Buying out Fingal County Council - possible ?

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mlouisa

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Hi - Is it possible to buy Fingal off so they have no claim on your property ? I want to move out and would prefer if I could just do what I wanted with the property
 
Re: Buying out Fingal County Council - possibel ?

Did you buy through Shared Ownership or Affordable housing ? SO you are expected to buy out within a certain amount of time , Not sure about AH, I dont think you can you must pay them their clawback if you sell within 20 years.

Check your contract .
 
Re: Buying out Fingal County Council - possibel ?

has anyone sought to release the clawback as their property has reduced to the same value they bought it for and how did it go?
Thanks
 
Re: Buying out Fingal County Council - possibel ?

I tried with AH, and it didn't work, with SDCC. They said I had to sell it outright, that was my only option. Luckily I don't actually *have* to sell it right now, but they seemed adamant.
 
Re: Buying out Fingal County Council - possibel ?

That seems a bit unfair. Did you even have the option of remortgaging and buying them out that way?
 
Re: Buying out Fingal County Council - possibel ?

Contact Fingal recently about the reduction of house prices and clawback has been reduced. I would check with them.
 
Re: Buying out Fingal County Council - possibel ?

I am thinking about buying from Fingal. I have affordable housing arragments with them, which means I have a loan and a mortgage + a clawback. Has anybody done this before?. Any advice welcome.
 
Re: Buying out Fingal County Council - possibel ?

NO you cannot but out Fingal (Affordable Housing).

I was told at the time of purchase that I could buy them out for market value as long as the clawback applicable was paid. They changed the rules last November without notification. You can sell to a stranger and pay back the clawback to Fingal but you cannot buy it yourself. They have moved the Goalposts to suit themselves and gave false and misleading information at time of purchase. I feel conned and have been on to my local Politician complaining and suggest that the more people that bombard Fingal the better chance we have of them changing back to original terms and conditions at time of siging contract. You can re-mortgage but Fingal own the clawback for 20 years and will not release it before then. It means that Fingal have a second charge on your property and you cannot purchase anywhere else as nobody will give you a mortgage as long as Fingal have the second charge.

So we are stuck with Fingal for 20 years unless you sell.
 
Re: Buying out Fingal County Council - possibel ?

Lads, familiarise yourselves with the legislation governing the Affordable Housing scheme, the statutory instruments, the housing acts. County Councils / Local Authorities cannot decide what to do themselves. The Dept. of Environment Heritage and Local Government drafts legislation which has to be administered correctly. If someone is giving you incorrect information, as in the case above, ask the person in the Authority where the legislative basis for their decision is. Every decision made by a public servant in this country has to have a legislative basis.
 
Re: Buying out Fingal County Council - possibel ?

I contacted Fingal County Council last August to buy them out of my house and I was told to send in a valuation, which I did, but on the advice of the valuator I decided to hold off, then in January I sent in another valuation and got a letter back saying I couldnt buy them out (remortgage). They said that their policy had changed, when I asked why hadnt I been notifed I didnt really get a proper answer. They told me that they were in negotiation with the Dept of Environment and couldnt do anything until then. I also feel that ive been conned as when I signed for my affordable house I was told that if my circumstances change I could buy them out. I can sell to a stranger but not to myself. I asked what would happen if I wanted to buy another property I was told I could but I couldnt live in it or I could apply to the council to get an agreement to rent it out but it would add extra years on to my clawback
 
I'd pursue them for a proper answer Kay, ask them specifically what the legislative basis for their decision change is. Perhaps an FOI request might make them address your query with a little more care, or if you put it to them through your solicitor.
 
If you get a mortgage (not AH or SO)from the county council and then remortgage with a different lender after a couple of years is there a clawback charge?
 
i would contact ur solicitor that you used to buy the property in the first place . im sure there has to be something specified in the contract about clawback and how and when it has to be paid .
 
I think the new Housing Misc Provisions Bill 2009 which is due to be enacted shortly should address this issue and allow affordable householders to seek to release themselves from the clawback
 
From reading it looks like you can only buy them out after 5 years? Or am I not understanding this correctly?

Section 87 Payments by purchaser during charged period
This section sets out arrangements for repayments by the purchaser to the housing authority during the charged period to reduce or clear the outstanding equity charge on the dwelling
Subsections (1) to (3) provide that, after 5 years ownership, a purchaser may make a payment or payments (subject to a prescribed minimum payment) to the housing authority to reduce the amount of the equity charge outstanding on the dwelling
 
They told me that they use to facilate people by letting them buy them out(the clawback) and in November they changed the rules - it will be 20 years before they have no charge to it!! They also said that it is not in the contract.
 
Kay, I think you're been led up the garden path, this sounds like a breach of contract. As good as this forum is for bouncing idea's off when the time comes that you're sure you want to buy the council out have the council inform you of their interpretation of the clawback, and get your solicitor to look at it and your contract.
 
this is an important question for Council's to address - if the market value falls to be below the market value at the time of purchase, why can't we release the clawback? It can't just be the case that we have to sell the property.
 
Try and look at it from the other perspective, the councils were not providing you with an insurance against property price drops, they were providing a way for you to buy a house at a cheaper price than someone who had higher earnings than you. The purpose of the clawback was not to make money, it is to discourage the sale of property within a short period of time by reducing the potential for profit. There is no disputing the fact that the risk of owners profit-taking is no longer a concern.

Property prices will likely rebound in the years to come and if that is still within the clawback period that was agreed when you made the purchase then why would the council throw that agreement out the window.

Does the clawback cause you other problems? For example do you pay higher mortgage rates than you would be otherwise eligible for?
 
ontour said:
Does the clawback cause you other problems?
Click to expand...

Yes, not directly the clawback but under the affordable housing scheme we cannot rent out our apartment. I don't think the council should be able to dictate this if the market value has dropped below what you paid for it.
 
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