Right to Buy???

Running_Horse

Just did a search for 3 bed homes in your area.

This is the cheapest in Rattlesden at £160,995, and looks good value compared to my area:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-27903167.html

If you extend the Rightmove search to a 3 mile radius then this shared ownership house is on for £137247:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/new-homes/property-14472873.html

With this link detached on for £139,995:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-15766848.html

My first home was 10 miles from where I worked and wanted to live, but was in a cheap area.

What is Stowmarket like? Although on £25,000 it will probably not be possible.

BitterAndTwisted

A secure tenancy with an affordable rent in a lovely rural village is worth more than money in the bank imo. Even if you did qualify for the Right-To-Buy the maximum discount these days would only be in the region of £38k and to my mind would not be enough to compensate for all of the other advantages of being in a secure tenancy. I expect millions would love to be in your position.

ILW

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

A secure tenancy with an affordable rent in a lovely rural village is worth more than money in the bank imo. Even if you did qualify for the Right-To-Buy the maximum discount these days would only be in the region of £38k and to my mind would not be enough to compensate for all of the other advantages of being in a secure tenancy. I expect millions would love to be in your position.

I appears that right to aquire is only between 10 and 16k discount.

BitterAndTwisted

It would hardly be worth bothering for only £10k to £16k even if they did qualify imo. The OP sounds quite lucky to be living where they are

Chrisl

so would you suggest staying there then, I was just worried about getting onto the housing market! The rent is very cheap at only £330 per month, maybe i should just stay there and put another 300 in the back every month rather than the mortgage then that will set me up for when retire!

Wee_Willy_Harris

As you've said yourself, you can't afford to live there unless you're mortgaged up to the hilt. The housing markert is uncertain, to say the least, at present and a bit of cash in the bank is never a bad thing. Home ownership isn't the be-all and end-all that you may believe it to be. You have a tenancy as secure as most peoples mortgages, the housing benefits safety net is able to protect you and your rent is well below market rates and unable to rise substantially. You seem pretty well off compared to many home-owners.

BitterAndTwisted

Chrisl wrote: »

so would you suggest staying there then, I was just worried about getting onto the housing market! The rent is very cheap at only £330 per month, maybe i should just stay there and put another 300 in the back every month rather than the mortgage then that will set me up for when retire!

Yes, I absolutely do think you should put away some savings: in fact as much as you can spare. £330 a month rent is very, very low to live somewhere as pleasant as your neighbourhood sounds and with a secure tenancy for life at that. A home-owner could be spending buckets on repairs and maintenance in addition to any mortgage payments and you'll get those paid for by your landlord, plus perhaps some improvements in the future if you're lucky.

Owning property is not some guaranteed road to riches as many, many people are now discovering, especially those who over-stretched themselves in the first place and then find that their circumstances have changed radically. This won't ever happen to you

Annisele

I agree with Running Horse as to the properties to buy in your area. I also had a look on RightMove for properties to rent, and the cheapest 3 bed I could find within 5 miles was £475pcm.

Even if you did have the right to acquire and got the full discount on your house, with a rent of £330pcm I don't think that it would be worth buying it. Given the prices Running Horse found, you'd probably have to borrow at least £140k or so (tricky on your salary), and at a 5% interest rate over 25 years that would cost you over £800 a month.

PasturesNew

Driving/walking past people will currently either know, or not, that your house is HA.

If there is any stigma attached, then why would you want to buy into the area? That bit doesn't add up. The stigma is the property/area, not whether you own it or not. If I lived in a house/area I loved and knew I had cheap, cheap rent for LIFE I'd be bragging left right and centre. In your instance renting is the SMART thing to do!

Fire_Fox

Chrisl wrote: »

right I have emailed my local HA and below is their response:

The problem here is not with the occupancy of the premises, it is the location of the scheme. Certain properties are excluded from the Right to Acquire ( page 3 of the guidance notes) and that includes those properties in certain rural parishes identified by the Government. The parishes tend to be small and removing the right to acquire is a way of ensuring that the supply of affordable housing remains in rural areas. Rattlesden is one of the parishes listed as being exempt so no right to acquire I’m afraid.

Reading this I tak it there is no chance of buying the house??

Sounds pretty straightforward to me, no idea what the point of this thread was. :rotfl:

Chrisl wrote: »

Yes we live in Rattlesden, the problem is houses very rarely come up for sale in the local area and whem they do they are way out of our means!! If we would buy on the open market we would have to move miles out of the way as all the surrounding villages seem to be covered by this exemption!

Its not fair!!

You sound like a petulant five year old! Many people would love cheap rent, secure tenancy with a considerate landlord in the village of their choice, maybe you could count your blessings instead of coveting thy neighbours [STRIKE]wife[/STRIKE] house? Plenty of people live frugally and relocate in order to afford to buy a family home - we don't all get handed it on a plate.