Mortgage Allowance Scheme advise

UXer

Hello, I would appreciate it if anyone can advise on the Mortgage allowance scheme for council tenants in Cork City wishing to move out and buy their own property. I've been told by the council that I have to move into the new house first after it is bought. But that doesn't make sense because a form that I found online for the Roscommon district states that I have to put in the property I wish to purchase?

Any advice on this with anyone in the know or whom has experience of this would be much appreciated. Thank you. I put some brief info below about the scheme...

'Mortgage Allowance Scheme. An allowance of up to €11,450 is payable over a 5 year period to tenants or tenant purchasers of local authority housing or tenants of houses provided under the voluntary housing Rental Subsidy Scheme to assist them to purchase or have a private house built with a mortgage'.

coffeyt

I've claimed this scheme after purchasing a property 4 years ago, it wasn't cork but as far as I'm aware it's the same rules across the board.

You have to have bought and moved into the property prior to getting the allowance as one of the criteria is that the council property you hand back must be in good condition with no rent arrears so obviously you have to have handed back the property before they can check this.

We were advised they wouldn't process the application until we had moved out but it would be dealt with very quickly at that stage.

We were actually 8 months living in our new house before we got the mortgage allowance scheme (our own fault as we delayed applying) but as soon as it was approved it was applied straight away to our mortgage.

Any questions feel free to ask.

UXer

Much appreciated, thanks for such a quick and informed response. So the process was relatively painless then, that's good to hear. I think I'll certainly have more questions and will keep this thread informed of barriers and solutions to keep it updated and informative for others whom may come across the same need for advice in this area. Thanks again:)

UXer

Couple of questions that came up. My partner is not moving from a council flat, it's only myself that is handing over the flat but we are taking up a joint mortgage application. Would you know / or would anyone be aware if this could be an issue? Thanks again.

coffeyt

I'm actually not 100% on that, from what I remember there was nothing in the rules that would exclude you from receiving the allowance under the condition you describe (as long as you are a tenant of the council and handing the property back) but you would really need to check with the County council.