking he might try and suggest you make up the difference in price somehow), if you do that you will lose more than 20k.

I wonder is this a common problem, landlords pulling out at last minute, after they have been getting nearly double the rent they would have had it been a normal rental agreement?

Farls

If you need to go through a rent to buy scheme to buy a house then it sounds as if its beyond your means. It's a hard pill to swallow because we all want better and were too used to the good times, but it's just how things are.

Just because the lender will give you X amount of money doesn't mean you have to buy a house that costs X, my rule of thumb was to look at houses worth half of X.

I'm not saying what FASRE or the builder has done is right, I'm just saying you can't see it now but I think 20k on rent for 2 years is a lucky escape.

Padskip

What has happened to people who have signed up to the Rent 2 Buy? Have any successfully gone through?

LinziH

I think it is coming to that time where people are starting to complete. I personally have decided not to complete and am at present trying to see if i can move out before the 2 years are up??