County Council Mortgages

Cork2015!

Just wondering if anyone on here has had any experiences with county council mortgages?

I have done some research online an can't find much.... I know you need letters of refusals from banks and that the deposit required is 3% but can't find much else

I am planing on ringing about it next week and make some inquiries but am trying to arm myself with as much information as possible first.

My main question - Obviously if you need refusal letters from banks the council is aware of the fact that you are not a perfect candidate (from banks point of view) - so does this mean that they are more lenient than the banks regarding previous poor credit?

Or is it simply the case that the refusals from the banks are because you don't have the extra deposit that you would need?

If anyone has any type of experience with this process I would love to hear it

Michael D Not Higgins

I have not seen any clarification on whether the councils still issue mortgages and if they do, whether they are regulated by the central bank rules on lending. You would need to speak to the council about the arrangements that are in force.

athtrasna

Try a search on this forum. It comes up about once a month

Mod

BUBBLES1978

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/local_authority_and_social_housing/buying_your_local_authority_house.html

Everything you need to know is here, its a new scheme that is open this year. first thing you need to do it check the house you are in, is an eligible house for this purchase scheme then best advice i can give is contact your local co council as they are in the early stages and might be tweaking it differently

other information is this:

Yes the scheme opens on 1st January. Not every house is eligible,
Basically the house is valued and you get a discount based on your income as follows

Discount of 60 % if your income is between €15,000-€20,000
Discount of 50% if your income is between €20,001-€29,999
Discount of 40% if your income is greater than €30,000

(social welfare income isn’t counted so it will probably be based on your gross income from work)

Michael D Not Higgins

BUBBLES1978 wrote: »

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/local_authority_and_social_housing/buying_your_local_authority_house.html

Everything you need to know is here, its a new scheme that is open this year. first thing you need to do it check the house you are in, is an eligible house for this purchase scheme then best advice i can give is contact your local co council as they are in the early stages and might be tweaking it differently

other information is this:

Yes the scheme opens on 1st January. Not every house is eligible,
Basically the house is valued and you get a discount based on your income as follows

Discount of 60 % if your income is between €15,000-€20,000
Discount of 50% if your income is between €20,001-€29,999
Discount of 40% if your income is greater than €30,000

(social welfare income isn’t counted so it will probably be based on your gross income from work)

That's for buying a council house, not getting a council mortgage to buy a private house.

mayo92

Has anyone had any luck with this or have any information?
I called the council to enquire and felt i was being fobbed off. I'm not looking for a big mortgage(80-90000. Repayments would be less than my current rent which is already very low! I have been refused by bank because of my low wages even though I have proof(in rent & savings) I can well afford it.
It would be great to get this as interest rate is low and 3% deposit would leave money for furnishing the house etc as I was presuming I would need 10%!

TENHNY

I am currently in the process of it, its long drawing out but hopefully worth it, Ring up and ask them to post out home loan application form, you have to have savings,show the ability to pay have a meeting with their board.
Best of luck

09_09_09

mayo92 wrote: »

Has anyone had any luck with this or have any information?
I called the council to enquire and felt i was being fobbed off. I'm not looking for a big mortgage(80-90000. Repayments would be less than my current rent which is already very low! I have been refused by bank because of my low wages even though I have proof(in rent & savings) I can well afford it.
It would be great to get this as interest rate is low and 3% deposit would leave money for furnishing the house etc as I was presuming I would need 10%!

http://www.dublincity.ie/sites/default/files/content/Documents/House_Purchase_Loan_Application_Form.pdf

This might be helpful if you are planning to buy in or around Dublin.

riclad

You would need to find a house for sale 80-90k ,thats not easy in dublin.
council will need survey to show its in good structural condition .

mayo92

TENHNY wrote: »

I am currently in the process of it, its long drawing out but hopefully worth it, Ring up and ask them to post out home loan application form, you have to have savings,show the ability to pay have a meeting with their board.
Best of luck

Thanks Yea I have all that so fingers crossed. Do you know do they use the same limit as the banks with 3 and half times your salary? Or as it is not technically a mortgage can they be more lenient?

mayo92

riclad wrote: »

You would need to find a house for sale 80-90k ,thats not easy in dublin.
council will need survey to show its in good structural condition .

Yea I am in mayo so maybe a bit easier

Michael D Not Higgins

mayo92 wrote: »

Thanks Yea I have all that so fingers crossed. Do you know do they use the same limit as the banks with 3 and half times your salary? Or as it is not technically a mortgage can they be more lenient?

It is a mortgage but I think the county councils aren't under the remit of the Central Bank if they can give loans of 97%. What they will want instead is a maximum limit of your disposable income to be payable to the mortgage. They're not going to grant a mortgage above a certain level (maybe 35% of your net income) but at the lower end of the scale that could easily be above the 3.5 limit.

For example if your income is 20k, your net is ~1500 per month. At 35% that's a max mortgage payment of 525 per month. That would more than support a 97k mortgage with 3k deposit at the interest rates the council charge and including stress testing. That would also be an LTI of 4.85. This is all subject to the other criteria they apply such as regular saving and expenses.

mayo92

Thats brilliant thanks for the info. It all makes sense on paper so hopefully it's not something they have to advertise but don't actually like to give out. It is something that is never advertised and could help out so many people. If they could give me this it will free up the house i am currently renting which is what is needed!!

mayo92

Sorry that is a bit contradictory!! I meant it is not widely advertised or known about. I had go searching to find out this was even a possibility

Cork2015!

How did you even go about applying?
I have tried really hard and can't find right info online anywhere

Michael D Not Higgins

mayo92 wrote: »

Sorry that is a bit contradictory!! I meant it is not widely advertised or known about. I had go searching to find out this was even a possibility

They are not easily granted and particularly the rate of non performance of the loans is twice as bad as the private banks, so they are in no hurry to lend more. You'll need to jump through quite a few hoops to qualify.

Good luck though, I hope it works out for you.

coffeyt

I got a council mortgage last year to purchase a property, very long drawn out process but got there eventually. Just to advice also if you are currently renting a council property you can also apply for the mortgage allowance scheme. If you get the mortgage this is a grant that basically reduces your mortgage repayments over the first five years. Worth looking into also as its worth approx €11000 over the 5 years if granted.

coffeyt

Also even though you apply through your own council all applications are processed by a department in Dublin(dept of environment if I remember correctly), if you go to housing.gov.ie and search for local authority loans you can see all the information needed, hope this helps and best of luck. If you have any questions feel free to ask!!

mayo92

coffeyt wrote: »

Also even though you apply through your own council all applications are processed by a department in Dublin(dept of environment if I remember correctly), if you go to housing.gov.ie and search for local authority loans you can see all the information needed, hope this helps and best of luck. If you have any questions feel free to ask!!

Thanks for the info Just wondering for the refusal letters, do they need to have a specific amount or is a generic letter okay? I asked my own bank to send me refusal letter but it came with no amount stated. I asked a Building Society who ant 20 for it and asked it I wanted it blank or a specific amount stated.

Also just wondering if you need to have a specific house decided on? I do have one in mind but I would rather get approved in principal before spending money on getting in surveyed etc..

By looking at the appplication form it looks like you need to have everything in place but obviously don't want to do this incase it gets refused as this is probably my last hope to buy in the near future!!

coffeyt

Hi no problem I know how frustrating it can be trying to get the info you need!!! With regards the letters of refusal from bank, yes they do require that the amount that you applied for be on the letter. And regards the house details you will need to send in details of a property but we just picked a generic one in our area for the amount we were looking to borrow, the process of applying and getting the letter advising we had the loan took nearly 6 months so realistically that house could be sold so you can use the funds to purchase a different house to the one you initially applied for. I still have the copy of our original application so any more questions you need answered work away!!

Tasden

Coffeyt very helpful posts, thank you!

mayo92

coffeyt wrote: »

Hi no problem I know how frustrating it can be trying to get the info you need!!! With regards the letters of refusal from bank, yes they do require that the amount that you applied for be on the letter. And regards the house details you will need to send in details of a property but we just picked a generic one in our area for the amount we were looking to borrow, the process of applying and getting the letter advising we had the loan took nearly 6 months so realistically that house could be sold so you can use the funds to purchase a different house to the one you initially applied for. I still have the copy of our original application so any more questions you need answered work away!!

Thanks so much.... really appreciated. I might be on to you in a few weeks! When I called she was telling me to go on the housing list and to call her back in a month and she would have a chat with me about how much I could borrow.

I don't know if this is needed or is it just to make them look good by taking someone off the housing list?!

coffeyt

Well I got my mortgage from Tipperary county council so maybe there is slight differences but there was no requirement to be on housing list. In fact it mentioned if we were renting privately we needed to supply a copy of lease. I found that most council employees had very little idea how the scheme worked, even the lady we dealt with once we were approved kept on having to check info. My best suggestion would be just to request a loan query form, fill it in and go into council office to hand it in. There is a small fee you have to pay (was €40 in tipperary but again it varies) and go from there. We asked a local councillor in the end to be honest as like you we kept getting the run around and he got the initial form posted to us and advised who to deal with.

coffeyt

Just to say we didn't know local councillor so just got his number and explained what we were looking for. Once you complete the loan query form they will assess whether or not you meet the criteria, if you do you then you will get an official application form to complete which is what gets sent to Dublin by your local council. The initial application took us about a month and then we were waiting over 3 months to hear back from Dublin.

mayo92

Yea i thought that. I called in to the office one day to enquire and the lady at the desk quickly went through the requirements she had on paper (which all seem pretty straight forward) and then handed me the application form. It was only when I got home it looked like a lot to get together when I had no idea how much they would be willing to give me or even sitting down and having a chat with someone.

My wages are about 1500 a month which is low but I know I can afford the repayments as they would be a lot lower than I have been paying in rent for the last 7 years but they may not see it like that!

Tasden

mayo92 wrote: »

Yea i thought that. I called in to the office one day to enquire and the lady at the desk quickly went through the requirements she had on paper (which all seem pretty straight forward) and then handed me the application form. It was only when I got home it looked like a lot to get together when I had no idea how much they would be willing to give me or even sitting down and having a chat with someone.

My wages are about 1500 a month which is low but I know I can afford the repayments as they would be a lot lower than I have been paying in rent for the last 7 years but they may not see it like that!

Do you not need to be earning over 35k to apply?

mayo92

Tasden wrote: »

mayo92 wrote: »

Yea i thought that. I called in to the office one day to enquire and the lady at the desk quickly went through the requirements she had on paper (which all seem pretty straight forward) and then handed me the application form. It was only when I got home it looked like a lot to get together when I had no idea how much they would be willing to give me or even sitting down and having a chat with someone.

My wages are about 1500 a month which is low but I know I can afford the repayments as they would be a lot lower than I have been paying in rent for the last 7 years but they may not see it like that!

Do you not need to be earning over 35k to apply?

Really? I know the maximum you can be earning is 50k but I didn't read anything else

coffeyt

If your single you have to earn under €50000 and if a couple under €75000. There is no minimum amount but your repayments have to be under 35% of your net household income. As an example my loan for €92000 costs just shy of €400 a month which includes the mortgage protection you have to get through the council!

coffeyt

Also mayo92 my earnings would have been only a bit more more than yourself but my repayments work out well under 25% so by the looks of it you would be well within the guidelines for the amount you want. Just bear in mind as well as the 3% deposit you have to cover solicitors fees and stamp duty also so need to be able to show that amount in savings.

coffeyt

Sorry also meant to say my loan is over 30 years so my figures are based on that. But 35% of your net income would be 525 so your repayments have to be under that which on a 90000 mortgage over 30 years it would be! 😀

mayo92

coffeyt wrote: »

Also mayo92 my earnings would have been only a bit more more than yourself but my repayments work out well under 25% so by the looks of it you would be well within the guidelines for the amount you want. Just bear in mind as well as the 3% deposit you have to cover solicitors fees and stamp duty also so need to be able to show that amount in savings.

Yea that's what I thought. Yea that's no problem as I was expecting to have to have 10% deposit by going with the banks. Even with the banks everything shows I can afford it but they want you to have 1350 disposable income which was the problem!
That's brilliant to have your own house for that money It will also free up a house for someone that needs it in this rental crisis!
Lets hope they think logically when doing this!!

coffeyt

Best of luck with your application, if you have any other questions work away as I said I can remember how frustrating it was trying to get info but its worth it in the end, we are now paying less than our rent was but will eventually own our house. And we were in exact same situation with the banks so know what you're going through!

mayo92

Do you mind me asking did you do a single or joint application? I have a partner but he's not in a permanent job and only getting days here and there so pretty much unemployed in their eyes! I see there is an option for the second applicant to be unemployed but I was just going to leave him out as I presume he will lose money on his social welfare payments etc if he were to buy a house.
Final question for the moment I promise!! But thanks again for all the info.

coffeyt

No problem again we were similar in that my husband wasn't working, he was minding our son and claiming social welfare, but he had to go on our application as we are married and so would have a financial interest in the house. From what I remember they dont take social welfare into account as part of your income but they also did not view him as a dependant as he had that income, if that makes sense. As long as my net income meant our repayments were under the magic 35% they were happy with that. And it did not affect his social welfare us getting the house, but he is now back at work full time so happy days!!

mayo92

Ah brilliant all going well for ye I might be in touch in a few weeks!!

Tasden

coffeyt wrote: »

If your single you have to earn under €50000 and if a couple under €75000. There is no minimum amount but your repayments have to be under 35% of your net household income. As an example my loan for €92000 costs just shy of €400 a month which includes the mortgage protection you have to get through the council!

http://www.homechoiceloan.ie/Who-can-apply-.aspx
Is this not what you're talking about?

Michael D Not Higgins

Tasden wrote: »

http://www.homechoiceloan.ie/Who-can-apply-.aspx
Is this not what you're talking about?

A home choice loan is different to a county council mortgage. The latest information I heard on the home choice loan was that it was a complete failure as no one actual was able to qualify. Not a single one was granted in 2015.

The scheme was meant to replace the banks during the time when they weren't lending for mortgages. That's changed now and the banks are lending again so the home choice loan scheme is a bit outdated now.

Tasden

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

A home choice loan is different to a county council mortgage. The latest information I heard on the home choice loan was that it was a complete failure as no one actual was able to qualify. Not a single one was granted in 2015.

The scheme was meant to replace the banks during the time when they weren't lending for mortgages. That's changed now and the banks are lending again so the home choice loan scheme is a bit outdated now.

I was told they were same thing different name. And like you say that uptake was non existent. Where do you get info on the council mortgages then because i went to the council and they were the ones who said they no longer do mortgages i have to go to home choice loan which is issued through broker to the council. Looking them up I kept getting info on home choice loans so assumed I was told correctly about same thing different name. Only info on council mortgages other than home choice are on mortgages for council tenants. Thanks for the info!

coffeyt

Hi tasden if you go to housing.gov.ie and look for local authority loans it has the basic details, there is also a link listing all the councils details so you can select whatever council you are in, can I ask were you are based? The home choice loan is definitely a completely different scheme.

Tasden

coffeyt wrote: »

Hi tasden if you go to housing.gov.ie and look for local authority loans it has the basic details, their is also a link listing all the councils details so you can select whatever council you are in, can I ask were you are based?

Thanks a million, came in to post that I found the correct information! very helpful thread, appreciate the info from both of you.

TENHNY

Cork2015! wrote: »

How did you even go about applying?
I have tried really hard and can't find right info online anywhere

no info on line cork2015, just contact local council direct

mayo92

TENHNY wrote: »

Cork2015! wrote: »

How did you even go about applying?
I have tried really hard and can't find right info online anywhere

no info on line cork2015, just contact local council direct

Go to housing.gov.ie

All info should be there

Rzeznik

I'm finishing the process, got a letter of offer and hope to finish buying a house before the end of the year.

I applied (joint application) end of April, got a mortgage in principle in mid Jun.
After we found a house and went sale agreed end of Sep, we received letter of offer end of Oct. So if case is not hard it can go pretty fast.

Process looks as follow:
- you apply with all the documentation needed and pay the fee
- if all is straight forward you will get an approval in principle in 4 to 8 weeks (it is usually 3-4 weeks for the underwriter in Dublin and then council committee has to sign it and they gather usually once a month)
- if they need additional info they will come back to you and this will make the whole process longer

Rate for the loan is nice as with MPI it is below 2,8%
You need 2 refusals from the bank and they do not have to bear any amounts on them. Generic one worked for us.

As for them being more lenient it depends. If you are self employed it can be hard as even with very small business you need qualified accountant signature on your accounts (CCA ACA CPA OR IPA qualified) which I'm not sure is a hard requirement in banks (at the same time bank told us we would need only tax assessments in our case - businesses brings under 15k a year and no costs are recorded).
On the other hand they can take into account bonuses if you can prove you receive them on a regular basis. (which is almost not possible with the bank AFAIK).

33k a month and yearly bonus of 6,6k resulted in 135k of mortgage in principal. (family 2+2, my wife income was not taken into consideration at that time).

Leon245

Hi All,

This is a really good and informative thread.

We've just started the process now ourselves with Mayo county council. We've nearly all the paperwork ready, but one thing is stumping us for the last couple of days.

As part of the application it states in the application form we need a copy of an OS Map stating town land and site edged in red approved by engineer/architect, including area in acres etc... I've asked our contact in the council for more information and waiting for them to get back to us.

Was this something anyone had an issue with as part of their initial application?

andy125

There was only 298 loan approved by Local authority's for the year of 2015

With such low numbers it must be very specfic on who they loan to, as such it could be only a handful of people per county

TENHNY

Leon245 wrote: »

Hi All,

This is a really good and informative thread.

We've just started the process now ourselves with Mayo county council. We've nearly all the paperwork ready, but one thing is stumping us for the last couple of days.

As part of the application it states in the application form we need a copy of an OS Map stating town land and site edged in red approved by engineer/architect, including area in acres etc... I've asked our contact in the council for more information and waiting for them to get back to us.

Was this something anyone had an issue with as part of their initial application?

Leon245 Are you building a house or buying

Leon245

Hi TENHNY, we're buying a house not building. In the end our county council contact accepted a simple map given from the estate agent which wasn't as descriptive as the one requested originally. This was just for the purpose of processing the application for provisional approval.

It seems the land registry details/folio our solicitor will get from the vendors solicitor, when we get to that stage hopefully, with map details is only needed for the closing of the sale.

TENHNY

Leon245 wrote: »

Hi TENHNY, we're buying a house not building. In the end our county council contact accepted a simple map given from the estate agent which wasn't as descriptive as the one requested originally. This was just for the purpose of processing the application for provisional approval.

It seems the land registry details/folio our solicitor will get from the vendors solicitor, when we get to that stage hopefully, with map details is only needed for the closing of the sale.

Did the process take long?
Have you found a house?

NearlyForty

I have yet to apply for a mortgage, we're saving for the deposit at the moment but when we do, I'm looking into alternative options for the 'just in case'.. I had found out about this Home Choice Loan and had the understanding that they no longer do this, but it seems it's still there, so that's good to know. Is it really that hard to get?

C. Montgomery Gurns

Morning all. <mod snip>

So I recently reached the age where it is time to slow down, grow up and start saving for the house. As we all know bank mortgages are currently unobtainable for a majority of working couples, at least in the Dublin region, which led me to investigate the process involved in securing local authority mortgages. While it's been a few months, from what I can recall the Dublin local authority areas will lend you a maximum of 220,000, providing you have a deposit saved at a minimum of 10% of this figure. Quite a reasonable deal- from a cursory look at daft.ie three bed ex council homes in the less salubrious parts of North and West Dublin typically go for around 140K to 170K (oddly I've seen homes in the same estate in seemingly the same condition with gaps of 40K in the price). The same type of homes in the older corpo built areas closer to town seem to start at around the 200- 220 mark (Kilbarrack, Crumlin, Drimnagh) There are even plenty of private build semis in reasonably alright areas of the likes of Blanch and Tallaght for around the 200 to 250k mark- just about affordable under your typical LA loan set up.

My question is, how straight forward is obtaining one of these loans? Is there a waiting list or a preference list in terms of who gets one? Do the local authorities have a near infinite amount of money to lend on this or do you have to be lucky enough to be among those to fit into their annual fiscal space? The reason I ask is that on the likes of The Journal commenters talk night and day about the inaccessibility of bank mortgages yet nobody ever seems to mention the local authority loans.


Also, how do you see house prices going by 2021? With the government planning to increase building of both social and private units, will the increased availability and increased availability of credit to buy lead to a fall in the cost of older housing stock?

C. Montgomery Gurns

Note- I started this as a stand alone thread and it was put in here so apologies if some of what was asked was covered here already. I guess to touch on some of what I read here since, people have alluded to it being a long, drawn out process. How long exactly did it take, and would it be longer in Dublin than a rural local authority? And what is the point in needing formal bank refusal- surely a majority of young couples in Dublin are default refused by the banks anyway?