Query on buying councilproperty

blossom30

Hi, I wonder if anyone knows the process for buying council property. My parents have been council tenants for 45 years and are both on a state pension.Would they be eligible to buy their council house and if so does anyone know the costs involved. I would be grateful for any info .Thanks

Bossyboots

Have you looked on the website for their local council? This should give them a starting point and a scale of reduction. If you have any difficulty, post the local authority here and I will see what I can dig up.

blossom30

Hi, Bossyboots my parents live in Glasgow.Grateful for your help.

Bossyboots

This has to be one of the most difficult to track. I can find the Glasgow City Council website but at the moment no useful information. There must be a department that deals with this. The should be able to ring up and get some information sent.

JennyB

Hi
This link has got all the information on buying your own council house from a leaflet called "Your Right to Buy Your Home". http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/housing/tbyh-00.asp Hope this helps. I want to buy my mum's council house for her but can't afford to at the moment. It doesn't help that the English system, unlike the Scottish system, is capped. My mum has lived in her house for 20 years so should be entitled to a 50% discount which would in her case be £90,000. But in the area she lives in the maximum discount is capped at £26,000. If she lived in Scotland she'd get the whole discount... what's that all about?! Well, at least she doesn't live in London or Wales because there the maximum discount is £16,000. Good luck with it.

Dennis99

It seems Glasgow City Council are no longer responsible for council housing.
The Glasgow Housing Association took them over 2 years ago.
http://www.gha.org.uk/content/default.asp?page=s1

Put your parents postcode in the following link to find out their local organisation , then ring them and they should be able to at least point you in the right direction! :j

http://www.gha.org.uk/content/ghost_postcodesearch.asp?page=s13_7

Vital_Spark_2

Does anyone know if, in the event of an offspring buying the council house of their parent, that parent would remain eligible to claim housing benefits should their circumstances make them so when the purchase is made or, if their circumstances should change making them so, at any point in the future? For example, if the parent is disabled recieving DLA, Income Support, on low income or the like.

Would the house, once purchased, on a "Tenant Discount Purchase Scheme" be in the name of the parent or that of the child ? Would that ensure the parent's home being secure should they, as their child's tenant, fall into financial difficulties at any time after the purchase date? Also, does the purchasing child have to be living in or have lived in for any specified length of time, the house with their parent to make them eligible to claim the discount?

Restrictions have also been brought into being regarding the sale of Council Housing in Scotland. Certain areas have been (temporarily, we're told)removed from eligibility to buy because of a drastic shortage and high demand for renting from Council (fair enough).

I am not sure of all those places facing such restriction but there are certainly a few such areas in Fife.

Any spelling discrepancies in the above are to be viewed as artistically creative. Slidexya Lures, KO! :cool:

brummybloke

my understanding is, you cant recieve housing benefit when you live in a family members house, it is expected that you as a family member will provide free housing to your family member

i could be wrong, it wouldnt be the first time and it wont be the last.

Bossyboots

The house has to be in the name of the tenants, your children cannot buy it for you in their names. You would need a Deed of Trust drawn up so that the offspring's investment is protected and the house passes to them when the parents have died. The parents are therefore the owners and not tenants of their own home.

My friend's parents didn't do this, they simply put up the money but fortunately the father's mother made a will leaving them the property. The problem with that is that remarriage invalidates a will and also the grandmother could have changed her will at any time anyway.

Vital_Spark_2

Thanks Brummylad and Bossyboots.

Do you know if the same rules apply to buying Council Property in Scotland?

I'm planning to set up in business but that's always a dicey situation, financially. My daughter wants to buy my home for me but I don't want her to lose everything if my business plans go belly up.

I am registered disabled and unable to offer my services to another as the nature of my disability would render me far too unreliable. Hence my plans to set up in business for myself (can make my business workign hours sufficiently flexible to accommodate disability,): potentially regain my independence but only myself to let down if the venture fails. I don't plan for it to do so but the unrealistic only end up living in depression if teh worst happens.

I can take chances for myself but I don't gamble on my kids welfare. Hence question re security of her investment.

While on this subject, is there a thread which helps with the setting up of businesses?

Vital_Spark_2

And good luck to the initiator of this thread. Sorry, I kind of took over, didn't I?

Was unintentional