Right to buy

volvo240

Norman Castle
“
The discount on a flat would be £82200.
Originally posted by volvo240
”Its impossible to state what the discount would be without knowing the market value. If outside London the discount would be 70% with a maximum £82,800

For a flat after 15 years the discount is £82,200 no matter what the market value is. So if a flat is currently worth £140,000, with discount the mortgage would only have to be for £58,800.

Of course before exchanging we would check I can get a mortgage for 14 years, so if not able to get one then the exchange would not be worth doing.

Norman_Castle

volvo240 wrote: »

For a flat after 15 years the discount is £82,200 no matter what the market value is.

The discount is a maximum 70% up to £82,800. You're assuming a market value of £140,000.

https://www.gov.uk/right-to-buy-buying-your-council-home/discounts


Flats

You get a 50% discount if you’ve been a public sector tenant for between 3 and 5 years.
After 5 years, the discount goes up by 2% for every extra year you’ve been a public sector tenant, up to a maximum of 70% – or £82,800 across England and £110,500 in London boroughs (whichever is lower).

Cakeguts

You aren't actually comparing like with like. You wouldn't be staying in your current house until you retire if you bought a smaller property on the open market. Yes it would be more expensive but you could start the mortgage from as soon as possible because you wouldn't have to wait to find someone to exchange with who the council would allow to exchange.



The point is that if you were to now go for an open market property and apply for a longer mortgage not only would you be able to sell it for the going rate when you wanted a retirement property ( ex council flats can be difficult to sell because of the possible repair costs which can be £thousands on top of the service charge) but you would also get the market rate for it a non council flat. The problem with your idea is that you are trying to buy a council flat with a discount but you haven't taken into account that you will also have to sell it with a discount because people will try to avoid buying an ex council flat if they can.



There is the possibility that if you buy a council flat and can't sell it you will lose most of the discount because no one wants to buy it when you come to sell it on and you have to sell it cheaply. It is important to bear in mind that on the open market ex council properties do not sell for the same amount as properties that have never been ex council because of what they are and also because of the possibility of large sums of money being needed to pay for repairs.


The best way to ensure that you can afford your retirement property would be to buy now on the open market so that your selling prices are linked to open market prices and not ex council property prices.

volvo240

Norman Castle
“
The discount on a flat would be £82200.
Originally posted by volvo240
”Its impossible to state what the discount would be without knowing the market value. If outside London the discount would be 70% with a maximum £82,800/QUOTE]

So currently we have the 70% discount as we have been social housing Tennant's for 15 years. Five years = 50% then ten years = 20% total of 70%, so discount of £82,200

sheramber

If your plans don't work out and you can't afford that small property by the coast would you be happy to stay in the flat permanently?

volvo240

If we could buy on the open market we would, but age is against me. And not having a deposit either,so buying on the open market is not an option.

As for reselling, the flat's we are looking at, are selling for £140,000. So already the price is cheaper than open market prices and as they are near a university, they are bought to rent out to students

volvo240

That's something we are talking about, would we be happy to stay there, not sure. We are looking at flats to see how we feel about them before making a final decision

da_rule

volvo240 wrote: »

Norman Castle
“
The discount on a flat would be £82200.
Originally posted by volvo240
”Its impossible to state what the discount would be without knowing the market value. If outside London the discount would be 70% with a maximum £82,800/QUOTE]

So currently we have the 70% discount as we have been social housing Tennant's for 15 years. Five years = 50% then ten years = 20% total of 70%, so discount of £82,200

You’re misinterpreting the discount rules.

Your discount will only be £82,800 (not £82,200) if the property you are buying is worth more than approximately £118,285. If the property is worth less than that your discount will be 70% of the market value.

Also, if you are moving into a flat where the council have recently carried out major works then you may not get a discount (or it may be reduced) based on the cost floor.

Will the Council take you on immediately as a secure tenant or will they put you on an introductory tenancy first? As introductory tenancies have no right to buy.

[Deleted User]

Fairly common now to be given an introductory tenancy if moving to a different HA despite your years as a tenant if another HA.

Norman_Castle

volvo240 wrote: »

So currently we have the 70% discount as we have been social housing Tennant's for 15 years. Five years = 50% then ten years = 20% total of 70%, so discount of £82,200

Assuming the flat which you haven't got is worth £140,000 you will get the maximum discount which is £82,800.


You're not Tennant's, you're tenants.