right to buy - any tips?

vicki98_2

Hi there.

i'm currently living in a council property with my partner and we're coming up to 2 years of being in the property, after this we have the right to buy the place.
This is something we're considering as its not a bad area, we've had to spend a few bob on the place (was a dump when we moved in!) and we think it will help us a lot in getting on the property ladder. Also, as he's ex-forces, we've been told we should be entitled to maximum discount on the house if we do want to buy - this could be up to £26,000!!

with this in mind, i was wondering if anyone has any tips on the right to buy process? what exactly happens when we put in an application? and who is best to deal with the whole thing?

we keep getting door to door callers & leaflets etc from loads of companies but i don't know who to trust and what the best way of doing this is.

stanmoresaver

Get yourselves refered to a whole of market mortgage broker. Ask them how many RTB's they have done in the past 12 months- most brokers will have done very few, and if they are comfortable arranging one. Expect to pay a fee, but not along the silly lines that some RTB " specialists" will charge. Some brokers, myself included, will charge an initial fee to spend sometime with you to discuss the options, and deduct this fee from the fee paid on completion if you decide to proceed through them

They will talk and guide you through the whole process, warts and all.

Hope this helps

SS

XXXwendiXXX

Hi Vicki
I decided on right to buy. I contacted the council they sent a form, a valuer was sent round to assess my house and they gave me a valuation of the house. I had about 3 months to accept the right to buy scheme.

During this time I contacted a solicitor to have my deeds sent from the council. This cost me around £300.00. I didn't use any brokers I looked myself and approached the building societies/banks on my own.

I opted for a two year fixed rate to renew it about 3 months ago for another 2 year fixed rate. I am now in a position to sell my house at quite a tidy profit to go towards a new house.
My advice is to go for it. I have never looked back, when you think about it you will only be paying rent which increases every year.
My mortgage turned out to be cheaper than the rent I was paying.
Do your sums and work out how much your income is and then approach the Building Societies/Banks for a mortgage but stipulate that you are on the Right to buy scheme.

Good luck!
Hope everything goes well









Good luck for the future.

lynzpower

I do recommend an all of market broker, I just could not have been sure of finding the best deal on my tod.

I went with Alexander Hall, and they were superb.

dander

aren't alexander hall the ones that were outed on that whistleblower programme as being tied into Foxtons estate agents and were handing out confidential financial information so the estate agents could push people into buying more expensive properties?

lowis

to exercise your right to buy you need to contact your council. do not accept any of the dubious offers shoved through your letterbox from 'specialist' RTB brokers.

the process is very simple as wendi outlines, if you are not happy with the valuation and estimate of future repair/maintenance costs outlined on the S125 you receive from the council you can contest this. i got £5k knocked off the council valuation by contesting it. also, check out 'sold prices' on rightmove for similar properties in your street. this is a good way of comparing whether the concil have valued your property fairly.

thanks for the tip about alexander hall - know i know they are connected to foxtons i wil stay well clear!

bamberbamboo

go for it, it's really easy, we put in to buy ours on the 2 year date, for £24,500, we then lived in it for another year or so and then remortgaged it on a buy to let and rented it out and used the remortgage money for deposit on our home that we live in now, and another two years down the line we have just remortgaged the 1st council property again for 2 deposits on another 2 buy-to-let properties, and since we brought it has gone from 24,5000 to 120,000 so go for it.