Have an affordable property, but buying a New House ??

skipper1978 said:
Thanks for your mail Bobbyg I tried mailing you back but it kept failing.



I bought an AF apartment from Fingal. My gf has since moved in and we have managed to save a deposit for a house. We are looking at houses now and due to neg equity would like to rent out the apartment so it is interesting to hear your story.



Did the council give you anything in writing to say that you could rent out the apartment? And did they mention anything about the clawback being extended? Also was it much hassle setting yourself up as a "landlord" with taxes etc?



Thanks,
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Yes we got it in writing however it was only an allowance to rent for one year, I will probably let them know we have bought a 2nd home once the sale has all gone through.

They did stipulate that we had to register with the PRTB and pay all the necessary taxes, which we have done.

I don't think there was any mention of the clawback but my understanding is the clawback will only be an issue if you sell and make a profit and that may never happen for us as the negative equity is in the region of 150k.

It is hassle to set up as a landlord but for us it was the only way we would ever buy a house
 
Hi Bobbyg

I called Dublin CC to ask about this and they said I could just write in and request to be able to rent the apartment. The girl I spoke to over the phone seemed nearly 100% sure they would allow it but now over a month later they have finally replied by post to say it was rejected.

Can you let me know how you went about getting clearance to rent the property?

Really could do with the help as we need to move having just married and want to start a family soon
 
cormac79 said:
Hi Bobbyg

I called Dublin CC to ask about this and they said I could just write in and request to be able to rent the apartment. The girl I spoke to over the phone seemed nearly 100% sure they would allow it but now over a month later they have finally replied by post to say it was rejected.

Can you let me know how you went about getting clearance to rent the property?

Really could do with the help as we need to move having just married and want to start a family soon
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Will send on the information next week, going to be out of the office for a couple of weeks.
 
Hi Cormac,

Sorry I have been fairly busy lately and wanted to wait till I had the keys for the new house before I replied, didn't want to jinx anything and I am literally picking up the keys for the new house in the morning.

I can only tell you what we did and people may say what we did was morally/ethically wrong but we did what was best for us and not SDCC.

We bought the apartment through the affordable housing in 2007 for €280k (not very affordable in hind sight). Our plan was to stay there for about 5 years then try to sell and buy a house. After two years it was obvious that does would not be possible so we made a decision to move back with parents and save for a house.

We rang SDCC but they would not give us permission to rent out the property. We then arranged to meet with them (this was in 2010) and at the meeting we basically said we were going to immigrate and had to rent out the apartment.

They reluctantly agreed to allow us to rent out the apartment for one year on the basis that we register with the PRTB and comply with the revenue and declare the income for tax purposes, which we did. We were given permission in writing and were only supposed to rent it out for one year but we still have it rented to the original tenants.

We moved back home in 2010 and after almost 3 years of hard saving we went to the banks and got a second mortgage and have just purchased the second house.

To be honest in our situation I am not sure what the council can do as the apartment is now in roughly 160k negative equity.

The other half just gave birth to our first child on Thursday and we are moving to the new house tomorrow. So I guess what I am trying to say is that we decided a couple of years ago that we didn't want to live in the apartment for the rest of our lives and moved on, the hardest part was getting the second mortgage and saving for 3 years!
 
Congrats Bobby & I hope your better half is doing well!!!

Thanks for the feedback and I feel I am in the same boat as you now. They have refused to allow me to lease the apartment but if I leave the country or move back to my parents house it sounds like they will allow it.

Because of this I have been in contact with my local councillor about the ordeal. SDCC would rather myself and wife (both with full time jobs and paying tax thru the nose) to leave the country before they would give us the opportunity to move on with our life without a massive negative equity debt to pay off. I know everyone has this issue now but at least if they are not under the affordable housing hat - they can do whatever they like with their purchase.

Congrats again on the baby and on the purchase of your new home. I hope it will serve you both well for many years to come.

Thanks again,
Cormac
 
I live in an affordable housing complex and there are plenty of units rented out at the moment. Dublin city are the mortgage providers.
 
my understanding is the clawback stalls if your renting it, so yes it is legal
 
Nesta said:
my understanding is the clawback stalls if your renting it, so yes it is legal
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I have never been able to find any legal authority for the claim that renting out your affordable property has any effect on the clawback.

Your contract will state that you must keep the property as your principal residence. Renting it out is, therefore, a breach of contract, rather than being "illegal" in the ordinary sense.

Some local authorities are allowing it now anyway, either as a matter of policy (with or without formalities that have to be complied with) or just by turning a blind eye.

If your LA is one that doesn't allow it, they can go after you for breach of contract. I suspect in the past they may have offered homeowners the opportunity to repay the clawback as an alternative to breach of contract proceedings and this may be where the perception arose that the clawback was triggered by renting.

These days, when the value of many properties has fallen below the original purchase value and there often is no clawback (or if there is, it's peanuts), this is less likely to happen.

So anyway, long and short of it - whether or not you're allowed to rent out your affordable property is entirely up to the council. Unless they have a specific policy allowing it, and you comply with any formalities they require, you do so at your own risk.
 
Affordable House

Hi OP,

I contacted Fingal and asked for permission to rent out my AH 3 bed house...It was granted for an initial period of 2 year.

I was chatting to a guy who works in Fingal Housing and I was told they are happy to let people rent out now they dont stand in your way as they are just happy to have the mortgage paid each month!

My next door neighbour of the AH house did excatly the same thing and has resently just bought a second home so it is possible!
 
chan1 said:
Hi OP,

I contacted Fingal and asked for permission to rent out my AH 3 bed house...It was granted for an initial period of 2 year.

I was chatting to a guy who works in Fingal Housing and I was told they are happy to let people rent out now they dont stand in your way as they are just happy to have the mortgage paid each month!

My next door neighbour of the AH house did excatly the same thing and has resently just bought a second home so it is possible!
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Hi Chan,

Is your mortgage with the county council or is it with a bank / building society?

I assume it's with the county council otherwise they wouldn't care less and would just reject any application to rent out the AH.

I'd love to know tho.

Thanks for the update!!
 
I am free at last .... just sold my affordable unit. i appreciated the chance to purchase it a few years back as it prevented me buying an over inflated dog box on the outskirts of dublin. No problems with DCC as i never profited from sale. Good riddance AH and your rules etc. I am Free!
 
I have affordable housing too & mortgage is with a bank.

- can I rent it out. Without telling county council, and register with ptrb & get trs taken away?
- if I want to sell, how sticky are the council with selling price?

Appreciate any comments from posters

Thanks
 
stonecoldk said:
I have affordable housing too & mortgage is with a bank.

- can I rent it out. Without telling county council, and register with ptrb & get trs taken away?
- if I want to sell, how sticky are the council with selling price?
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Which council?
 
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