Advice on buying a country property

ForestFire

Francisco64 wrote: »

Lumen: they told me on the phone they'd need a landline number for a test. Most of the houses I've looked at only have the townland name as the address not a no and street.

Every house now has an Eircode. Can you/Eir not use this to pinpoint the location?

Francisco64

Lumen: the eir guy never mentioned the Eircode so that could well be another way of checking as its more precise.

jinkybhoy: gawd almighty, thats a bit random.

We had no idea this was going to be such an issue. We were aware that some remoter parts would have bad coverage but thought even relatively close to Dublin or close to main routes or towns would be okay.

Francisco64

Forestfire: I'd have to check with Eir again. When I spoke to them they only mentioned needing the landline no and didn't say anything about the Eircode. I hadn't thought of it when speaking to them.

MarkAnthony

No one uses Eircode due the cost involved.

Don't trust anything Eir tell you without a confirmed ARD key.

DanielDI

Thanks for writing this. We are going out in FIVE days to look at some rural property and pick which one we want to live on for the rest of our lives. I THOUGHT I was obsessive and anal but, dang, after reading this I ve got some homework to do this week. You ve brought up several excellent issues that never crossed my mind.

Francisco64

Markanthony: whats an ARD key?

Danieldi: yes, its proving a lot more complicated than we'd thought. And just to throw another spanner in the works I need to check on public liability insurance on any land we'd have as we're hoping to get a couple of acres.

jinkybhoy

Francisco64 wrote: »

Markanthony: whats an ARD key?

Danieldi: yes, its proving a lot more complicated than we'd thought. And just to throw another spanner in the works I need to check on public liability insurance on any land we'd have as we're hoping to get a couple of acres.

Most house policies will cover up to an acre max so you'd have to get a a kind of farm type policy to cover extra land in my opinion - FBD are your best best there but not a good time with them as they are getting rid of business or quoting high premiums.

Francisco64

Ah okay. Good to know. We wouldn't be doing anything with it apart from having a few chickens on it. More just want the ground as a bit of a buffer for some peace and quiet.

sonners

also on the internet issue - alot of the satellite service providers block-out or have restrictions on vpn connections. So if you need to connect to a vpn to work from home that rules them out as an option. Its one of the small print clauses that none of them will tell you about (most of their operators dont even realise its there as they rarely come across it).

Also a +1 for the 'this house has broadband but the house beside it can't get it' phenomenon - happens all over the country unfortunately. My personal experience was that I had vodafone broadband, I asked to move to fibre, no problem they said, engineer arrives out and says no can do. I contacted Eir to see if they could give it to me (I know its the same lines but anyway... ) 2 out of 3 calls to Eir I was told no, when they told me yes I took the contract (I could cancel for free if they couldn't actually give me the service). Eir arrived out and I now have 45mb consistently into the house.

Basically a speedtest on the property is the only guaranteed way of knowing what you can actually get on the property unfortunately.

Metric Tensor

Also to add into the mix - I think you'll have to pay stamp duty on any land you buy with the house that's above an acre.

Broadband was the single biggest sticking point on almost every house we looked at. In the end we had to settle for a less than ideal solution (fixed wireless) and it has made work more difficult for me but I trade that off against the benefits - I'm watching the neighbour out the window cutting silage in the glorious sunshine as I do my 9-5!

Water John

Francisco, you begin to see why Rural Broadband is such an issue highlighted by rural TD's. Some journalists were not taking its importance seriously.

I think Hibernian also do farm insurance. Always ask a broker.

Impossible to know wells and recharge. You'll have to largely take the sellers word. Most wells would have enough for one house. September would be the weakest month.

Check the planning office of the county to see if planning is granted for anything near your possible purchase.

Francisco64

Sonners: another minus for satellite so. I'll have to check if my wife uses a vpn. But always the possibility that if she's not on one now she may be in the future. Talking to the neighbours about their service will be useless then with those situations. Hmm.....

sonners

Francisco64 wrote: »

Sonners: another minus for satellite so. I'll have to check if my wife uses a vpn. But always the possibility that if she's not on one now she may be in the future. Talking to the neighbours about their service will be useless then with those situations. Hmm.....

It might be worth checking with the satellite providers in the local area - I'm down in Wexford and the most common ones down here all block the connection or restrict traffic going through it to 0 (so you can connect but can't access anything).

But you're right, even if she doesn't use a vpn at the moment its a very common requirement if working from home so she may well need it in the future.

Francisco64

Metric Tensor: I did not know that about the stamp duty on the extra land. I'll look into that. Well you're living the dream now anyway!

Water John: Yes, absolutely agree rural broadband is a major issue. Especially now after looking into it.The benefits to small businesses are huge. I've been able to buy items from craftspeople in remote areas in other countries who couldn't afford to operate in major cities and they can sell products/services internationally. The same could apply here.

I will check out the local planning office. Any idea off the top of your head how long they have to be displayed before being built?

Sonners: just home now and checked with the wife. She is on a vpn. I had originally thought that satellite would have given us what we wanted but we'd pay for it.

Water John

Most plannings are given for 5 years, some go to 10 years.

Too late to find out planning has been granted for some thing you disagree with in the area, after you have bought.

Francisco64

Indeed. I think that'll be the 2nd box to be ticked after broadband. Thanks for that.

athtrasna

While rural broadband is a major issue, it may be better to research that in the appropriate regional fora when you narrow down your search area, or indeed in the networking and broadband forum. It has taken over 90% of this thread and is masking the posts about other issues and advice on buying a country property, as asked in the OP so maybe we can move on from the broadband discussion? Thanks, Mod

Francisco64

Thank you everyone for all your replies. My original post was with regard to wells and septic tanks but the broadband discussion was very useful as it's a deal breaker for us. Some other really useful points came out during the discussion.

Is there anything further anyone would add to this list of items to check for people moving from an urban area to a rural area?

1. Broadband: already discussed.

2. Planning permission: check the local council offices to see if anything will be built close to the new property.

3.Stamp duty: I've checked this. From Revenue:
" If a house and gardens which comprise an area of more than one acre are sold, the
consideration must be apportioned between the house and the curtilage (the one acre
which is most suitable for occupation and enjoyment with the dwelling) and the
remaining land. The consideration apportioned to the house and curtilage is liable to
residential rates of duty and the consideration apportioned to the lands over the one
acre is liable at non-residential rates."
So that's 1% for house and gardens and 2% on the rest.

4. If you're buying more than 1 acre you may also need an insurance policy (possibly a farm type policy) to cover the extra acreage not covered under the normal house insurance. Talk to brokers.
(we ourselves were hoping to get a couple of acres around the house as I like to sing very loudly when in the shower)

5. Check you can get mobile phone signals if you'll need them.

6. Re well and septic tanks: these would not normally be checked under a normal building survey so you need specialists to check these at an extra cost if you have any concerns. Likewise the water quality can be tested again at extra cost.

jinkybhoy

Francisco64 wrote: »

4. If you're buying more than 1 acre you may also need an insurance policy (possibly a farm type policy) to cover the extra acreage not covered under the normal house insurance. Talk to brokers.
(we ourselves were hoping to get a couple of acres around the house as I like to sing very loudly when in the shower)

5. Check you can get mobile phone signals if you'll need them.

6. Re well and septic tanks: these would not normally be checked under a normal building survey so you need specialists to check these at an extra cost if you have any concerns. Likewise the water quality can be tested again at extra cost.

4. Aviva and Zurich are your best bets on these along with FBD - Zurich are pretty competitive

5. check throughout the house. May get good signal in kitchen but none upstairs as I found out!!

6. Septic tanks are more than likely the bio cycles now and if it's an older one ie Septic pit type thing, you may have to upgrade to one of these - I'm only guessing here so open to correction. I have bio cycle and it's good but don't put wipes or paper towels down the toilets - Had to clean it a few times - not pleasant!!!

Water John

Mobile phone reception limited upstairs, often by foil backed insulation in the roof space.

TeaBagMania

Also interested in the septic tank side of this discussion, particularly inspection fees and ballpark replacement cost if so needed

dr.fuzzenstein

Just one more thing: Midges. Try to avoid houses in areas with these little blighters. They will make any sort of outside life (except running and cycling) near impossible.

Water John

Tea Bag, septic tank on an existing house is not a big issue. A small number inspected each year. If there were problems you could spend €4/6K rectifying it.

TeaBagMania

Thanks John, I was just thinking of a pre-purchase inspection to sort out if im walking into a 6K euro replacement, this way I can negotiate the repair\replacement cost into the purchase price

Francisco64

Jinkybhoy: if mine every blocks I'll sell the house.

waterjohn: foil backed board...of course. I'd never have thought of that.

dr fuzzenstein: midges: good point. They make a beeline for me. Are they more common near rivers and lakes?