Council House Resale

Hi everyone
We are council tenants and we are thinking of purchasing our council house from the council( we are building elsewhere) but we would like to buy the council house and resell it we were told by council that after we purchase from them we would have to contact them if we wanted to resell, we were also told that if we were selling it again that the would be purchaser would have to be a non property owner and in need of housing. also i heard that we could not rent out this house and neither could any potential owner.
Is there any way we could sell this house after purchasing and avoid this scenario as it is very unfair. we just want to buy it and make a profit simple as that!!!
has anyone any help or similar experience with this a legal view would be welcome too!!

I don't think there is any way around this. I recently was talking to a friend who went through the process. They still made a profit. I do think this is a fair system based on the fact that the council funded the house in the first place and why should the tax payer bear the brunt, why should you and would be developers benefit. It's fair also to give those in need a chance to get on the ladder I'm sure you appreciated it when you started off!
Good luck with the build.

The reason the regulations exists is to stop you making a quick profit.You are obviously in the enviable position that you are now in a position to build your own house but you have been provided with a house by the taxpayers of this country at a very reasonable rent which helped you get into the position you are in now.You now want to buy your house not to provide a home for your family but just to make a quick buck.Think of all the people on council waiting lists ( many paying astronomical rents for sub standard accomodation) who you would be denying a house.

mobiletech said:

Is there any way we could sell this house after purchasing and avoid this scenario as it is very unfair. we just want to buy it and make a profit simple as that!!!

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What exactly is very unfair?

If it is a council house your living in, it was bought using tax payers money. You
have probably been paying rent to the council at a rate that's a fraction of the open
market rent. This has maybe allowed you to benefit financially?

The council can't just sell off houses for individuals to make a profit from, not when
there are thousands of people on waiting lists seeking council houses. It's in their
interest to house people in need of housing, not to help people gain profit form it.

Edit: Sorry if I made the same point as the previous poster, just took longer to write
down my post!

I appreciate your point but this is how i see it the council will still have input as to who buys this house for the reason being thus, they will not pay for land here to build houses or make any forthright offence on the housing shortages thus we have to bear the responsibility of rehousing others which is not MY responsibilty if they cant manage this situation!

Also when a builder builds a development of houses he is obliged under law to provide a percentage of houses to the local authority(not sure but i think its 20 percent) , now fact whats being done here is the council are taking a percentage of these developments as cash. Then we are left with the council having a lot of money for housing but of course they are left with money that was supposed to be for housing and we get no houses.

I no sympathy for the council when they cant get their own affairs in order!!

By the way i am a taxpayer and also i have made headway in getting out of the council housing system as i find anti social behaviour rife and this is another council legacy (THEY MAKE ALLOWANCES FOR ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR TO CONTINUE SO THEY SHOLUD MAKE ALLOWANCES FOR ME TOO!)

I think the idea of buying the council house and then selling it on at a profit could
be more hassle than it's worth. There are a number of dowsides to this such as:

- Securing a mortgage to buy the house. (interest rates are rising)
- Putting it on the market and selling it at a profit (This could be a problem)
- Legal fee's for buying and selling (possible stamp duty)
- Possible loss of FTB status

and these are before the council put any restrictions in place.

You would have to be sure of making a tidy profit before implementing this plan
and the way the property market is at present, there can be no guarantees.

Bear in mind that your Co. Co. will put restrictions in place to prevent you from making a 'fast buck'. E.g. putting in a clause that the property cannot be sold on for a further ten years and cannot be rented out.

Although I see the angle you're coming from, the purpose of council housing is to help people who cannot afford housing otherwise. I suppose its like 'passing it on' to those next in need of help.

When I worked in Local Authority most tenants would hand back the keys if they were not in need of the social housing and moving on, so I imagine your local authority will make this plan very difficult for you.

I've posted before about a house I'm purchasing as a FTB, which I found out after sale agreed was a property with council interest. I still dont' know if it was a tenant-purchase from the council or if it was a shared ownership property that just happened to be ex-council also.
My solicitor assures me that this purchase sees the end of the council's interest in the property, and the auctioneer is no use, he says he wasn't ever aware of the council interest. The vendor is away at the moment so I can't get answers from them.
As a non-property owner buying a council house, were my future circumstances to change and were I to live elsewhere, could I rent this house out? How exactly does the council prevent a new owner from renting out the property? And can they / should they considering the new owner has not benefitted in any way from the council involvement?
I'm finding it very hard to get straight answers from anyone about this.


Edited to add: I was given a form to complete and sign, stating my name, present address, and whether or not I already owned a house. Nowhere on this form was there a declaration of my intentions for the property, or a statement of why they needed the information. My solicitor says I'm reading too far into it, but I have seen this stated over again on askaboutmoney that the house cannot be rented even though it is bought at full market value. It is all too grey for my liking.

mobiletech said:

I appreciate your point but this is how i see it the council will still have input as to who buys this house for the reason being thus, they will not pay for land here to build houses or make any forthright offence on the housing shortages thus we have to bear the responsibility of rehousing others which is not MY responsibilty if they cant manage this situation!

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You know, after reading that, I'm still not at all clear how you see it - except that you seem to be annoyed that the council won't let you buy the house at a discounted rate and sell it at full market value so you can make a quick profit.

Would you be similarly annoyed if you asked the Minister for Finance for €100,000 and he said "No, you can't have it"?

My solicitor assures me that this purchase sees the end of the council's interest in the property, and the auctioneer is no use, he says he wasn't ever aware of the council interest.

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Your solicitor is right Mel. The conditions only apply to the first sale of the premises by the ex tenant ( purchaser) from the council. Once the house is sold to you, those conditions will no longer apply. If you find it hard to believe your solicitor you can always contact the housing department of the council to get it confirmed to you. I know the specific provision was contained in one of the housing acts but I can't remember what year and there have been numerous housing acts.

Vanilla said:

Your solicitor is right Mel.

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Thanks Vanilla; It's not that I don't believe the solicitor as such, but just want to understand as much of the process as possible and as a fixed-price arrangement I don't always get the answers that I want from him, he sometimes deems things outside his scope
I did ring the council but they would not give me a straight answer either.
Thanks for clarifying it for me.

Think of the person next on the list for a house from the council.... that was you once, and I bet you would not have been impressed if the last tenants in your house were able to make a quick buck and sell it off..