Buying a council property

[poppy990]

Does anyone have experience of buying a council property they've lived?
Is it easy to get a mortgage?
I'd like to hear experiences

As in, buying under right to buy?

If so 2 family members have bought theirs in the last decade. (Assuming nothing much has changed...) Initially they had a valuer come out to inspect the property before offering a sale price, inclusive of the discount you're eligible for, if any.

They should also take into account the approximate value of any work that you have done to the property (improvement wise) and deduct this from their offer.

For example, over the course of around 25 years my family member added a driveway to the property, a new kitchen etc. They took approx £15k off of their offer price for the work that had been done.

Made up numbers, but say property value was £250k, eligible for discount of £100k, value of work done to the property, £15k- offered for sale for £135k.

Keep in mind that you don't need to accept the offer they make to you if you think it's not in line with market pricing. You can ask for another valuation, a valuation from a local estate agent or you can make a counter offer, giving reasons why if you feel they've over valued it or why you feel it's worth what you've offered instead.

One family member appealed their valuation and this did elongate the process significantly. In total, it took about 9 months for a standard no chain purchase due to all the back and fourth. But it did result in their offer being reduced by a further £20k, so worthwhile I suppose.

The other one straightforward as far as i'm aware, completing quickly. The council agreed to complete in as little as 7 days or to your preferred time line. Obviously with a mortgage it's a little more complicated than that as they'll want valuations and surveys and searches, but that's normal.

Thanks that's really useful.
So the valuation comes from the council initially?
Did your family member organise a mortgage in same way as with a private purchase ie 10% deposit required ?

@poppy990

Thanks that's really useful. So the valuation comes from the council initially? Did your family member organise a mortgage in same way as with a private purchase ie 10% deposit required ?

Yes that's right. I believe someone from the council housing department came to value initially and when it was appealed the district valuer came out. I think the next step available if that was also appealed was to get 3 local estate agents in to value the property and take the average.

It didn't come to that for them, but that's what the next step was if they still didn't agree to the district valuers valuation.

I know that one of them purchased a house that was non standard construction property, so they had to seek out a mortgage lender that borrowed on that type of build. Apart from that everything else was the same, including a deposit requirement. I think the council offered use of their solicitors for the purchase to streamline things (you still had to pay) but that was optional and you could use your own if you preferred.

Only other things I can think of to note are:

If you want to sell within 5 years of buying you'll need to pay back some/all of your discount depending on when you sell during that time period.

If you want to sell within 10 years you need to offer the property back to the council first incase they want to buy it back. With any luck they'll just say no, but if they are interested (likely if you're in an area with a housing shortage and it's a family home) they'll want to view it, come and value it again and all that business.

One family member sold last year due to relocating (other still in their property) and this was a time consuming process. You're under no obligation to accept their offer but before you can complete on a sale on the open market you'll need proof (in writing) from the council that they are not interested in buying the property/give you permission to sell on.

If you DO come to sell on there can be some unexpected costs due to selling an ex council home if your solicitor is not savvy at this stage. For this reason I recommend using your own solicitor and not using the council solicitor as my family member did as these things were all conveniently over looked and came back to bite them on the bum when they wanted to sell themselves.

1. Your buyers mortgage company/solicitors will likely want certificates for things like electrical safety, or work done to the property like new roof, windows etc. Because the council were the owners and the ones contracting the work, they tend to keep their paperwork "in house" meaning often safety certificates and so on weren't ever made available to you. If they were ever issued that is. However, you'll be expected to provide these if you go on to sell, for your buyer.

You'll then need to buy these from the council. I think it was about £45 a letter/certificate and sometimes a wait of several weeks trying to get hold of the right person or department. So something to keep in mind- make sure you get everything at this stage just incase you ever do wish to sell on yourself.

Yes, we bought ours recently.

We didn’t need a deposit as the discount counts as the equity so it was fairly easy to get mortgage on that basis.

Make sure you would not be liable for huge building maintenance bills if you buy your council property.

That would not apply with a house but if you buy your council flat and become a leaseholder remember that the council will charge you for repair/maintenance work for the building.

There are horror stories of private owners being asked to pay thousands of pounds for refurbishment work. Council tenants pay nothing so private owners are then left with a disproportionate financial burden when it comes to communal works...

A former colleague of mine bought an ex-council flat in Bermondsey, London, and was hit by the Council with a bill for several thousands of pounds a couple of months after that for building refurbishment. Expensive mistake...