Council buying a house?

rachael88

Yes it's definitely the same council and I told the man on the phone that it had been a HMO and asked if it could go to a different department but he said all properties bought by the council go through him personally and he hasn't had any thing to do with it and couldn't see him approving it if it did come to them.
The estate agent thought I was someone else when I phoned and said my offer had been rejected as it was too low and the vendor wanted an offer closer to the asking price but when I had earlier enquired what would happen if I made an offer they said the vendor was holding all offers till the council had made their decision. It didn't seem like that when she thought I was someone who'd made an offer though.
I don't know what to make of it all, I don't want to keep questioning the estate agent as I need to be on good terms with them to view and make an offer on the property.

Hoploz

It seems to me unlikely you're going to get this house. The estate agent knows you're interested, but so are lots of other people by the sounds of it. If the seller is holding onto the offers before making a decision, it's still entirely possible that the one that has been refused is way below the other offers and therefore well out of the running.

Look elsewhere, and let the agent know you're interested and to contact you when the seller is ready to make a decision. It's always easy to fall in love with a house you feel you can't have ... If you had viewed it you might not have even liked it!

Norman_Castle

Could it be a different council thinking of buying it? Has it been sold before only to have the buyers pull out, if so the seller may view a council as a more reliable buyer.

TheGardener

The property might have had a council home improvement (kick start) type loan to bring properties previously in poor condition back into use - especially if it was an HMO and as such would have a charge against it maybe? Maybe the survey was just checking the value of the property prior to sale?
I bought a house once that had had a grant for new windows and heating throughout - there as a condition that the property couldn't be sold within 5 years without the council clawing back some of the grant from the vendor - it had previously been a student let and the LL had had some sort of LL grant to improve the property.

rachael88

As far as I know it's had a few offers but no one has put in the asking price, i'm willing to offer the asking price so think I may have a good chance of getting it if this whole council thing goes away and I ever get a chance to view it!
TheGardener that's interesting, I didn't know the council could do home improvement loans, I do know this house has a fairly new boiler system and double glazing so maybe.

tealady

Hi
I would download the deeds to see if there are any charges against the property, that might give you a clue as to whether the Council have loaned money (only costs £3 I think).
Otherwise I would walk, sounds like someone (owner or estate agent) is talking BS.

getmore4less

Get on the planning portal and check the history of the property planning and building regs.

We have a large 8 bed house near us go up for sale a while back and there has been nothing come up on sold prices and a few months ago it got boarded up now looks abandoned.

A quick check on planning it is getting converted to a 14 person HMO by a company, flew through planning.

The_Earl_of_Streatham

I then phoned the estate agent back who said that the council have definitely shown an interest and she has a survey that has been conducted by the council and why would they conduct a survey if they weren't interested?

Why would the estate agent be in possession of a survey conducted by the council?