County Council Mortgages

coffeyt

Best of luck with your application, if you have any other questions work away as I said I can remember how frustrating it was trying to get info but its worth it in the end, we are now paying less than our rent was but will eventually own our house. And we were in exact same situation with the banks so know what you're going through!

mayo92

Do you mind me asking did you do a single or joint application? I have a partner but he's not in a permanent job and only getting days here and there so pretty much unemployed in their eyes! I see there is an option for the second applicant to be unemployed but I was just going to leave him out as I presume he will lose money on his social welfare payments etc if he were to buy a house.
Final question for the moment I promise!! But thanks again for all the info.

coffeyt

No problem again we were similar in that my husband wasn't working, he was minding our son and claiming social welfare, but he had to go on our application as we are married and so would have a financial interest in the house. From what I remember they dont take social welfare into account as part of your income but they also did not view him as a dependant as he had that income, if that makes sense. As long as my net income meant our repayments were under the magic 35% they were happy with that. And it did not affect his social welfare us getting the house, but he is now back at work full time so happy days!!

mayo92

Ah brilliant all going well for ye I might be in touch in a few weeks!!

Tasden

coffeyt wrote: »

If your single you have to earn under €50000 and if a couple under €75000. There is no minimum amount but your repayments have to be under 35% of your net household income. As an example my loan for €92000 costs just shy of €400 a month which includes the mortgage protection you have to get through the council!

http://www.homechoiceloan.ie/Who-can-apply-.aspx
Is this not what you're talking about?

Michael D Not Higgins

Tasden wrote: »

http://www.homechoiceloan.ie/Who-can-apply-.aspx
Is this not what you're talking about?

A home choice loan is different to a county council mortgage. The latest information I heard on the home choice loan was that it was a complete failure as no one actual was able to qualify. Not a single one was granted in 2015.

The scheme was meant to replace the banks during the time when they weren't lending for mortgages. That's changed now and the banks are lending again so the home choice loan scheme is a bit outdated now.

Tasden

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

A home choice loan is different to a county council mortgage. The latest information I heard on the home choice loan was that it was a complete failure as no one actual was able to qualify. Not a single one was granted in 2015.

The scheme was meant to replace the banks during the time when they weren't lending for mortgages. That's changed now and the banks are lending again so the home choice loan scheme is a bit outdated now.

I was told they were same thing different name. And like you say that uptake was non existent. Where do you get info on the council mortgages then because i went to the council and they were the ones who said they no longer do mortgages i have to go to home choice loan which is issued through broker to the council. Looking them up I kept getting info on home choice loans so assumed I was told correctly about same thing different name. Only info on council mortgages other than home choice are on mortgages for council tenants. Thanks for the info!

coffeyt

Hi tasden if you go to housing.gov.ie and look for local authority loans it has the basic details, there is also a link listing all the councils details so you can select whatever council you are in, can I ask were you are based? The home choice loan is definitely a completely different scheme.

Tasden

coffeyt wrote: »

Hi tasden if you go to housing.gov.ie and look for local authority loans it has the basic details, their is also a link listing all the councils details so you can select whatever council you are in, can I ask were you are based?

Thanks a million, came in to post that I found the correct information! very helpful thread, appreciate the info from both of you.

TENHNY

Cork2015! wrote: »

How did you even go about applying?
I have tried really hard and can't find right info online anywhere

no info on line cork2015, just contact local council direct

mayo92

TENHNY wrote: »

Cork2015! wrote: »

How did you even go about applying?
I have tried really hard and can't find right info online anywhere

no info on line cork2015, just contact local council direct

Go to housing.gov.ie

All info should be there

Rzeznik

I'm finishing the process, got a letter of offer and hope to finish buying a house before the end of the year.

I applied (joint application) end of April, got a mortgage in principle in mid Jun.
After we found a house and went sale agreed end of Sep, we received letter of offer end of Oct. So if case is not hard it can go pretty fast.

Process looks as follow:
- you apply with all the documentation needed and pay the fee
- if all is straight forward you will get an approval in principle in 4 to 8 weeks (it is usually 3-4 weeks for the underwriter in Dublin and then council committee has to sign it and they gather usually once a month)
- if they need additional info they will come back to you and this will make the whole process longer

Rate for the loan is nice as with MPI it is below 2,8%
You need 2 refusals from the bank and they do not have to bear any amounts on them. Generic one worked for us.

As for them being more lenient it depends. If you are self employed it can be hard as even with very small business you need qualified accountant signature on your accounts (CCA ACA CPA OR IPA qualified) which I'm not sure is a hard requirement in banks (at the same time bank told us we would need only tax assessments in our case - businesses brings under 15k a year and no costs are recorded).
On the other hand they can take into account bonuses if you can prove you receive them on a regular basis. (which is almost not possible with the bank AFAIK).

33k a month and yearly bonus of 6,6k resulted in 135k of mortgage in principal. (family 2+2, my wife income was not taken into consideration at that time).

Leon245

Hi All,

This is a really good and informative thread.

We've just started the process now ourselves with Mayo county council. We've nearly all the paperwork ready, but one thing is stumping us for the last couple of days.

As part of the application it states in the application form we need a copy of an OS Map stating town land and site edged in red approved by engineer/architect, including area in acres etc... I've asked our contact in the council for more information and waiting for them to get back to us.

Was this something anyone had an issue with as part of their initial application?

andy125

There was only 298 loan approved by Local authority's for the year of 2015

With such low numbers it must be very specfic on who they loan to, as such it could be only a handful of people per county

TENHNY

Leon245 wrote: »

Hi All,

This is a really good and informative thread.

We've just started the process now ourselves with Mayo county council. We've nearly all the paperwork ready, but one thing is stumping us for the last couple of days.

As part of the application it states in the application form we need a copy of an OS Map stating town land and site edged in red approved by engineer/architect, including area in acres etc... I've asked our contact in the council for more information and waiting for them to get back to us.

Was this something anyone had an issue with as part of their initial application?

Leon245 Are you building a house or buying

Leon245

Hi TENHNY, we're buying a house not building. In the end our county council contact accepted a simple map given from the estate agent which wasn't as descriptive as the one requested originally. This was just for the purpose of processing the application for provisional approval.

It seems the land registry details/folio our solicitor will get from the vendors solicitor, when we get to that stage hopefully, with map details is only needed for the closing of the sale.

TENHNY

Leon245 wrote: »

Hi TENHNY, we're buying a house not building. In the end our county council contact accepted a simple map given from the estate agent which wasn't as descriptive as the one requested originally. This was just for the purpose of processing the application for provisional approval.

It seems the land registry details/folio our solicitor will get from the vendors solicitor, when we get to that stage hopefully, with map details is only needed for the closing of the sale.

Did the process take long?
Have you found a house?

NearlyForty

I have yet to apply for a mortgage, we're saving for the deposit at the moment but when we do, I'm looking into alternative options for the 'just in case'.. I had found out about this Home Choice Loan and had the understanding that they no longer do this, but it seems it's still there, so that's good to know. Is it really that hard to get?

C. Montgomery Gurns

Morning all. <mod snip>

So I recently reached the age where it is time to slow down, grow up and start saving for the house. As we all know bank mortgages are currently unobtainable for a majority of working couples, at least in the Dublin region, which led me to investigate the process involved in securing local authority mortgages. While it's been a few months, from what I can recall the Dublin local authority areas will lend you a maximum of 220,000, providing you have a deposit saved at a minimum of 10% of this figure. Quite a reasonable deal- from a cursory look at daft.ie three bed ex council homes in the less salubrious parts of North and West Dublin typically go for around 140K to 170K (oddly I've seen homes in the same estate in seemingly the same condition with gaps of 40K in the price). The same type of homes in the older corpo built areas closer to town seem to start at around the 200- 220 mark (Kilbarrack, Crumlin, Drimnagh) There are even plenty of private build semis in reasonably alright areas of the likes of Blanch and Tallaght for around the 200 to 250k mark- just about affordable under your typical LA loan set up.

My question is, how straight forward is obtaining one of these loans? Is there a waiting list or a preference list in terms of who gets one? Do the local authorities have a near infinite amount of money to lend on this or do you have to be lucky enough to be among those to fit into their annual fiscal space? The reason I ask is that on the likes of The Journal commenters talk night and day about the inaccessibility of bank mortgages yet nobody ever seems to mention the local authority loans.


Also, how do you see house prices going by 2021? With the government planning to increase building of both social and private units, will the increased availability and increased availability of credit to buy lead to a fall in the cost of older housing stock?

C. Montgomery Gurns

Note- I started this as a stand alone thread and it was put in here so apologies if some of what was asked was covered here already. I guess to touch on some of what I read here since, people have alluded to it being a long, drawn out process. How long exactly did it take, and would it be longer in Dublin than a rural local authority? And what is the point in needing formal bank refusal- surely a majority of young couples in Dublin are default refused by the banks anyway?

athtrasna

Mod note

Your post was merged as there was already a current thread discussing the issue. The search function is helpful to see if this is the case before starting a new thread

robertmck89

mayo92 wrote: »

Thanks for the info Just wondering for the refusal letters, do they need to have a specific amount or is a generic letter okay? I asked my own bank to send me refusal letter but it came with no amount stated. I asked a Building Society who ant 20 for it and asked it I wanted it blank or a specific amount stated.

Also just wondering if you need to have a specific house decided on? I do have one in mind but I would rather get approved in principal before spending money on getting in surveyed etc..

By looking at the appplication form it looks like you need to have everything in place but obviously don't want to do this incase it gets refused as this is probably my last hope to buy in the near future!!

Hi! Just a question about the refusal letter you received from the building society. Did you have to go through a full application or did they give it easy enough? I've started this process myself recently and have received one letter from my bank on the grounds I don't have 10%. Just interested to see how you are getting on with it.

Dawney

Does anyone know if the county council mortgages are available if you've previously had bad debt? I stupidly stopped paying a loan when I was out of work a few years ago. Finally stopped burying my head in the sand and spoke to the bank, and the loan eventually got paid off about two years ago. I know it takes 5 years to clear off your credit check, but I don't really want to have to wait another 3 years before getting on the property ladder.
Have been in permanent employment the last two and a half years, saving regularly with the credit union the last year, as well as paying rent, so I can show ability to pay. Am hoping the council might be a route to go down when the banks say no?

robertmck89

Rzeznik wrote: »

I'm finishing the process, got a letter of offer and hope to finish buying a house before the end of the year.

I applied (joint application) end of April, got a mortgage in principle in mid Jun.
After we found a house and went sale agreed end of Sep, we received letter of offer end of Oct. So if case is not hard it can go pretty fast.

Process looks as follow:
- you apply with all the documentation needed and pay the fee
- if all is straight forward you will get an approval in principle in 4 to 8 weeks (it is usually 3-4 weeks for the underwriter in Dublin and then council committee has to sign it and they gather usually once a month)
- if they need additional info they will come back to you and this will make the whole process longer

Rate for the loan is nice as with MPI it is below 2,8%
You need 2 refusals from the bank and they do not have to bear any amounts on them. Generic one worked for us.

As for them being more lenient it depends. If you are self employed it can be hard as even with very small business you need qualified accountant signature on your accounts (CCA ACA CPA OR IPA qualified) which I'm not sure is a hard requirement in banks (at the same time bank told us we would need only tax assessments in our case - businesses brings under 15k a year and no costs are recorded).
On the other hand they can take into account bonuses if you can prove you receive them on a regular basis. (which is almost not possible with the bank AFAIK).

33k a month and yearly bonus of 6,6k resulted in 135k of mortgage in principal. (family 2+2, my wife income was not taken into consideration at that time).

Hi did you find getting the refusal letters easy enough? Got one from my bank but struggling to get a second one

TENHNY

I only need one refusal letter with the bank, should be closing sale next month, - a full year after we first applied for mortgage with county council

robertmck89

TENHNY wrote: »

I only need one refusal letter with the bank, should be closing sale next month, - a full year after we first applied for mortgage with county council

i have been told by kildare county council that i need 2 letters! they even sent my application back to me because it was missing the second letter. what council is it you are applying to?.

TENHNY

robertmck89 wrote: »

i have been told by kildare county council that i need 2 letters! they even sent my application back to me because it was missing the second letter. what council is it you are applying to?.

Roscommon

Leon245

TENHNY wrote: »

Did the process take long?
Have you found a house?

Apologies for the long delay, a bit like our mortgage application.
It's taking some time for them to get back with approval in principal. We left the application in at the start of this year January 3rd, still waiting. The delay seems to be with the Housing Finance Agency who issue a recommendation on council mortgages applications. They haven't yet got back to the council according to our contact in the council dealing with our application.

TENHNY

Leon245 wrote: »

Apologies for the long delay, a bit like our mortgage application.
It's taking some time for them to get back with approval in principal. We left the application in at the start of this year January 3rd, still waiting. The delay seems to be with the Housing Finance Agency who issue a recommendation on council mortgages applications. They haven't yet got back to the council according to our contact in the council dealing with our application.

we got a keys a week ago, we started application process last february

Leon245

TENHNY wrote: »

we got a keys a week ago, we started application process last february

That was long time! Are you happy with the house you got though, the mortgage amount etc...?

We just got approval ourselves, so we're house hunting now. We're at this now since the beginning of January this year. One thing we did notice was that the mortgage we were recommended for from the Housing Finance Agency was nearly 30% more then we actually got approval for from the council, but we're glad we got approval for an amount.