Leasing to County Council

goodscooter

Has anyone any experience with leasing a property to the County Council?

I have s property in negative equity and am considering getting into a 10 year lease with the council so I dont have to worry about it for another 10 years.

Id be interested to hear from others who have rented to the council as to any negative elements i should be aware of.

hawkelady

goodscooter wrote: »

Has anyone any experience with leasing a property to the County Council?

I have s property in negative equity and am considering getting into a 10 year lease with the council so I dont have to worry about it for another 10 years.

Id be interested to hear from others who have rented to the council as to any negative elements i should be aware of.

Don't do it. In my experience the council will treat you with contempt ! In my case the council are actively encouraging my tenants to overhold because the council have nowhere else to put them. I'm hoping to sell my property but it ain't happening soon !! Also the council will give you below market rent and every 2/4 years at a renewal they will try and cut morrfrom the rent. Stay away from the council is my advice

stargazer 68

Agree with Hawkelady - a few threads on here about it. If your circumstances change it is virtually impossible to get your property back before the 10 years is up.

rgodard80a

You definitely won't get anywhere near market price.
You'll have to ensure everything in your property meets their strict checklist, including surveyors reports, electrical system certificates, minimum levels of insulation including X number of inches on the underside of the attic hatch itself, child locks on upstairs windows, smoke and heat alarms with 5 year batteries,
public liability insurance, etc..

You have to get permission from your mortgage provider to rent out the house and that could potentially open the door for them to withdraw a tracker mortgage if they really wanted to... haven't heard anything and PTSB didn't but could be a risk.

We're only getting around €550 for a 3 bed immaculate semi in Louth.

You will immediately lose your mortgage interest relief and be taxed on the income. (although that is the same with all rentals )

i_love_pie

Dovies wrote: »

Agree with Hawkelady - a few threads on here about it. If your circumstances change it is virtually impossible to get your property back before the 10 years is up.

the OP doesnt want or need to get it back in under ten years , the whole bloody point of entering into a long term lease with the council is you let it to them for ten years , that is not a negative as its a key aspect of the scheme

im considering doing the same OP , be careful of the advice you receive here about the long term lease , many confuse it with the HAP and also the RAS scheme , ive read countless comments about how if the council tenant stops paying , the council will in turn stop paying the person who owns the house , this is incorrect , it is the case when it comes to both the RAS and the HAP scheme but not the long term lease scheme

the biggest issue for me about this scheme are as follows

1. the council are likely to benchmark against the lowest possible rental on the market they can find , therefore you might end up with a lot less than 80% of the market rate , if the council get their facts from the RTB , then you are in trouble as the RTB are always way behind with their reports as to what the rents are around the country

2. the council tend to have very high standards in terms of preparing the house , i spoke to the council and they were talking about it being a problem that there was no upstairs bathroom in a 150 year old terraced two bedroom house , now im not saying i would have to install an upstairs bathroom but it gave the impression they set unrealistically high standards , no way should someone living off handouts in council accommodation expect an ultra modern house yet the council seem to demand it for those entering the scheme

i can see how such a scheme would be attractive to a lot of people , letting houses is tough in this country , the law is completely biased in favour of the tenant and this is supported by the media and the political class

hawkelady

i_love_pie wrote: »

Dovies wrote: »

Agree with Hawkelady - a few threads on here about it. If your circumstances change it is virtually impossible to get your property back before the 10 years is up.

the OP doesnt want or need to get it back in under ten years , the whole bloody point of entering into a long term lease with the council is you let it to them for ten years , that is not a negative as its a key aspect of the scheme

im considering doing the same OP , be careful of the advice you receive here about the long term lease , many confuse it with the HAP and also the RAS scheme , ive read countless comments about how if the council tenant stops paying , the council will in turn stop paying the person who owns the house , this is incorrect , it is the case when it comes to both the RAS and the HAP scheme but not the long term lease scheme

the biggest issue for me about this scheme are as follows

1. the council are likely to benchmark against the lowest possible rental on the market they can find , therefore you might end up with a lot less than 80% of the market rate , if the council get their facts from the RTB , then you are in trouble as the RTB are always way behind with their reports as to what the rents are around the country

2. the council tend to have very high standards in terms of preparing the house , i spoke to the council and they were talking about it being a problem that there was no upstairs bathroom in a 150 year old terraced two bedroom house , now im not saying i would have to install an upstairs bathroom but it gave the impression they set unrealistically high standards , no way should someone living off handouts in council accommodation expect an ultra modern house yet the council seem to demand it for those entering the scheme

i can see how such a scheme would be attractive to a lot of people , letting houses is tough in this country , the law is completely biased in favour of the tenant and this is supported by the media and the political class

You do realise circumstances change, breakups/ money trouble. There are a host of reasons you might want your property back before the ten years is up. Btw, why be wary of comments on here, people just giving their experiences.

goodscooter

Thanks for the replies.

You are giving me a lot to think about. I liked the idea of having a guaranteed rent for 10 years and also that the council have to deal with awkward Tennants.

However I don't want to have to invest a ridiculous amount of money in a perfectly good house that is only 10 years old.

karenalot

You might not have to do any upgrades if the house is only 10 years old. I let a similar one and it was fine. Though I ensured I already had the minimum standards for renting in place..10 year smoke alarms, fire blankets etc.

However one of my own gripes with the council housing depts and councils in general is the sheer length of time they take to respond to communications. I could send 5 emails before they bothered writing back to me, phones go unanswered for days etc. It's very frustrating and solely for that reason I would never use them again. I've dealt with most of the Dublin housing agencies and the difference in how they run their operations is night and day, the latter being extremely efficient and professional.