Council house purchase?

monday_blues

Hi there, I wonder if anyone can offer some general advice. My parents are council tenants but sadly my dad recently passed away. They have lived in the same house for over 30 years and is "our family house". I am an only child.

My dad always wanted me to buy the house, but I just never pursued it as had my own commitments. Now with him gone sadly, it has now occurred to me that no-one lives forever and one day, I will be in the position when mum passes away that the house will be whipped off and rented to someone else. Who will then probably buy it as soon as they could.

Anyway, to put you in the picture. I feel I now need to pursue this with all best efforts, but of course I have my own family and obligations and things are tight.

Mum and dads house is probably worth £150-£170k, I think with their discount they would be able to purchase as sitting tenants for around 40k.

I however do not have any spare income, my borrowing is up at maximum with my own mortgage and I have debts too.

My house is worth around 200k and with 60k equity, but in an ideal world, we would love to stay in this house forever. But if needs must, then I suppose we would sell to enable us to buy mums.....

Mum is retired and receives state pension but getting a benefits check done at present as she may be eligible for more since dad died. And, applying for attendance allowance too, although dont know if will get it. Do the lenders still lend to old people whereby the mortgage interest is paid by the government as less than what the rent would be? Mum currently pays no rent, but the rent for that house is around £340 per month?

Or would we need to sell our house and buy outright for mum, and either move in with her or buy a smaller, cheaper house for us.

Your thoughts on this would be welcome, as really dont know the best way forward. All I know is, it would be foolish not to.

lincroft1710

Your mother is a secure tenant with no responsibility for external maintenance or repairs to the house, unlike an owner.

RTB discounts aren't as generous as they once were. She won't get a mortgage.

You're happy in your own home. Just leave things as they are.

Fire_Fox

It's not really a case of being foolish not to, the system is not in place so greedy children can take advantage of their parents discount, it's there to give council tenants the right to buy their OWN home. You are not the tenant so you have no right to buy the your mum's house.

That means if you sell your own home to buy your mum's outright you would basically need to sign away all rights to your money for at least five years. Even of your mum could raise a mortgage (doubtful without a large deposit and a proper income), the government won't pay the mortgage interest until she had owned for a couple of years. Just to make it even more expensive your mum would be responsible for all repairs and maintenance to the property in her twilight years.

If your mum needed state care later in life the council house could be sold to pay for it, which means you lose everything. If you end up needing to go onto benefits (redundant, long term sick or injured) the state may treat you as if you still had the money under the deprivation of capital rules.

Radiantsoul

Firstly I am not sure that if you get a mortgage the government will pay the interest on it.

There is no real advantage to your mother as she is currently paying no rent and can stay there for the rest of her life. So I guess the objective is to realise the benefit of the discount under the right to buy scheme?

It does seem that if you sell your house you ought to be able to clear your existing mortgage and put down a significant deposit on your mothers place. I presume you would need to buy it in her name, but presumably you could gift her the deposit and make the mortgage payments. Then you could move in with her. That would seem to lead you from having a large mortgage to a smalll one with a house os similiar value. I think you will need a mortgage broker as it is slightly complex. My gut feel is you will struggle to come up with something that leaves you with both houses.
Good luck

monday_blues

Thanks for your reply but firstly I would like to say I am not a greedy child. This is our family home which I do not want to see someone else in. Mum and dad both wanted to buy but I did not pursue it at the time. It is only now it seems so much more real that sadly one day mum will pass on.

Not for one minute would I buy and not maintain the proeprty for mum.

Old_Git

I know in some area the rules where tightened as regards but a council house . Some areas state if someone wants to buy a council house in joint names all named people must be living in the house .If your mum has to go into care the house will have to be sold

krazykidskate

The discounts are usually capped to around £25 - £30k depending where you are so the 30 years will not get your mum the discount that you expect.

lincroft1710

This is our family home which I do not want to see someone else in.

Until the sad day when your mother passes on it will still be your "family home". But as your own home is probably a better property would you want to trade down.

I understand that people do get attached to the house they were brought up in, but no disrespect intended we are talking of a council house not a stately home. You've flown the nest, you're making your own way in life, continue, do not regress.

gemini24

It may be your family home but it is not the family house. It belongs to the social housing landlord and your parents have had many years paying a heavily subsidised rent without the worries of greatly fluctuating mortgage interest rates.

No, your mum would not get a mortgage. Only the named tenant is allowed to buy the property. That is not you and you could not become a named tenant.

If your mum suddenly came up with the money to purchase in her own right, she would be investigated by the right to buy people along with reporting her to the various benefit agencies she receives money from.

Social housing is designed to be lived in by those in need - such as your parents were when the tenancy commenced. If they had wanted to buy, they should have done so if they were able to. Many want to buy but are never in a financial position to be able to do so.

Can't bear someone living it? That is something you need to get over. If you were on the 4th floor of a grotty homeless hostel with a couple of young kids and you knew of someone trying to get a house by your suggested methods, I bet you would be the first to shout.

I'm sorry, it may be unintentional, but you come across as greedy and looking for a way to take financial advantage of the situation your mother is in.

sulkisu

monday_blues wrote: »

Thanks for your reply but firstly I would like to say I am not a greedy child. This is our family home which I do not want to see someone else in. Mum and dad both wanted to buy but I did not pursue it at the time. It is only now it seems so much more real that sadly one day mum will pass on.

Not for one minute would I buy and not maintain the proeprty for mum.

But it is not your family home, it is a council house that your parent's have been renting albeit for many years. It forms part of the local authority/social housing stock, and your 'I don't want to see anyone else in the house' attitude, is totally unreasonable. As Firefox said, the purpose of the right to buy was so that council tenants' who otherwise would have no chance of owning their own home, could do so. Had you been living there for all of these years alongside your parents, then fair enough, but you weren't. To be honest if this house meant so much to you, then you should have stayed there and bought it years ago instead of purchasing a home elsewhere.

Having worked for a housing department in an inner London Borough, I was constantly depressed by the number of council houses purchased for a pittance by relatives of tenants (many of whom owned property elsewhere), while those who have no choice but to rent from the local authority, sit and twist on ever-increasing waiting lists.