Council tenants purchase scheme

foxy06

I was told by wicklow that they will accept 2nd charge on the house so the bank gets 1st. They won't give it in writing and expect the bank to take our word for it. It's a gimmick. Only way is through the council loan or some credit unions will do home loans. Even at that though apparently no one has completed the sale yet. It is incredibly frustrating as if house prices continue to rise there's no way we could afford it even with the discount.

infogiver

Emirates1 wrote: »

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.

The Local Authority set the terms and conditions for tenant purchase.
If you think that the LA didn't stick to their own Ts&Cs in your case then you should follow the complaints procedure with the LA and if your not satisfied then you can certainly go to the Ombudsman.
But you can't go to the Ombudsman if it's the case that you don't agree with the Ts&Cs.

phobia2011

So has anyone in the country completed the purchase through the scheme?

kerosene

phobia2011 wrote: »

So has anyone in the country completed the purchase through the scheme?

I havent heard of anyone being successful, ive had to take four days off work, twice to meet the banks and two seperate meetings with the council and to be honest it seems a waste of time.
There are people employed in councils all over the country to deal with these applications, yet the conditions attatched leave it impossible to purchase. It is mind boggling.

The_Conductor

phobia2011 wrote: »

So has anyone in the country completed the purchase through the scheme?

There were 8 successful purchases nationally in 2016.

Councils are not trying to sell property- and have been roundly castigated for divesting of their housing stock over the last 2 decades. It is not impossible to buy a property on this scheme- but its also not easy or straight forward.

mattlennon2011

We need answers on this,I think we need a Facebook group set up and ask our local tds in our areas,get advice from banks as what way it can be financed

The_Conductor

mattlennon2011 wrote: »

We need answers on this,I think we need a Facebook group set up and ask our local tds in our areas,get advice from banks as what way it can be financed

The flipside of the coin- is you have commensurate members of the public making representations to TDs and government Departments to try and have the schemes abolished totally. There have also been a number of PQs to Simon Coveney's Department on it.

I honestly would thread softly on this- there is no consensus that the scheme is helpful to anyone other than the current tenants- and there is a lot of vile and vitriol directed towards the scheme- as its held up as one of the reasons local authorities don't have the expertise to build and maintain new council units.

Thread softly- it really is the case that its a bit of a Pandora's box- and what you hope for- may not be quite what you get............

mattlennon2011

Look the way it is,people will always have problems with people in council homes,listening to it all my life,the current scheme is not functioning the way it is detailed,pressure will have to come from tenants,we have been accepted to buy meet all conditions with council but not by the banks,we own the banks.I will be in contact with a Td about this.We are normal everyday citizens who after all can be treated like second class.I find it in our areas.

The_Conductor

mattlennon2011 wrote: »

Look the way it is,people will always have problems with people in council homes,listening to it all my life,the current scheme is not functioning the way it is detailed,pressure will have to come from tenants,we have been accepted to buy meet all conditions with council but not by the banks,we own the banks.I will be in contact with a Td about this.We are normal everyday citizens who after all can be treated like second class.I find it in our areas.

We don't 'own' the banks- the state is a majority shareholder in AIB (however, is in the process of offloading 20% in a stock market placing). They own 15% of Bank of Ireland. They have already flogged Irish Life and Permanent / TSB etc. Its not the case that we 'own' the banks- quite simply- we don't.

Its not the case that people have problems in local authority homes- its they have a problem with councils divesting themselves of them, when we have a homeless problem worse than in the early 1980s- and councils with schemes on their hands to get rid of property.

The argument is local authority housing should never ever leave public hands- and if/when tenants are in a position to house themselves- either by renting privately, or by purchasing- they should be assisted to do so- but *not* through divestment of local authority housing units.

The various groups are pushing for rule changes for local authority mortgages- to put tenants in local authority housing units on a level pegging with other first-time-buyers for buying in new developments around the country- the Peter McVerry Trust has made multiple representations on just this point.

Most normal people don't have a problem with local authority tenants- they do have an issue with local authorities divesting of housing units (including notably pretty much every charity setup to assist or help the homeless).

Thread carefully- the major opponents to the scheme- may not be who you assume them to be.............

foxy06

I think the thread is heading in the direction of an argument over whether councils should sell properties to tenants or not. That's not the issue here. The issue is that they have come up with a scheme that is verging on impossible to use. I know another poster said 3 people have successfully purchased their council house but I would like to see a link for that. If the council don't want to sell then they shouldn't have the scheme in place. Why waste so many people's time?

On a plus side I believe some credit unions are offering home loans for this scheme but unfortunately mine isn't one of those. It may be of help to others.

kerosene

I think you hit the nail on the head there foxy05.