Selling to the council

rightmove

Well they are interested and not sure if I should pursue the traditional route of a private buyer or go with council. The price us right but I hear they an drag you out forever but not sure if that is true. Just wondering what I need to look out for. It's fingal and I would like it pushed through as soon as.

rgodard80a

Did you get your house valued by a local estate agent?

rightmove

rgodard80a wrote: »

Did you get your house valued by a local estate agent?

Yes. Someone from cc has looked at it. Just looking for general advice to avoid bumps on the road

tretorn

I am selling a house with Fingal and I was told twelve weeks from start to finish.

I was given the price I asked for and now contracts are with solicitors. My solicitor did say they can drag it out but surely with so much talk about homelessness and lack of houses speed is of the essence. I hope so anyway because I want rid of the house too.

handlemaster

tretorn wrote: »

I am selling a house with Fingal and I was told twelve weeks from start to finish.

I was given the price I asked for and now contracts are with solicitors. My solicitor did say they can drag it out but surely with so much talk about homelessness and lack of houses speed is of the essence. I hope so anyway because I want rid of the house too.

so fingal paid full asking price ?

cruizer101

Got to say this practice really annoys me.
The council is pushing up house prices by buying a house against a private purchaser.
Also it would be far cheaper for them to build then buy.
What's the point in them buying and renting as social housing when it's one less house for private purchaser who may end up having to go on social housing list, why can't they just build houses with the money for f**k sake. Yes it takes more time but its actually solving the problem not kicking the s**t filled can down the road.
BTW I'm not giving out to you OP, do what's best for you, just wish council weren't so useless.

tretorn

handlemaster wrote: »

so fingal paid full asking price ?

Well, they accepted the asking price, they havent actually paid yet but contracts are with solicitors. I checked what houses were going for and asked for similar, I am a bit sorry now I didnt ask for a bit more.

There are no estate agents costs though and hopefully the council wont back out or delay the sale.

rightmove

cruizer101 wrote: »

Got to say this practice really annoys me.
The council is pushing up house prices by buying a house against a private purchaser.
Also it would be far cheaper for them to build then buy.
What's the point in them buying and renting as social housing when it's one less house for private purchaser who may end up having to go on social housing list, why can't they just build houses with the money for f**k sake. Yes it takes more time but its actually solving the problem not kicking the s**t filled can down the road.
BTW I'm not giving out to you OP, do what's best for you, just wish council weren't so useless.

Agree as a taxpayer this is not what we should be doing..personal opinions . Separate thread though. ......Just looking for advice as a seller please. Ta

rightmove

tretorn wrote: »

Well, they accepted the asking price, they havent actually paid yet but contracts are with solicitors. I checked what houses were going for and asked for similar, I am a bit sorry now I didnt ask for a bit more.

There are no estate agents costs though and hopefully the council wont back out or delay the sale.

Did they pay a deposit? Inspect etc? Was it 12 weeks ... that is long time given the current issues

machalla

I see a thread on this from early 2018 here

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057827638

There might be a few people you could PM off that thread to find out how they got on.

tretorn

rightmove wrote: »

Did they pay a deposit? Inspect etc? Was it 12 weeks ... that is long time given the current issues

No deposit paid.

A BER report was required and that was done this week.

If they stick to the twelve weeks the sale should go through by the end of April. I cant see why there should be a delay.

rightmove

tretorn wrote: »

No deposit paid.

A BER report was required and that was done this week.

If they stick to the twelve weeks the sale should go through by the end of April. I cant see why there should be a delay.

How you go sale agreed if no deposit?

handlemaster

tretorn wrote: »

No deposit paid.

A BER report was required and that was done this week.

If they stick to the twelve weeks the sale should go through by the end of April. I cant see why there should be a delay.

did the property have to be empty for them to buy, i.e. you dont have sitting social tenants in the property ?

rightmove

handlemaster wrote: »

did the property have to be empty for them to buy, i.e. you dont have sitting social tenants in the property ?

Mine was empty ..yes

Krombopulos Michael

Did you contact the council yourself regarding selling?

rightmove

Krombopulos Michael wrote: »

Did you contact the council yourself regarding selling?

No ...on open market at moment

Dee01

I sold to the council, so happy to chat re what happened.

Caranica

handlemaster wrote: »

did the property have to be empty for them to buy, i.e. you dont have sitting social tenants in the property ?

In my experience some Councils require vacant possession even if the tenants are on the housing list. A friend was selling an apartment in D18 and even though their tenants were on the housing list, DLR required vacant possession as the tenants weren't at the top of the housing list.

rightmove

Dee01 wrote: »

I sold to the council, so happy to chat re what happened.

Please share. Others will benefit from your experiences

tretorn

Yes, I contacted the council and they came out within days to inspect the property. I was told immediately that they were interested and my solicitor and theirs got in contact.

The house had to be tenant free and I think they wont deal with you if the house is with an estate agent, ie they wont get into a bidding situation.

I will ask my solicitor today about a booking deposit, I presume I will get thst shortly.

Please tell of your experience of completing a sale to the council.

Krombopulos Michael

I'd be interested in how long the process would take versus a private sale

tretorn

There is no reason why a straight forward sale should take a long time.

We are hearing constantly about a lack of houses so why would local authorities delay getting one into their possession so they can rent it.

I am really hoping this is the case.

Dee01

I had put my house on the market via a private auctioneer. She kept telling me to go sale agrd well below the asking price (2016) as she wanted done with the sale, but there was still interest and bids trickling in. I decided to sack her and I called the council. They took my address and said they'd be interested, so we arranged the inspection. After the last inspection, they offered full asking price. A previous bidder topped that by 5k, but council wouldn't engage in bidding. I decided to go with the councils lower offer as i felt it was guaranteed and wouldnt fall through.

I had a tracker, so needed the sale and purchase to go through on the same day. The purchase took ages and the council were happy to wait. Draft contracts were drawn up and signed. I actually dont think we got a deposit to be honest. When we were ready for the sale, i got on to the council and everything moved really quickly.

The delays with us were due to annual leave in the council and my solicitor being shocking. I'd advise getting a good solicitor.

We had to leave the house 100% empty and relatively clean. After we lefr, the house was idle for about 3 months and then they came in and gutted it (brand new kitchen ripped out, new windows and doors, new boiler etc.). Tenants moved in about 6 months after that.

tretorn

So the house was left empty for nine months, what is all that about when we have families living in hotels.

Its a scandal that perfectly good kitchens are being ripped out. If I buy a house and have no money I have to put up with whatever kitchen is in that house until I can afford to replace it. Same with windows and doors whatever about replacing a boiler.

All this nonsense has a lot to do with the homeless problem.

Do you mind saying which council you were with Dee01.

Dee01

tretorn wrote: »

So the house was left empty for nine months, what is all that about when we have families living in hotels.

Its a scandal that perfectly good kitchens are being ripped out. If I buy a house and have no money I have to put up with whatever kitchen is in that house until I can afford to replace it. Same with windows and doors whatever about replacing a boiler.

All this nonsense has a lot to do with the homeless problem.

Do you mind saying which council you were with Dee01.

I know - we felt exactly the same. It was heartbreaking seeing some of our things in skips (solid wooden floors, fireplace, all internal glazed doors), all perfect. Seemingly, the council have to bring the houses they take back to as they were. It was dublin city council.

Caranica

Dee01 wrote: »

I know - we felt exactly the same. It was heartbreaking seeing some of our things in skips (solid wooden floors, fireplace, all internal glazed doors), all perfect. Seemingly, the council have to bring the houses they take back to as they were. It was dublin city council.

The reason is that the council renovate and then the tenant is responsible for maintenance and wear and tear. In some cases the council will move people in straight away but are on the hook if anything goes wrong. It's cheaper and more efficient to fully renovate at the start.

rightmove

Caranica wrote: »

It's cheaper and more efficient to fully renovate at the start.

Surely it's cheaper to leave it as is. The responsibility model is a smokescreen for wasting tax payers money

zreba

tretorn wrote: »

So the house was left empty for nine months, what is all that about when we have families living in hotels.

Its a scandal that perfectly good kitchens are being ripped out. If I buy a house and have no money I have to put up with whatever kitchen is in that house until I can afford to replace it. Same with windows and doors whatever about replacing a boiler.

All this nonsense has a lot to do with the homeless problem.

Do you mind saying which council you were with Dee01.

Just another good example of how the regulation meant to be protecting the people, in reality works against them. Similarly the building and planning regulations, minimum apartment sizes, min number of lifts in a building, car park spaces and height limits. An enforced list of 'nice to have' features, which only small percentage of the population can afford. The result is, we get only a few of very nice new apartments for rich and no housing for the men on the ground. The 10k or 14k homeless people is just the tip of the iceberg. There are likely a million on top of that who struggle, but somehow still manage to not dive fully under the water so there's no headlines about them.

The irony of 'unintended consequences'. Unintended consequences, but not unexpected.

Caranica

rightmove wrote: »

Surely it's cheaper to leave it as is. The responsibility model is a smokescreen for wasting tax payers money

You'd be surprised. Weekly calls to fix /replace A/B/C start adding up very quickly

OU812

What number do you call to enquire if they’re interested?

daheff

rightmove wrote: »

Surely it's cheaper to leave it as is. The responsibility model is a smokescreen for wasting tax payers money

As i understand it, council needs to bring houses up to current building standards. The older the house, the more renovations needed.

but why it takes 3 mths to start is crazy. they should have a team ready to start day you move out.

jap gt

Who do you contact about selling to the council

tretorn

Email or ring your local housing department. They should have a website and the contact details will be there. They should send someone out quickly and a decision made immediately as to whether they want the house ir not.

The house I am selling is valued at 240 thousand, I presume the council wont go much above this price, this is a three bed house.

OU812

tretorn wrote: »

Email or ring your local housing department. They should have a website and the contact details will be there. They should send someone out quickly and a decision made immediately as to whether they want the house ir not.

The house I am selling is valued at 240 thousand, I presume the council wont go much above this price, this is a three bed house.

Is the house inside or outside Dublin?

tretorn

In Dublin, thats the going rate for the area and I didnt want a long drawn out sale.

As I said I would think the council are mostly interested in houses valued under 300 thousand, they probably wont pay much more than that.

zreba

tretorn wrote: »

In Dublin, thats the going rate for the area and I didnt want a long drawn out sale.

As I said I would think the council are mostly interested in houses valued under 300 thousand, they probably wont pay much more than that.

How do people feel seeing that some people get free 300k worth houses while working middle-class is trying to get approvals for 200k mortgage?

It's all upside down. Council houses are better than working people can afford to buy.

tretorn

Council tenants do pay rent, the house isnt exactly free.

The rent is nowhere near market rate though and there is a big problem with some tenants not paying any rent at all.

There is nothing the councils can do and the tenants know this, even if the family are evicted the council have to find them a house somewhere else especially if there are children. The process to evict them will take forever and cost a lot of money and the arreears will probably never be paid.

rightmove

zreba wrote: »

How do people feel seeing that some people get free 300k worth houses while working middle-class is trying to get approvals for 200k mortgage?

It's all upside down. Council houses are better than working people can afford to buy.

Welcome to the land of milk and honey

rightmove

Ok just wondering how soon after the council inspects ( with an engineer)the property will they go with the valuation??

rightmove

Forgot to mention it's fingal

rightmove

when council make the offer and you accept it - how long does it take to get the booking deposit from them to officially go sale agreed (rather then "sale agreed in prinicipal" which is where its at)

bri007

Mod Note

Ranting removed as unrelated to topic at hand.

machalla

How did this work out for the you rightmove? Did you go with the council sale in the end?

rightmove

machalla wrote: »

How did this work out for the you rightmove? Did you go with the council sale in the end?

4 months closed yesterday

Jules19

Hi, I'm just looking into selling to the council and.found this thread. I'm just curious as to how you got on with your sale?

Jules19

rightmove wrote: »

Mine was empty ..yes

Hi I'm just wondering how your sale went with the council

ccull123

Just wondering has anyone had any recent experience with this. Thinking of selling my apartment in south Dublin county and would appreciate a fresh insight into it. Thanks

mhdfornow

Currently selling to Cork county council through our auctioneer. Engineer and valuator has gone out to the property and it took 1&1/2 months for them to get it done. Still waiting for the senior manager’s decision to purchase, almost 2 months now since we offered the house to them.

mhdfornow

It’s not worth selling to the county council at all. They only offered €15k less than our asking price and the process will most likely take twice as the private sale. 👎

We’re better off renting out the house as it will generate more income in the long run.

ccull123

Which city/county council was that with? Thanks for the info

ccull123

Which city/county council was that with? Thanks for the info