Council tenants purchase scheme

kerosene

You have to contact your council first. It seems to be a slow process.

Dani1921

I did they gave me the forms and everything, but didn't really explain much, maybe I'll give them a ring today and find out

kerosene

I think there are six stages, it sounds like you are still at the first stage. It would probably be no harm to call them and see how your application is progressing.

foxy06

It's an extremely slow process. And lucky if you get an answer from them. I would say they have a backlog of applications at the moment

Dani1921

Thanks guys for your reply, so I got my answer as I emailed them and they replied instantly which was great. So I applied to purchase the house first before you apply for the mortgage, which I thought was obvious anyway. I have another question when applying for the local authority mortgage it says in the scheme you Dont need a deposit but when applying for a mortgage from the it says you need a 3% deposit, a deposit is no problem for us but would like to know. Would appreciate the information if anyone has any. I have emailed them again about this so waiting on a reply as it is a bank holiday weekend!
Thank you

wardy2

Anyone had their appointment with the Council yet ?
Having mine tomorrow morning.

Pacos207

Has anybody applied for the council house purchase loan of recent? How long do they take to respond to your application? Please help anybody out there with any experience about this.

phobia2011

Any updates on this?

kerosene

I dont know of anyone who has purchased their home through this scheme yet. The furtherest I have heard is someone waiting on the valuation of their home to be communicated to them.
Their does seem to be a lot of red tape and conditions attached to purchasing the property that the banks are reluctant to offer mortgages. Unfortunately I am nowhere near that stage and I am not aware of the exact conditions attatched.

phobia2011

When a valuation takes place, does the interior of the house need to be inspected? Im wanting to do lots of decorating and maintenance, I would be afraid I would increase the value if I do.

kerosene

Its an independant valuation, so I would assume an estate agent would inspect the propertys interior and exterior similar to any other valuation.

donutheadhomer

Has anyone got any further with this yet?

wardy2

donutheadhomer wrote: »

Has anyone got any further with this yet?

At the last stage now the house has been valued and an price has been offered to me

kerosene

Nothing yet.

Chesty08

wardy2 wrote: »

At the last stage now the house has been valued and an price has been offered to me

How long was this process in total?

Also, do you know if you upgrade the house (I.e build an extension or convert an attic) over the years will this be counted towards the new market value if there is a resale!?

kkalm

wardy2 wrote: »

At the last stage now the house has been valued and an price has been offered to me

Hi, Can you advise, were you happy with the valuation?

We are awaiting ours and we are fearful that it will be higher than expected.

Emirates1

Applied under this scheme in Kerry April 2016.Still havent moved to valuation stage.Apparently KCC is finalising a panel of 'Independent' valuers.Anyway,we had an electrical problem over the weekend and contacted KCC today to send out electrician as tenants do when repairs etc needed.We were informed that as we had applied under Tenant Purchase Scheme KCC were no longer responsible to carry out stated repairs.This despite they still being owners of property and me not having received valuation or not having signed anything stating that I will purchase.I am still paying full rent to them though.Bit confused to tell you the truth.

foxy06

Just got confirmation from permanent TSB that they are not offering mortgages for the tenant purchase scheme because of the discount charge on the property. Being trying to purchase our house for years and it's hurdle after hurdle.

Emirates1

I have paid over 30000 in rent.If house valued at 100000 and I get let's say 40% discount.Still no sign of valuation being made so I will probably have paid over 100000 at least if I decide to go ahead.As an aside person in KCC Housing Dept told me last week they believed Tenant Purchase Scheme totally loaded against tenant.

foxy06

I understand what they mean. We are paying just over 11k per annum rent to the council and have been trying for years to get this over the line but they have made it virtually impossible. The rent I've paid doesn't bother me, I would have paid the same or more in the private market and obviously I'm paying the rent to live in the house but to announce a scheme that is basically not worth the paper it's written on <mod snip: this is not a politics forum>

They also announced a help to buy scheme that I am sure has helped a lot of people to purchase but has also pushed up the house prices dramatically over the last 3 months making it impossible for council tenants to even look down that road.

kerosene

I got turned down by tsb also, and I am now pursuing the home choice loan but I read somewhere over the weekend only 17 people have been successful with this option in last five years. We have met all the criteria but I cant say im too confident.
I agree the whole thing seems to be a gimmick

Emirates1

Is there any point in contacting Ombudsman about this?If group did it rather than individuals? We know Public and Gov bodies only fob off individuals.

kerosene

Id be interested in knowing how many people were successful in purchasing their homes through this incremental purchase scheme.

foxy06

no one in wicklow so far

Emirates1

I'd imagine if somebody made FOI request to Dept of Housing they could find out.

mattlennon2011

Got price of house today near had heart attack,even as is a council house is still at top end market

The_Conductor

mattlennon2011 wrote: »

Got price of house today near had heart attack,even as is a council house is still at top end market

Council properties tend to be built to higher specifications that other properties in any given estate or area- and this tends to be reflected in the price. It is a fallacy to imagine that because its a council property that it is somehow worth less than any other property- it isn't.

foxy06

The purchase price I was given was more than another house for sale privately very nearby same estate. And that's with the 40% discount taken off

The_Conductor

foxy06 wrote: »

The purchase price I was given was more than another house for sale privately very nearby same estate. And that's with the 40% discount taken off

You could dispute it- however, keep in mind, the council price is from a local estate agent- i.e. the estate agent is in effect bidding for the right to sell the property. At least one local estate agent reckons they can get the price they are suggesting for the property- in the current climate- perhaps its a realistic price- you can't automatically point at a property that sold a couple of months ago and suggest it has any bearing on current prices- in some parts of the country prices have been rising 1% per week- year to date............

Also- its far from unusual private house sales are going for up to 40-60% (or even more) above asking- a lot of estate agents set artificially low asking prices on private sales to drum up interest- and then set prospective purchasers against one another............

mattlennon2011

I have tried all the banks,all saying too many conditions with sale,how do the council except people to buy with the conditions set out