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Can i sell my house to the council?

BrightIs
BrightIs Posts: 2 Newbie
in House buying, renting & selling
hi all,

i'm having problems selling my home. ie. getting people looking at the place. seeing as the country's population who are dependant on the welfare state is increasing, the council must surely need more homes to house these people.

is there a specific department i can contact in the council that deals with buying homes?

anyone sold there place to the council?

Comments

  • zebidee1
    zebidee1 Posts: 991 Forumite
    edited 10 May 2011 at 11:07AM
    On a more serious note........I suspect different councils will have different policies so you would really need to check with your own local one.....but our council will (depending on their stock levels which are quite low just now since so many people bought their council house) rent a private house out to tenants as if it were their own and maintain it etc whilst paying you rent in the process. Maybe you could consider this as an option?

    Of course this depends on council need, the size of the house, where it is etc.

    They have also in the past, bought back properties that were previously council owned but I have no idea if any other type of privately owned house would be considered or not.

    As I said, not all councils have the same policies so you'd be best contacting yours directly just to query. It never hurts to ask even if the answer is no. I'm sure the switchboard will direct you to the correct department.
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
    Name Dropper Photogenic First Anniversary First Post
    I think, in some instances, individual housing associations may be interested in buying houses from people.... however, if they were really interested they'd have registered that interest with estate agents already I'd have thought.

    I think you'd have more chance contacting local housing associations.

    But don't hold out much hope.

    If your house isn't selling then try dropping the price. After all, even if you did find a "nice easy sell" with a housing association type of organisation, it wouldn't be at the optimistic price your estate agent flew yours into the market with.
  • Debt_Free_Chick
    Debt_Free_Chick Posts: 13,276 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post
    Agree with PN ...... pretty sure that most Councils are looking to offload any existing housing they have (if it's not already sold under RTB), rather than take on any more.

    The shift is towards payment of HB rather than provision of housing, which is horrendously expensive and troublesome to maintain.
    Warning ..... I'm a peri-menopausal axe-wielding maniac ;)
  • A_Nice_Englishman
    A_Nice_Englishman Posts: 2,301 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Mortgage-free Glee!
    If the OP could post a link to his/her house on Rightmove or the estate agent's website I'm sure people will comment on why it's not attracting any viewers.
  • brazilianwax
    brazilianwax Posts: 9,438 Forumite
    PasturesNew wrote: »
    I think, in some instances, individual housing associations may be interested in buying houses from people.... however, if they were really interested they'd have registered that interest with estate agents already I'd have thought.

    I think you'd have more chance contacting local housing associations.

    But don't hold out much hope.

    If your house isn't selling then try dropping the price. After all, even if you did find a "nice easy sell" with a housing association type of organisation, it wouldn't be at the optimistic price your estate agent flew yours into the market with.

    I did this when I was looking to sell. They asked what it had been valued at, and then offered me exactly half.

    It sold within 2 days so I didn't give it much thought, but don't expect the HA route to be at market value ;)
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  • seven-day-weekend
    seven-day-weekend Posts: 36,755 Forumite
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    Most councils are dumping their housing stock, not taking on more, although sometimes they will lease your house to rent to tenants.

    I don't think you have much of a chance really.

    Have you been told why no-one is interested in your house? Usually it's because they are priced too highly.
    (AKA HRH_MUngo)
    Member #10 of £2 savers club
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  • *Louise*
    *Louise* Posts: 9,197 Forumite
    My place is on the market, and I had a buyer for the council view it the other day, I didn't contact them though, they were registered with my local EA, who referred my place to them.

    Our council can't get any more land to build on, so they are buying a lot of properties...every area will be different...
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