Looking to buy Council Home

MrsArtyFarty

We've been living in our two bedroom council maisonette for 7 years and are now thinking of buying it after two years of unsuccessfully trying to move to a 3 bedroom home (through bidding or exchanging). Plans are to buy it and add a third bedroom and extend the living space and kitchen.
Issue 1: I'm not sure of the boundaries at the moment. It appears that a portion of our front room is beyond the neighbours fence (sorry if I'm unclear on this) - the party wall between our living room and the neighbours does not line up with the fence at the front. This seems to be the case in the back garden as well. Is there any way to have this rectified? I have recently submitted the RTB form. Would the council have to rectify this disparity before selling the property?
Issue 2: Mortgages. Seeking the best way of finding the right one for us. I've read so much I'm going cross eyed from information overload (and it feels like I'm still none the wiser.)

MrsArtyFarty

Thanks for any advice.

Hump

A maisonette will likely be sold on a lease meaning you need to factor in an annual service charge. Also makes extending the property interesting, you might want to speak to the council & their planning dept before committing to buy.

princeofpounds

Boundaries - if they have been as they are for a long time, then they may have been fixed now.

If you want to see the boundaries of the property, look at the land registry title plan. You can download from the land registry for a couple of quid.

However, be aware that the title plan is not always definitive (for several reasons, including the fact that a line of pen on the plan might be a half a foot wide on the ground!). The 'true' legal boundaries are often defined by actual features on the ground as indicated by the title plan, so put away your measuring tape unless you are a surveyor.

Those features can and do move (rivers, hedges, banks of earth) and the boundaries do move with them. Unfortunately people can also move fences, and if it is not challenged then after a decade or so no court is going to move the boundary back. If more recent then the landpwner can deal with it at some effort perhaps.

The council does not have to fix this problem on its own initiative to sell to you. They may not even know about it. However, if there is a discrepancy between the boundary on the plan and the physical boundary you will need to highlight it to your solicitor if it is going to be an issue for you. Be aware that this might throw the mortgage company off too.

Mortgages - speak to a good broker. If you look at the guide here on MSE then that's a big help. But basically, get the cheapest one you can for the amount of deposit you have got.

The next major decision is whether to fix or to go with variable. No-one actually knows what interest rates will do (in fact fixed mortgages roughly represent the market's belief of the average variable rate over the fixed period, in theory although practice is a bit messier). So make the decision according to your personal circumstances (if your ability to make payments is borderline you might want the safety of the fixed despite the currently higher cost).

Then there are various other smaller considerations like the ability to make overpayments, port the mortgage, etc etc.

poppysarah

You should def discuss your extension plans with planning. They usually say they can't discuss things without an application going in. If you are dependent on being able to get the extension to buy then apply before you go any further in the RTB process.
You might get a nice officer who'll advise you without a plan going in.

embob74

Our local planning department will actually look into what would happen if you submitted a planning application. However they now charge for this service as they were spending so much time giving free advice and spending hours researching info that with the budget cuts they had to justify that time spent.

MrsArtyFarty

Thanks all for the very helpful advice. Have discussed our plans to extend with various department within the council and all responses have been positive. We haven't had anything in writing though.