Buying Grandparents Council House

black-saturn

There usually isnt a surplus amount. The rent payment covers the mortgage.

WiseInvestor_2

black-saturn wrote:

There usually isnt a surplus amount. The rent payment covers the mortgage.

Can the landlord not set their own price? I doubt there'd be much of a mortgage on (for example) £3000

ianian99

no wonder people cant get a council house. No offence mate but I think you are out of order, I have never agreed with council house sales but fair enough if its being bought by the tennant and its saving them money(i.e. mortgage cheaper than rent) but buying your grandparents house for your benefit is totally out of order.
i was reading a post on here the other day and it was about someone who wanted to 'squat' a derelict property that had been left to rot for 10 years and he got a fair bit of stick getting called a thief etc and everybody saying what scum of the earth that squatters were. Well if everybody wasn't buying up all the decent council houses (which I bet your grandparents is a decent house in a decent area) that they are not entitled to then there would be a lot less squatters.
I myself was told in the summer I had no chance of a council property when I was homeless and sleeping rough due to the fact that I was a healthy male with no dependants and no drug/drink or mental problems, ironically though if i'd slept rough long enough I'd probably have all 3 problems and get a house!!

I'm not having a go at you mate but it does wind me up that all the decent council houses are now privately owned and the vast majority of them are not owned by the person that had rented from the council, they've all been sold on at HUGE profits.

As for housing benefit, you CANNOT claim housing benefit for a property that is rented out to you by a relative. I know people are doing it but they are using bogus landlord details on the claim form i.e. FRAUD.

black-saturn

ianian99 wrote:

I myself was told in the summer I had no chance of a council property when I was homeless and sleeping rough due to the fact that I was a healthy male with no dependants and no drug/drink or mental problems, ironically though if i'd slept rough long enough I'd probably have all 3 problems and get a house!!

I agree with that too. A few years ago I was unfortunate enough to be evicted from my house due to the landlord wanting to sell up. There were no vacant council houses in my town what so ever and a queue of thousands of people for the next available one. I had to go and live in a hostel for the homeless full of druggies and winos with my 2 children (then 5 and 3) as there literally was nowhere else to go.

ianian99

black-saturn wrote:

I agree with that too. A few years ago I was unfortunate enough to be evicted from my house due to the landlord wanting to sell up. There were no vacant council houses in my town what so ever and a queue of thousands of people for the next available one. I had to go and live in a hostel for the homeless full of druggies and winos with my 2 children (then 5 and 3) as there literally was nowhere else to go.

I wouldn't go near a hostel , junkie - wino - nutter central, but with kids you had no choice, what a nightmare. I prefered to sleep outside than go to ymca etc and to be honest its not THAT bad in summer even spent couple of weeks in a tent in skeggy camp site few quid a night sorted!! lol
The other thing that wound me up is the fact that this city has over 3000 (registered) asylum seekers who are all housed, they dont have to go to hostels etc. I have worked 90% of my working life, paid my taxes etc and cant get a council house but single male asylum seekers from other countries are given a house instantly

Anyway i got my s**** together without help from anyone (anyone official that is) and now i've got a lovely 4 bedroom house that i rent privately and pay the rent myself, its quite expensive but its a lovely house in a nice area(not ex council house either lol) but I've discovered some real bargain houses to rent in scotland i.e. 3 bed cottage in perthshire with out buildings etc £275 a month for instance. I'm off back to scotland in the new year.

calleyw

According to this website the max discount is £38K.

Yours

Calley

Poppy9

You might find this previous thread useful.

Didn't work out for my OH & his sibling. They have provided free housing for In laws for over 15 years. They were happy to do this providing they had security of inheriting the house in the very distant future. Wouldn't have dreamed of charging them rent or claiming HB (they lived off benefits) When they bought the house paid 20k (true value 38k) now worth £140k. Didn't expect house prices to rise this much in our area.

I can see what some posters are saying about selling off the decent stock. Truth is though if they hadn't been sold they wouldn't be decent but in a dire state of repair. Councils (who blame the Govt. for lack of funding) have an appalling record in Council Housing Stock maintenance.

center_half

Thankyou all for all your helpful advice.

I felt that i must add at this point that i am not simply doing this for my own means and love my grandparents very much, i would also do anything that i posiibly could to help them in anyway i can.

Many points have been raised which i must address. My Grandparents have never decided to buy the house because, simply they haven't been able to afford it. They are both 80 and therefore were of retirement age when the right to buy scheme was introduced.

The issue of why didn't my Grandparents children want to buy the house. My Mother is an only child and therefore is my Nan & Grandads only offspring. Why My Mother never offered to buy, I have no idea, maybe she never realised this was possible until recently. I must add at this point that if i were to proceed and buy my Nan & Grandads house it would be a joint effort with myself, Mum, Dad and Sister all contributing towards the cost.

I sympathise with all the posts addressing the fact that "no wonder no body can get a council house". I too have encountered the same problem. I live in an area where house prices are extremely expensive, and appear even more so to a first time buyer. I was fortunate enough to be able to buy a 50% shared ownership property. As on my current salary i am unable to afford a mortgage that will buy a house outright, apart from shared ownership, the council would have been my only option.

I understand that people will be cynical about this issue, but this is not a money grabbing scheme, but is to help my Grandparents at a time when the state pension is barely enough to live in. Also, it will obviously be an investment which would add some safety towards my family and my own future. But by no means is this the main aim.

I am sorry if i provided a bit too much background information, and if my tone may seem argumentative. But i wanted you all to understand where i am coming from and i did not like the fact that it appeared that i was a money grabber who did not care at all for my Grandparents. This could not be further from the truth, as i love them very much

Robert_Sterling_3

In life, metaphorically speaking, sometimes it rains and sometimes the sun comes out.
Your grandparents will have lived through the depression of the 1930s and the second world war.
Also the rationing period which continued for years after the war ended.
They were never in a position to buy themselves a house.
They were some of the rainy day.
More recently some council house tenants have had some sunnier days.
They have had an opportunity to buy their coucil house.
What grand parent would not like to own a home which they can leave to their descendants.
Now that I know that the appropriate members of the family are invoved in the purchase I wish you all well.

ianian99

center_half wrote:

Thankyou all for all your helpful advice.

I felt that i must add at this point that i am not simply doing this for my own means and love my grandparents very much, i would also do anything that i posiibly could to help them in anyway i can.

Many points have been raised which i must address. My Grandparents have never decided to buy the house because, simply they haven't been able to afford it. They are both 80 and therefore were of retirement age when the right to buy scheme was introduced.

The issue of why didn't my Grandparents children want to buy the house. My Mother is an only child and therefore is my Nan & Grandads only offspring. Why My Mother never offered to buy, I have no idea, maybe she never realised this was possible until recently. I must add at this point that if i were to proceed and buy my Nan & Grandads house it would be a joint effort with myself, Mum, Dad and Sister all contributing towards the cost.

I sympathise with all the posts addressing the fact that "no wonder no body can get a council house". I too have encountered the same problem. I live in an area where house prices are extremely expensive, and appear even more so to a first time buyer. I was fortunate enough to be able to buy a 50% shared ownership property. As on my current salary i am unable to afford a mortgage that will buy a house outright, apart from shared ownership, the council would have been my only option.

I understand that people will be cynical about this issue, but this is not a money grabbing scheme, but is to help my Grandparents at a time when the state pension is barely enough to live in. Also, it will obviously be an investment which would add some safety towards my family and my own future. But by no means is this the main aim.

I am sorry if i provided a bit too much background information, and if my tone may seem argumentative. But i wanted you all to understand where i am coming from and i did not like the fact that it appeared that i was a money grabber who did not care at all for my Grandparents. This could not be further from the truth, as i love them very much

but surely if your grandparents live on state pension alone then they will get housing benefit so I fail to see how excactly you are helping them and not yourself?