Buying Grandparents Council House

Phonix

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.

The fact of the matter is, the main people to blame for these problems are Thatcher and the former conservative government for their creation of the right to buy scheme and their introduction of assured shorthold tenencies which happen to be one of the main causes of homelessesness.

This is one reason why I'll definately not be voting conservative anytime in the future.

patchwork_cat

Ceebeeby that would be a contrived tenancy and as such fraud.

WiseInvestor_2

center_half wrote:

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

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.

Perhaps your family could consider focusing their contributions on direct financial help if your Grandparents are finding it hard to make ends meet?

Your Grandparents have been very lucky to have had housing assistance for most, if not all of their lives. I'd like to think they'd want others have the same opportunity, which presumably wouldn't be the case if the house was moved into the private sector?

sparkymark_3

If everyone is in agreement then go for it ! They have probably paid more in rent than a mortgage would have cost anyway. I can see people`s point about council Housing shrinking but surely the Government should deal with the issue seeing as they created it in the first place.

black-saturn

It is not fraud to rent a house from a family member and receive housing benefit for it. It is perfectly legal. They would refuse housing benefit if you were living in the same house as a lodger or renting a room, but not if it is a separate property.

How do you think you grandparents would have felt if when they were in need of housing all those years ago the council turned round and told them that there werent any vacant council houses available and theres at last a 2 year waiting list for the next one. Then they said 'but dont worry, you can have a room in a hostel full of winos and druggies'? I think you should help your grandparents out another way and let that house eventually go to a family that really needs it. If your doing it out of love for your grandparents why buy their house? They wont be any better off from you doing it and I guess you will profit nicely from it when you eventually sell it.

Poppy9

sparkymark wrote:

If everyone is in agreement then go for it ! They have probably paid more in rent than a mortgage would have cost anyway. I can see people`s point about council Housing shrinking but surely the Government should deal with the issue seeing as they created it in the first place.

No Govt. can afford now to invest in social housing. I think Councils should call a halt to selling off housing stock though. Mrs T might have thought that everyone could own their own homes in an ideal world but reality is different. They tried it and it didn't work.

Why not buy a non council house for them to live in. Property prices will appreciate and you will get their benefits to cover the mortgage. This then frees up the council house for needy tenants.

Bossyboots

Poppy9 wrote:

Why not buy a non council house for them to live in. Property prices will appreciate and you will get their benefits to cover the mortgage. This then frees up the council house for needy tenants.

Then they won't get the benefit of the tenants' discount which will reduce the price substantially.

Robert_Sterling_3

Who can remember Lady Porter of Tesco?

ianian99

Robert_Sterling wrote:

Who can remember Lady Porter of Tesco?

vaguely was she not find millions of pounds for a council house sell off scam years ago?

_Bob__2

I think you will find the 2004 housing act has changed a few things

- Discount repayment period is now 5 years on newly completed RTB's and not 3, this is now calculated as a percentage of the discount received when puchased against the sale price, and not a percentage of the discount afforded when purchased.

- Again on newly completed RTB's if you wish to sell the property within 10 years it must be first offered back to the Local Authority / Housing Association to give them first refusal. Only exemptions I know of are a Probale matter or a court order (divorce)

If you have recently brought your council house (last month or so) then this will probably apply to you too.