Affordable Housing

spandora

2 yrs ago , partner and I bought an affordable house in an estate. Now , as only some of the private houses have sold. The County Council have bought idle houses and have allocated them as social housing. None of which have been handed out yet. Needless to say i am rightly peed off. As new social housing are twice if some not 3 times the size of our house, front gardens, built to a higher spec etc. Anyways rather than just ranting on , i decided to contact SEO of housing dept in council to ask if i could swap house for social house. i.e. moving our mortage to the new house. was told it was impossible, as we were not on housing list and we were already adequately house. But had we been given the option of buying one of the bigger houses as an affordable we would have.

What do you think?? Do you think I should keep at it, appealing the swap?
Has anyone any advice??

Snakeblood

spandora wrote: »

2 yrs ago , partner and I bought an affordable house in an estate. Now , as only some of the private houses have sold. The County Council have bought idle houses and have allocated them as social housing. None of which have been handed out yet. Needless to say i am rightly peed off. As new social housing are twice if some not 3 times the size of our house, front gardens, built to a higher spec etc. Anyways rather than just ranting on , i decided to contact SEO of housing dept in council to ask if i could swap house for social house. i.e. moving our mortage to the new house. was told it was impossible, as we were not on housing list and we were already adequately house. But had we been given the option of buying one of the bigger houses as an affordable we would have.

What do you think?? Do you think I should keep at it, appealing the swap?
Has anyone any advice??

I think you were happy enough to take what you were offered 2 years ago. There's no harm asking them to swap for you, but I'm not sure I understand the logic.

The_Conductor

Its unfortunate.
Lots of people are in similar situations unfortunately.
Its highly unlikely the council would countenance a houseswap- such as you're suggesting.
In any event- your property would have an omsp well below that of these new properties- and both sales (and they would be sales) would trigger stamp duty (since 2009). You can't simply swap property anymore- though you could do it in the past.

dingoxh

anyjoy with the council and house swap?

ricman

You could sell your house, buy an older ,bigger house in another location that needs redecoration,modernisation.Theres 1000 s of people who bought houses ,3 or 4 years ago ,who are in negative equity ,ie prices have gone down 50 per cent ,thats not the councils fault,and your mortgage is with a bank ,ie the councils appoint banks to deal with people who qualify for low cost housing.The people who paid 250k for a tiny 1bed apartment ,thats now worth 130k are probably the worst off,they may have to wait 30 years before they can afford to move.See your td ,or threshold ,but i cannot see the council helping you ,in doing a swap .i presume they,d allow you to sell the house ,if the sale price matches the loan outstanding at the moment.
as regards private houses ,with no outstanding loans, i think people can swap,if they agree on values, eg house a is worth 20k more than house b,i pay you 20k.There still needs to be 2 solicitors involved to process the transaction,transfer the deeds etc
But i could be wrong,and stamp duty will still need to be paid.
i think when you buy a house from the council,you have to sign a form, i will be taken off the housing list,i will no longer be eligible for council housing in future .
so the council has no legal duty to help you,or house you.
what is osmp? is that a fancy word for the market value of the house.
i reckon it would cost the council 3k in legal fees , not taking bank charges or stamp duty into account to do a swap for you.

The_Conductor

A few things-

1. It appears from press statements this week that the Affordable Housing schemes are being wound down completely. Any unsold stock is to be allocated as social housing to try to get as many as possible off the housing list.

2. OMSP- stands for Open Market Selling Price

3. Negative equity affects pretty much all property bought since 1999- you don't have to have purchased in the last 3-4 years to be in negative equity.

4. Regarding 'appealing the swap'- on what basis. My apple is bigger than your apple- and since you sold me my apple, I should be allowed to swap it with your apple, as your apple is superior to my apple? It happens. Many people who purchased on the open market are in similar situations- the only difference being their vendor doesn't have a supply of property at their disposal.

One of the big reasons why the Affordable Housing schemes are being wound down- is councils were not allowed to carry the property at their OMSP- so two identical houses, next door to one another, might have to entirely different valuations from the councils perspective. Just because you reckon the OMSP of one of their properties is X- means precisely nothing whatsoever. Legally- you are against a brick wall regarding valuations.

Do let us know what happens- personally I would be very very surprised were the council to countenance a swap such as you are suggesting.

Icepick

Social houses? Don't swap; run away.

jdivision

This was a decision you made OP, you can't change it afterwards.

Fiona_242

Sell and get out of it and run! I sold lost allot of my own money put into one and I was so delighted get out before the places turns into a Ghetto!!!