Leaving a council house

spinnyminnie

I want to leave my council house and rent privately. My rent is currently €680 pm and I can rent a four bed property for less in my area.

I'm just wondering if i hand back my keys and months/years down the road things go financially wrong (job losses) can I go back on the council list?

MariMel

if you hand back a council house you will not be able to go onto the housing list for one year. If i am honest I was unaware that the rent paid by those in council houses would be as high as €680pm. I myself handed back a council house 18 months ago and had to actually get permission to be able to do so. Then again I was looking to rent privately and obtain rent supplement. I was only able to claim RS as I had extenuating circumstances and a mass of letters from various depts supporting my request to move. A few months ago I was able to go onto the housing list for the area I moved to as the year since I handed back my council house had past.

In response to your query, I cant see why you wouldnt be able to go onto a housing list again once the year has lapsed.

L1011

MariMel wrote: »

If i am honest I was unaware that the rent paid by those in council houses would be as high as €680pm.

If your household earnings are sufficiently high you could have to pay 680, although if the rates on Fingal's site apply nationwide (11% of main earner + part of other earners incomes) it does seem very high.

spinnyminnie

Its not fingal CC,11% would be a dream. Once we claimed FIS our rent went through the roof. My husband got a bonus in work which was paid through his wages and the council decided that they would take it into account as weekly earnings when we submitted our rent review forms. So they calculate our income as being €30 approx more a week than it is. When we pointed this out to them they asked us to submit the wageslips again and just keep paying the previous rent. I waited six weeks for them to contact me with the new rent and ended up ringing them,in which they were working it out just that second when I rang (yea right).
They decided to leave the rent at the new higher rate and backdated it,which meant we unwittingly went into instant arrears.

Sorry for the ramble but my point is that after all the blundering with this CC can I apply to a different council list?

MariMel

I handed back a house to dundalk town council but was prohibited from going onto ANY housing list for a year. I am now on the louth county council housing list. So I dont see why after the 12 months, that you wouldnt be able to go onto a different housing list once you are living in that new area.

spinnyminnie

Brilliant,thanks for the replies.
Decision made then.

pegs577

I'v lived my council for 30yrs.I'm d sole owner and paying mortgage. I' recently been offered lovely house in country and I want to move. can I rent my house here as would need to keep mortgage paid, I'v at present a friend single who would like it. I need to know can I do this or do I have to contact d council , I would be so grateful if you could reply, regards margaret

ladysarah

once you own it you can rent it

Kosseegan

ladysarah wrote: »

once you own it you can rent it

There are restrictions on letting former councuil owned properties. There is a mortgage on the property and it will like every mortgage have a clause restricting letting without the consent of the mortgagee.

Ray Palmer

ladysarah wrote: »

once you own it you can rent it

You can't even sell it to whom you like if it was a former council house.