Ex Council Houses

sealady

For the purposes of applying for a new mortgage - after how many "owners" or years does a ex-council house no longer have the restrictions of being an ex council property?

Any ideas

sealady

Does anyone have any ideas on who I should contact?

PasturesNew

I never understood the question.

I'll try to make it up, you correct me where wrong.

As I read it, you were a council tenant and bought your council house a few years back. You now want to remortgage.

I am confused though as to whether you are saying you want to sell it, or stay in it and just re-mortgage it.

When you say restrictions, do you mean "how long do I have to stay in the council house before I stop having to pay back any discount I got?"

To help us to answer, please clarify the following:
1] Were you a tenant/did you buy it from the council?
2] How long ago did you buy it?
3] Are you planning on selling/moving? Or remortgaging/staying?
4] Which council did you buy it from?

geri1965_2

I don't understand either - what restrictions?

It's always going to be an ex-council house, isn't it? Personally I don't think there is anything wrong with that, my dad's house is ex-council (we lived it in since I was 4, he bought it when I left home) and it's a lovely house.

eldowardo

well at first i thought poster was going on about how soon after buying from council does he not have to pay back the discount, and this can be up to 5 years

but a council house bought under rtb will always be a council house - forever... there is no stigma attached to one you know, they after often very well built compared to a new build home!!

MissMoneypenny

I thought I had read somewhere (on the mortgages board?) that some lenders don't like ex council houses? Is that what you mean? If it is, perhaps you should ask your question on the mortgages board.

I assume that an an ex council house will always be an ex council house.

squinty

or from another point of view...............

if the OP is referring to restrictive covenants that were included in the original RTB sale these will remain in perpetuity.

real1314

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

I thought I had read somewhere (on the mortgages board?) that some lenders don't like ex council houses? Is that what you mean? If it is, perhaps you should ask your question on the mortgages board.

I assume that an an ex council house will always be an ex council house.

a 30s semi will always be a 30s semi, an ex council house will always be an ex council house. In my experience it's not so much the house itself, but it's surroundings that count (location location location?). Some ex-council houses are on good estates in good areas, others are not. Can't see there being a blanket approach that makes any sense.

olly300

sealady wrote: »

For the purposes of applying for a new mortgage - after how many "owners" or years does a ex-council house no longer have the restrictions of being an ex council property?

Any ideas

Your question doesn't make any sense.

Ex-council houses can be:
1. Build on a purpose built estate where you know they are council properties
2. Be like lots of housing near where I grew up in London - stuck in between non-council housing so unless you know the area you won't know they are (ex) council housing as they range from Grade II listed buildings to converted Victorian Houses to 1930's semis to horrible 60's buildings.

Basically if the house is not on what people can identify as a council estate, amongst a majority of housing that is privately owned and in a good location then you shouldn't have any problems.

Nenen

eldowardo wrote: »

but a council house bought under rtb will always be a council house - forever... there is no stigma attached to one you know, they after often very well built compared to a new build home!!

IMHO It depends what you mean by stigma! If you mean you shouldn't be put off buying one just because it's an ex-council house then I'd agree. I'd happily buy an ex-CH in a nice neighbourhood. I'd also agree that they are sometimes very well-built and often have much bigger gardens.

However, in this area it seems to be the case that any ex-CH will be valued and marketed at less than a similar house(often less substantial with smaller garden) that has always been privately owned. Even in the city centre, there can be two parallel streets, one ex-CH (where most, if not all, are now privately owned) and another which has always been private, and the ex-CH houses will sell for significantly less. That is not to say that they will be cheap... in Cambridge city centre it is not unusual for ex-CHs to sell for over 1/4 million pounds but that's in comparison to historically private properties of a similar size nearby going for over 1/3 million! :eek: Obviously location matters to a HUGE extent... an ex-council house in a 'good' area of the city can fetch prices above a private house in a 'rougher' part but overall they don't seem to command such high prices and I can only think there is still some stigma attached.

There are a couple of other reasons I can think of why ex-CHs are cheaper and I'm not sure if this is peculiar to this area or nationwide... namely a lot of ex-CHs here are made of some sort of concrete construction (not sure of the technical terms) and some building societies are reluctant to lend on them because of this. This puts some buyers off too... along with the cladding that often adorns ex-CHs... private houses appear to be more likely to be traditional brick (in this area at least).

In our (very long) house hunt we've looked at lots of ex-CHs and even when they have been privately owned for more than twenty years they are still seen as ex-CHs and the price dropped accordingly. Possibly it is because people worry that nearby houses will still be occupied by council tenants and there is prejudice against them. However, from what I've read, I think I'm right in saying that all new developments of a certain size have to provide some 'social housing' and perhaps, once this is common, being a council house tenant will lose it's stigma. Maybe in 100 years time it will all be very different!

Not sure if any of the foregoing waffle is of any relevance/use to the OP though!

sealady

Sorry - I've re-read the question and I suppose it does not make my question clear.

What I am trying to find out - if you are apply for a mortgage to buy a property that was once owned by the council but from what you can work out has had 4 previous owners (say in the last 10 years) one of the requirements from the lender is that because the property is ex council they require a 10% deposit but if it's not ex council they only require a 5% deposit. We are FTB and are not linked with other council properties or currently living in one.

Hope this makes more sense