Affordable Housing - The Myth

Is there a case to be made that affordable housing is a myth, in reality when you service a mortgage and add in the service managment fee a person on a gross income of 45 to 50 K servicing a mortgage of 170 K is the same as a person servicing a 350K mortgage in the sense that the management fee monthly charged by management companies can be in excess of 200 Euros.

Residents of a west dublin affordable housing estate pay a management fee of €2,300 a year

Should affordable housing owners get tax credits at least from the government to be able to hold onto their affordable house?

Firstly management fees only apply to apartments, they don't apply to houses.
Secondly, by paying management fees you are spared some of the costs of maintaining a property if you had a house.

If management fees were tax deductable, then that would not be fair to house owners who cannot deduct the cost of repairs and upkeep from their houses. Surely as well if management fees were to be tax deducatable, would it then not mean that any profit made from a sale of a home would be taxed too.

AH is designed to help people who cannot get a full mortgage to buy a home, but a home comes with it's own costs. nothing in life is free

Firstly management fees only apply to apartments, they don't apply to houses.
Secondly, by paying management fees you are spared some of the costs of maintaining a property if you had a house.

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Not true, they can apply to houses in new estates aswell. They are alot cheaper -in or around €200 -400 per annum, but still management fees for houses do exist!. After all if you are living in a house in an estate there are still "common areas" etc to maintain.

I suppose I havent argued my case very well, I know ther is nothing "free" in life, Yes affordable housing scheme was designed for people on lower incomes to get on the property ladder, however I do not agree that people who live in apartments or average houses spend up on 2300 euros to maintain the same, this is the basis of my argument, i believe that as central and local government designed the scheme, they should also review the scheme, Managment companies are a law on to themselves frequently hiking up fees, i live in an affordable housing situation, my mortage is manageable however the thing that bugs me is the fact that i pay 2300 euros to an un accountable managment company, is there anybody out there with similar experience. The present government dont really want to tackle management companies, in an era of wage restraint - average earners living in affordable housing cannot keep pace with the cost of living

In relation to management companies and cost of maintenance, I have checiked out what my equivalent in a normal housing situation would be and still the management companies are charging fees that are excessive

Just to clarify something from above - our mgmt fees for our AH (house) are 488 (first year), will have to wait and see if they're hiked for next year..

Derryme said:

In relation to management companies and cost of maintenance, I have checiked out what my equivalent in a normal housing situation would be and still the management companies are charging fees that are excessive

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The fees for your scheme might be more expensive, but is this the case for ALL Affordable Housing schemes? I could point you to private develpoment where fees are 3k for an apartment versus another where they may be 1k.

What's covered by your fees? Did you do a comparison on cost only or compare what's covered by the fees?

The fees may seem high relative to what you paid for the AH unit but if you accept the builders valuation of say 450/500K for a 2 bed apt, "cough", well then you may well expect to pay 2.5K in annual maintance fees. Caveat Emptor.

my management fee for a house is 1.5k.

ours is €1000 and I am fully happy to pay that. They keep the place in good nick so cant complain really, my rubbish to the local council would prob be a good percentage of that so I dont mind paying €1K