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Donnadiddle
Posts: 6 Forumite
My Mother has been a Council tenant for over 40yrs. My Father passed away 18mths ago and My Mother has decided to buy the house for security.
The house has the following adaptions for my Mother: Stairlift, wet room and downstairs wc extension.
As a result she has been denied the right to buy!
Surely this is discrimination, she NEEDS these adaptions and was under the impression she would have to pay more to account for the additions and was willing to do so.
We would be very grateful of any advice that can be offered... Thank you
The house has the following adaptions for my Mother: Stairlift, wet room and downstairs wc extension.
As a result she has been denied the right to buy!
Surely this is discrimination, she NEEDS these adaptions and was under the impression she would have to pay more to account for the additions and was willing to do so.
We would be very grateful of any advice that can be offered... Thank you
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Comments
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I would say the answer probably lies in the fact that there is a "one price fits all" criteria applied to "right to buy" and the Council is probably not legally allowed to charge extra for the "stuff it's paid for" as well as the "house it's paid for".
Add that it will have an already-adapted house ready for someone else come the time the house is vacant again in years to come and will be able to move a disabled person straight into it.
EDIT; Why does she think owning the house would make her more secure? Presumably she has one of the traditional style lifetime tenancies and therefore she is perfectly secure anyway?0 -
Good. When - God forbid - anything happens, another person in need of (and unable to afford) these adaptations will benefit just as your mother did, as opposed to your family benefitting financially.0
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And how is it discrimination as she NEEDS these adaptations? They're not proposing to take them away, and her purchase isn't going to make her residency there any more or less secure.0
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She needs them - she's got them.
....and you do seem to have contradicted yourself stating that she's secure anyway...0 -
She "needs" the adaptations. Fine. At least 2 choices....
a) continue renting current property on attractive terms - particularly security of tenure - from Council.
b) buy home with such adaptations or get them put in.
She is no worse off than she was before.
Any discrimination is surely against those with no possibility of any right to buy, or taxpayers paying for R2B'ers discounts. And those wanting council housing prevented from getting a place due to many properties being lost to the community through right 2 buy.
There is less security in being a home owner rather than renting from council - no HB to pay the mortgage. And presumably has a (named as type of tenancy) "Secure" tenancy already. Offspring I'm sure are not after the value of any "security" in future.
Best wishes to all0 -
Donnadiddle wrote: »My Mother has been a Council tenant for over 40yrs. My Father passed away 18mths ago and My Mother has decided to buy the house for security.
The house has the following adaptions for my Mother: Stairlift, wet room and downstairs wc extension.
As a result she has been denied the right to buy!
Surely this is discrimination, she NEEDS these adaptions and was under the impression she would have to pay more to account for the additions and was willing to do so.
We would be very grateful of any advice that can be offered... Thank you
No it's not discrimination. Some properties are excluded from RTB for example sheltered or other housing suitable for elderly or disabled people. It's covered in the RTB Summary Booklet.
https://righttobuy.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Revised-RtB-summary-booklet-april-2015.pdf0 -
Firstly your mother will not be more secure owning a house she will be less secure.
Where is the money supposed to come from to buy the house. Since you can only become a tenant at 18 and your mother has been a council tenant for over 40 years that makes her at least 58. So unless she has enough savings in the bank to pay for the house outright how does she think she can afford to buy it.
If she has enough savings to buy this property outright she also has enough savings to buy a sheltered housing flat with all these adaptations on the open market. So there is no need for her to buy this property as she can do what everyone else does and downsize into a retirment flat using the money that she has saved to buy this house to do that.
Not all council property is covered by the right to buy scheme your mum is living in one that isn't.
There is no descrimination. People who are over 58 and have enough savings in the bank to buy a property outright with no mortgage can afford to buy a retirement flat so they aren't descriminated by not being able to buy their council property.
Where to go from here. Tell your mother that if she feels she wants to own a property to look for a retirement flat on the open market.
For complete security the rented council property is the best.0 -
Donnadiddle wrote: »My Mother has been a Council tenant for over 40yrs. My Father passed away 18mths ago and My Mother has decided to buy the house for security.
I'm sure she is0 -
All of this.
Your mum NEEDS the adaptations.
Your mum doesn!!!8217;t NEED to own the house
The council NEEDS to own the house for the next person who NEEDS the adaptations.
Her children certainly don!!!8217;t NEED the inheritance.0 -
If at her age she can get a mortgage or has enough money saved to buy the council property then she can also buy one on the open market. So there is no problem all she needs to do is to move.0
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