Any point buying a council house if rent is free and you're long term disabled

Emmia

HillStreetBlues said:

Puzzled as to why is rent "free"?

Perhaps because the rent is currently covered by benefits? So it's "free" to the OP 

marcia_

Chavez2012 said:

I have massive muscle wastage and i.licence and brain fog

I have twenty grand saved and. No pension

Should I buy my council.flat or not

 How do you qualify for housing benefit if you have £20k saved? 

Bookworm105

HillStreetBlues said:

Puzzled as to why is rent "free"?

it is paid by benefits not his own money 

Bookworm105

Chavez2012 said:

I could sell and move up the ladder with the equity

how?
I agree you are expectant of the idea of "free" money, but the discount you get will not instantly transform into a pile of cash that buys a "better" property "up" the ladder.

you can't afford to buy the place you are in at a moment, so how do you expect to buy a more expensive property?

would you then expect benefits to increase to cover your new higher costs? Higher council tax band? More gas/electricity to live in the property?

Marvel1

Chavez2012 said:

I have massive muscle wastage and i.licence and brain fog

I have twenty grand saved and. No pension

Should I buy my council.flat or not

How are you going to pay the mortgage? Any repairs?

HampshireH

SarahB16 said:

Mildreds_Earrings said:

Agree with @Jude57 that in your circumstances, I wouldn't recommend it. 

You appear to be looking at the mortgage only but even if you have a large deposit, as you've been out of work, there is no guarantee you'll get a mortgage and at 49 years, once you reach 50 years, it's even harder to get a mortgage.

As a leaseholder in social housing, you will be obligated to pay towards repairs and maintenance of the whole block and if any major works are planned, you will have to pay thousands of pounds towards that.

Also consider the resale value, do many flats in your block sell? I work for a social housing provider and we often end up buying the property back from the former tenant and we don't pay the market price. It's rather unfortunate but when leaseholders see the major works invoice and that they cannot afford to pay it, they practically beg us to purchase it back, which we only will do if it benefits us, and we will not pay the market price. 

Ask your Council or Housing Association if you can have a draft copy of the lease to find out your obligations as a leaseholder and ask them if any major works are planned on your building in the next five years and can they share the anticipated costs per leaseholder, with you. 

All the best. 

May I ask @Mildreds_Earrings do social housing providers inform prospective purchasers of this obligation?  I replied a couple of days ago on another thread highlighting this obligation/risk and I'm genuinely interested to hear whether social housing providers do enough in terms sharing to the prospective purchaser this obligation?

I know a prospective purchaser should appoint their own solicitor but I do wonder how clearly social housing providers highlight this future obligation?  

Would be grateful to hear your thoughts and I believe there is to be a greater focus again on consumer standards within the social housing sector (not sure if it will be how it was in 2010 though).  

Housing Associations have no obligation to provide anything in a sale between two private owners except in response to the questions posed in the paperwork to the freeholder. 

Usually that includes any details of section 20 or works pending in the next 5 years or expected large component replacements such as windows/doors/roof etc when provisional dates would be given. Costs would be unknown at that stage unless already in progress.

A buyer is more likely to get more info from a social housing provider than a private freeholder as the social housing provider will have forecast major repairs to a degree across all their stock.

RTB tenants are always recommended to get legal advice.

Huge difference between a private block of flats and a HA or Council one is that any changes to legislation or building safety will be implemented because they have to. A private freeholder isn't held to quite the same standard especially when it comes to reporting etc. These works may be unforeseen.

Personally I would never ever use RTB to buy a social housing flat if i were a tenant. The costs to maintain in a block aren't cheap and people like the OP don't consider the bigger picture. The security of a tenancy is invaluable.

That said if you're big and brave enough to buy you should have a reasonable awareness of what you're signing up for and have done some proper research.

Chavez2012

If its so terrible why did literally eighty percent of .uk neighbourhood do.it

HillStreetBlues

marcia_ said:

Chavez2012 said:

I have massive muscle wastage and i.licence and brain fog

I have twenty grand saved and. No pension

 Should I buy my council.flat or not

 How do you qualify for housing benefit if you have £20k saved? 

 Exactly! You don't (unless capital is disregarded)  that's why I'm puzzled

Bookworm105 said:

HillStreetBlues said:

Puzzled as to why is rent "free"?

it is paid by benefits not his own money 

ESA & PIP is the claimants own money, just like wages are no longer the companies money.

Danien

You may have bigger worries. If you are receiving housing benefit and/or income based ESA, then in not telling the benefits departments about your savings, you've been commiting benefit fraud. This is a very serious matter that you need to sort out otherwise soon you will find yourself in an interview under caution.

I understand that many people believe that saved benefits don't count towards savings, but this is incorrect - after the period for which it is paid it all counts, unless it is a lump sum backpayment, in which case it doesn't count for a year.

Please take advice ASAP from a benefits adviser, for instance cab.

Emmia

Chavez2012 said:

If its so terrible why did literally eighty percent of .uk neighbourhood do.it

If you're working and can afford maintenance and any mortgage etc. it's a bit of a no brainer - bargain property, which you can resell for profit. 

The OP though both doesn't have enough to cover the upfront cost, and has savings of a level which should disqualify them from receiving certain benefits.