Advice on buying council flat

csgohan4

if you are unable to cough up for maintenance, is the OP able to afford to buy a flat? Also extending the lease will become an issue should the time come, as it gets more expensive less than 80 years left.

jonnygee2

if you are unable to cough up for maintenance, is the OP able to afford to buy a flat?

The OP didn't say they were unable to afford the maintenance, just that they were unable to pay £15k upfront. You don't need 15k in spare cash to be a homeowner.

Also extending the lease will become an issue should the time come, as it gets more expensive less than 80 years left.

Council flats are normally sold with 125 year leases, so this wouldn't be a problem worth worrying about at this point.

Red-Squirrel_2

Think very very very carefully about RTB. Do not underestimate the value of what you already have, which is a secure home for life that you don’t have to pay any maintenance, repair, or updating costs for.

Owning your home can be expensive, and there is much less security if you find yourself struggling financially.

00ec25

BlackBird75 wrote: »

And you said "get a loan, like normal people".

no, I said that, not smodlet as you appear to think

BlackBird75 wrote: »

As opposed to, asking the council if you can pay gradually.

so that would mean... taking a loan then won't it

you'll note I did not state from whom to take a loan, and a loan involves the payment of a sum of money over a period of time (with, or without, interest added to it) which is the same as what you have written

Norman_Castle

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

which is a secure home for life that you don’t have to pay any maintenance, repair, or updating costs for.

But you will have to pay rent which pays for maintenance, repair and updating.

csgohan4

jonnygee2 wrote: »

The OP didn't say they were unable to afford the maintenance, just that they were unable to pay £15k upfront. You don't need 15k in spare cash to be a homeowner.

Op has 30k of works over the next 5 years, they usually give a bill for the works at the time, not in instalments. Do your contractors give you instalments for the work other than for the deposit?


so being 2 flats, the op's share will be 15k and if they don't pay up front the bill which may not be 15 k but a portion of it, can the OP afford it? Non payment leads to delay of works, more costs and charges being placed on the flat e.t.c

Red-Squirrel_2

Norman_Castle wrote: »

But you will have to pay rent which pays for maintenance, repair and updating.

Still a pretty good deal usually, how many years of saving the rent would it take to pay the £15,000 upcoming bill? Then all the usual stuff on top...

Cakeguts

I assume that you were allocated this council flat because you couldn't afford to rent privately or buy a flat?



So now you find that you can buy a flat but the problem is this.


It is very expensive to own a property because you become responsible for all repairs so anything that needs repairing you are going to be paying for which where the £15k for the roof comes in. However if the flat needs a new kitchen or bathroom you will be paying for it. If a pipe bursts you pay the plumber. If anything goes wrong you can't call the council to come and sort it out you have to sort it out.


The biggest problem with owning though is that you have to be able to pay the mortgage. You can't claim housing benefit if you lose your job to pay a mortgage. If you have a mortgage you have to have enough in savings to pay the mortgage if you are not working. If a mortgage is not paid over a long period of time they repossess the property. If the flat gets repossessed you will be in the same position as you were before you were allocated this flat except that you will not be allocated another council property. So you will have to make your own arrangements. Owning a property is more expensive than renting from the council and much much less secure.



The point about the council flat is that you have a secure tenancy which means that you can live there for as long as you want to with no worries because if you lose your job housing benefit will pay the rent.



If you buy it you risk becoming homeless and you need to understand this before you make the decision.

Maxwell007

Buy the Council Flat and Rent it out for x2 of the mortgage and let the rent pay for the roof, or buy flat then sell it after 5years and make yourself some cash . . . .


There should be a CAP in the first 3years on RTB repairs. . .

marliepanda

Maxwell007 wrote: »

There should be a CAP in the first 3years on RTB repairs. . .

Ignoring your first part, why do you think there should be a cap? Is the discount not enough?