Right To Buy Query

tomsocr

Wondering if anyone could offer any advice on buying our Council house.

My partner has been a Council tenant for over 12 years. I have never been a Council tenant. I have been living in my partners Council house for nearly 6 months now. We are thinking of buying the house off the council through the Right To Buy Scheme. Unfortunately my partner cannot afford the house and rather than get a mortgage I could pay for the house up front with my own cash.

The issue I have is that my partner is the only one who can apply for the Council house, I cannot apply unless we are married or we have been living together for more than a year. We are in a committed relationship, but still unnerves me to think that if anything happened between us and split up that I would not be entitled to anything of the property.

Can anyone offer any advice? Would I also be able to put my name on the deeds once we have purchased the house. Could a solicitor draw up a contract that sees we both get half and half the house even though we purchased through the Right To Buy Scheme.

Thanks

ruggedtoast

If you have that much money you obviously don't need a council house. Why dont you go and buy a normal house outright and then you won't have to worry.

Your partner can then move in with you and sublet his / her council house illegally, probably to someone who has to claim housing benefit.

That seems to be what usually happens with social housing now.

McKneff

If you are in such a committed relationship, the easiest solution would be to just pop off ot the Town Hall, get married, problem solved.

Or give your partner the money to buy the house with.

tomsocr

ruggedtoast wrote: »

If you have that much money you obviously don't need a council house. Why dont you go and buy a normal house outright and then you won't have to worry.

Your partner can then move in with you and sublet his / her council house illegally, probably to someone who has to claim housing benefit.

That seems to be what usually happens with social housing now.

My partner has been a tenant for a long time and as such is entitled to 34% discount, so makes sense to buy the house and could then sell it in 5 years keeping the discount. The mortgage would be cheaper than the rent. Who else wouldn't do this given the opportunity, we are doing nothing illegal.

Werdnal

No, you are not doing anything illegal, but you are trying to work the system. Buying the property at a discount is intended to help long-term council tenants who may not otherwise be able to afford a property themselves. You obviously can afford to buy somewhere yourself, and invite your partner to move in with you, thereby securing your investment in the property.

Then you state you are planning to sell in 5 years and keep the discount - as if that somehow justified it - keep digging!

I am afraid its time to put your tin hat on for the rest of the day as I suspect this thread is only going to go one way .

Mrs_Imp

If you are already thinking about what happens when you split up, I suspect it's not in your partners best interests to buy.

Your partner will either end up with a mortgage they can't afford and have to sell, or you'll have to sell to split the money. Either way they'll no-longer be in a Council tenancy and will have to move out of their home. If your partner is single with no dependents, then they'll be low down the Council housing list and will probably have to move in to private rented accommodation, which is not as secure (landlords sell up, ask tenants to move on etc).

I'm not a fan of RTB in the first place, especially not to people who want to sell up as soon as they can in order to make a profit from it.

Fire_Fox

Why does it unnerve you to think you won't get any cash out of a rented property if you split up within a year of moving in together? That is normally how rented property works. You can afford to rent or buy your own place or you can commit to this relationship and milk the taxpayer. Reads like you want to benefit from your partner's discount whilst not actually being committed to your partner long term.