Buying a state owned property? (School)

Bull McCabe.

Hi all,
Please feel free to move this post to a more suited forum.
Myself and my partner have been renting numerous houses and flats over the last 9 years or so but we have recently heard that her old local rural primary school back home is due to be closed later this year. We have been talking about owning our own place for years and I think this would be a great conversion project. It is fairly small, two teacher school, around 110 square metres plus playground and surrounding sheds and so on.

Since mentioning it to some friends I've heard some things like " we could get it cheap as it is a dept. of education (state owned) property" and that it cannot be sold for over a year after closure, which if true, would suit us fine because that would give us a bit if time to save for mortgage and so on.

Anyway, sorry for rambling on but if anyone has any info on this it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks guys.

Marcusm

Very few schools are owned by the Dept of Education; usually the ownership vests in a local patron (eg Bishop) acting through a board of management. Establish the actual ownership before you start to move forward.

P. Breathnach

Agree with Marcusm. A good place to start the research is with the Parish Priest (or, if it is a non-Catholic school, the equivalent person in that denomination).

Bull McCabe.

Will do Marcusm, thanks. I think I know someone one the board of management that I could approach and find out.
My partners father lives beside the school and he is under the impression that it is state owned as there was a large grant given 3 - 4 years ago for extensive parking and heating improvements etc. I will try find out for sure.
If it is a case that it is owned by the bishop or otherwise, would you think this would be an advantage or disadvantage to us?

Bull McCabe.

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Agree with Marcusm. A good place to start the research is with the Parish Priest (or, if it is a non-Catholic school, the equivalent person in that denomination).

Ya it's a catholic school Breathnach.
Not too familiar with the parish priest but my partners cousin is the priest in the next parish. I'll tap him to put a good word in

P. Breathnach

Bull McCabe. wrote: »

...
If it is a case that it is owned by the bishop or otherwise, would you think this would be an advantage or disadvantage to us?

Neither, I think.

The school is probably owned by a Diocesan Trust. If the Department of Education has given grants in recent years, the might have a say in how it is disposed of - but that is not likely to be a problem, especially if the school is being closed at the instigation of the Department. A Diocesan Trust probably has members who are commercially-aware, so they won't sell at a silly price.

It comes down to market conditions in the area, how interesting or attractive the building is, and whether there are others around who might be up for the challenege of conversion.

You won't lose much by opening discussions.

The_Conductor

Most Diocesan trusts have mandates where disposing of property that it is to be done on a commercial basis (and indeed- have even slipped property into 2 previous Allsop auctions!). You're not going to do a deal under the table for the property- but do embark on a fact finding mission- who owns the property, what rules are associated with the disposal of the property (unfortunately there could be a few surprises thrown up), etc etc etc.

Schools similar to what you're describing have been sold in the past- I'm personally familiar with 2- one in Sligo, one in Mayo- but I'm guessing its far from unusual.

Good luck with gathering information- and saving- you might post back and let us know how things progress.

Bull McCabe.

The_Conductor wrote: »

Most Diocesan trusts have mandates where disposing of property that it is to be done on a commercial basis (and indeed- have even slipped property into 2 previous Allsop auctions!). You're not going to do a deal under the table for the property- but do embark on a fact finding mission- who owns the property, what rules are associated with the disposal of the property (unfortunately there could be a few surprises thrown up), etc etc etc.

Schools similar to what you're describing have been sold in the past- I'm personally familiar with 2- one in Sligo, one in Mayo- but I'm guessing its far from unusual.

Good luck with gathering information- and saving- you might post back and let us know how things progress.

Thanks for all the information. It's great to get expert opinions.
I have only found out so far that it is not department owned.
There is another school around 5 miles away, fairly similar in size and age that is currently on the market.
I've emailed the seller to find out an asking price. I have no real interest in buying this one but it might give me some indication regarding pricing.

Bull McCabe.

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Neither, I think.

The school is probably owned by a Diocesan Trust. If the Department of Education has given grants in recent years, the might have a say in how it is disposed of - but that is not likely to be a problem, especially if the school is being closed at the instigation of the Department. A Diocesan Trust probably has members who are commercially-aware, so they won't sell at a silly price.

It comes down to market conditions in the area, how interesting or attractive the building is, and whether there are others around who might be up for the challenege of conversion.

You won't lose much by opening discussions.

Thank you. All great advice.

the_syco

Something to consider;
Would it be a "standard school" design? Some of the older primary schools were built with the same design, and thus if you look around you'll probably find another school of the same design that got converted. Ask nicely, and you may find if there are any limitations (is the building protected) and also any common problems that occur with such builds?

Claw Hammer

It is unlikely that any of the 20th century primary schools are protected structures. In any case the County Council should have a list of protected structures online. The big problem with old primary schools is toilet facilities.

Markcheese

How easy or difficult is it going to be to get a residential mortgage on a non residential building..?? ( know it's an issue in uk) would to get it changed before you'd get approval ??

the_syco

Claw Hammer wrote: »

It is unlikely that any of the 20th century primary schools are protected structures. In any case the County Council should have a list of protected structures online.

Although they shouldn't be protected structures, I have noticed that a large majority of them are unchanged, with prefabs dropped next to them rather than more rooms built. It could be (lack of) budgeting, but I wonder if there'd be any other reasons.

Claw Hammer wrote: »

The big problem with old primary schools is toilet facilities.

Esp ones that had an "out house" tacked onto the side.