Buying sister's council house for her through Right To Buy

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Does anyone know if you could buy a house though this scheme on behalf of a family member?

My sister lives in a council house a day would like to buy it. But wouldn't get a mortgage to cover it.

I can though. She can afford the repayments. The idea essentially is I would get the mortgage in my name a day she pays me and I pay the mortgage.

Is this possible? Morally acceptable?

If she has a lifetime tennency then she has security, and is in a better position for repairs and such.

My understanding is that they tightened up the rules some time ago. Property developers were buying on behalf of vulnerable people, then cashing in, leaving the vulnerable people homeless.

This is not your circumstance. However your sister will have to accept that you are effectively paying for her.

You could have an initial word with a no fee broker like London and Country. However I suspect that the easiest way would be for you to remortgage and gift/loan her the money. I assume there is scope for such a loan to be structured like a mortgage so she is committed to paying you back, and with a charge against the property. You would need to discuss "what if she or you died scenarios" with a lawyer, the risk being of you dying within seven years.

The advantage of you borrowing rather than her, and not on an ex-council property, is that interest rates will be lower. I have done similar when buying a small flat near my elderly/ill mother. My mum has effectively given me a mortgage, I pay less than I would pay from a commercial lender, and she earns more than she would from savings, and its all above board. PM if you want the name of my efficient and not too expensive lawyer.

What Brillo hair says- your sister will be more secure as a tenant.
She will have a cheap home for life with maintenance and repairs included in her rent.
If you died she could t get HB , would have to pay for repairs etc and could lose her home.

My parents did this for me although brought outright with inheritance from my grandparents. My flat is solely in my name.

We have a dedicated bank account which I pay money into each month and a "Declaration of Trust" which is attached to the deeds so should I sell in the future they would get any money back that I haven't already paid them back.

Not sure of the ins and outs of a mortgage and its implications but it is possible to buy it for someone.

OP you sound like a caring person.

Is it possible you have the cash to help your sister purchase the Right to Buy, or could you re-mortgage your current property in order to raise the cash?

There is nothing to say specifically how a Right to Buy purchase should be financed. A family member (or someone else) can provide the funding for the purchase. However legal ownership of the property can only be in the names of the eligible tenant/s. Therefore, a mortgage in your name is unlikely to be agreed. There are mortgage lenders who might consider your sister even if there are certain circumstances that you think might go against her and some will take the discount as the deposit. If you are intending to "gift" some cash, then the mortgage could be lower.

If you can provide the cash to purchase (either in cash or by remortgage) but you would like it to be repaid because it is a loan, then you would probably have to trust your sister to keep up the repayments as an informal agreement rather than have a mortgage company involved, since a mortgage lender will require your name on the title and a charge placed on the property. It would be risky but ultimately this is the only way you can provide the financing without breaking any rules. The cash would have to be put into your sister's account so that she is seen to be the purchaser as the solicitor involved will not accept purchase monies from a third party account.

Hope that helps.

If you can afford to pay her mortgage for her then why not just buy a different house?

Who will inherit if she dies?
Again it depends on her tennency but Dd can inherit mine, ok she'll never have money but will have security for life and can move within the HA system, I certainly plan to move though I will never give up my tennency.
I am much more secure like this than as an owner because I'll always be on benefits (disability related), hopefully Dd won't be and will be able to own but that's a decision for her to make.
I fought hard to get a HA home after 10 years in private rental and I would never give it up, unless you have some money behind you if things go wrong then owning isn't always the best idea. I could own my home outright but I'd be fucked if the boiler broke, my toilet broke the other week at 9pm, fixed by 10pm, didn't cost me a penny etc.

Right to buy is such a joke.
No secure homes for vulnerable people, and families benefitting because they can afford to pay for houses one of them lives in at a knock down rate and then inherit them.
So, the rich get richer etc. What a Holly wheeze.

Jolly. Sadly it's not just at Christmas this immoral scheme applies.

Just to be clear I'll never own, could never afford to, I meant hypothetically in my last post.
I hope Dd will never need to inherit my tennency but since I've no money to leave her it gives me peace of mind she'll always have a home, I'd far rather she's able to buy and my HA tennency will go to someone who needs it as I did.

Though I do not share Brillo's approach, she has a point. What does you sister think? Does she want to own? Is she happy about taking responsibility for boilers and cyclical maintenance?

If she is, I still suspect a specialist mortgage will be expensive, and that you are better off finding the money, and then lending it to her, protecting yourselves by putting a charge against the property. (And protecting her as if you were to die within 7 years any "gift" could be taxable.)

You can gift her the cash to buy it out right, but you can't mortgage the house on her behalf. Sorry.