Right to Buy before 21 November deadline, what are the implications?

Solid_Bruce

sheramber said:

How will they benefit from this "investment"?

Are they intending selling it after the  restriction on selling period is ended?

If they do, where will they live?

The idea is that they'll either sell in 10 years and move to countryside or just leave for the family

Bookworm105

Solid_Bruce said:

sheramber said:

How will they benefit from this "investment"?

Are they intending selling it after the  restriction on selling period is ended?

If they do, where will they live?

The idea is that they'll either sell in 10 years and move to countryside or just leave for the family

so they should gamble their "free money" against not having to pay most of it back in repair costs over those 10 years. Welcome to the world the rest of us live in who don't get free money 

ReadySteadyPop

Emmia said:

To put this into context, we have a bill for repairs on the building our leasehold flat is in for a little under £11k coming in January, this is for maintenance activities which get done about once every 10 years. We have also forked out over £10k on new windows and a door to replace those that were rotten in the last 12 months.

We can't avoid the £11k charge coming in January, and we did the windows as it was clear they weren't going to be dealt with by the freeholder before they became a real security issue (and we'd have ended up paying for them anyway)

Before you do RTB I'd really look into what the potential costs might be that your parents will become liable for,  that they're not now.

Edit: If the boiler dies they're responsible, and plumbing issues, guess who is paying for the plumber...

I can see the attraction in the discount, although I question the morality of RTB as it depletes the stock of social housing your parents have benefitted from for 40 years.

Good points.

GDB2222

Solid_Bruce said:

sheramber said:

How will they benefit from this "investment"?

Are they intending selling it after the  restriction on selling period is ended?

If they do, where will they live?

The idea is that they'll either sell in 10 years and move to countryside or just leave for the family

If it were me, I’d put the application in before the deadline, assuming you can withdraw it without penalty. 

However, before going ahead, your parents will need to make some detailed calculations. They need to compare mortgage interest with current rent. Generally, there’s a fairly stable annual service charge, and they’ll have to factor that in. Plus, they should expect one off costs every few years for big repairs. 

You can get a feel for the charges by asking the council what the service charge has been for in the past. 

Jude57

Solid_Bruce said:

Emmia said:

To put this into context, we have a bill for repairs on the building our leasehold flat is in for a little under £11k coming in January, this is for maintenance activities which get done about once every 10 years. We have also forked out over £10k on new windows and a door to replace those that were rotten in the last 12 months.

We can't avoid the £11k charge coming in January, and we did the windows as it was clear they weren't going to be dealt with by the freeholder before they became a real security issue (and we'd have ended up paying for them anyway)

Before you do RTB I'd really look into what the potential costs might be that your parents will become liable for,  that they're not now.

Edit: If the boiler dies they're responsible, and plumbing issues, guess who is paying for the plumber...

I can see the attraction in the discount, although I question the morality of RTB as it depletes the stock of social housing your parents have benefitted from for 40 years.

Is there any way to check what maintenance activities have recently been done or due to be done? And how much thisd bill would be?

Certainly you can ask the Council and they'll answer what they can at this moment. However, and it's a big HOWEVER, as I wrote in my previous post:

'Often, these types of capital works are not planned very far ahead so while the Council may have no plans in place today, come March (to use up any budget surplus) or April (to ring-fence newly allocated budget) that could change.'

As an example, Councils were perfectly happy with the relatively new cladding they'd installed on the exterior of their blocks until the tragedy of Grenfell Tower. The cladding removal has proved enormously costly for owner occupiers. Other, unforeseen capital works crop up all the time and owner occupiers have to find the money to pay for them. Remember, too, that it seems from posts in this forum, people are struggling to find mortgage lenders for flats above a certain floor (5th and above seems to be a problem) and some can't find solicitors to act for them. So even assuming there's no expensive capital works in the next ten years, your parents might struggle to sell. Of course, the issues people are currently having may be resolved by then.

I'm surprised your parents are planning a move to the country in ten years. I was born in the country, in a hamlet so small I was born at No 2. I had a 3 mile walk to the nearest village to school and the nearest small shop. I couldn't wait to get to the bright lights of a large city but there came a point when a return to rural living seemed attractive and I had the idea of retirement in the country. Then I got older, developed some health issues and realised that, actually, suburban living with its proximity to health care including GP, hospitals, pharmacies is the better option for me. 

lincroft1710

Well, you had better make your mind up as at time of posting this, just over 7 hrs left to the 21st