Selling to council

aj89 · 19-01-2018 3:32pm #1

Hi folks,

Just wondering if people have any experiences of selling a house to the County Council.

My house is on my market currently and we have been advised that the council would be willing to make an offer.

Does anyone have any pros or cons for the seller?

Cheers!

Gumbo · 19-01-2018 4:21pm

Same as a standard sale.
Time period is the same.

The council offered my mate 5k over the other highest bidder recently here in dublin.

aj89 · 19-01-2018 4:24pm

Couldn't really imagine anything different myself, just said I might as well throw the idea out there in case I missed anything obvious!

hawkelady · 19-01-2018 4:24pm

Does the estate agent tell the seller it's a county council ? Obvisiously the seller will accept the highest bid no matter who offers I suppose. Kceire.... was your mates place a house or apt??? I hear that the council are slow to bid on apt due to " hassle with mgmt companies". Not sure if true or not

aj89 · 19-01-2018 4:26pm

It was our estate agent that rang to say the council were in contact querying the house.

NauP · 19-01-2018 4:32pm

You don't need an estate agent. Deal directly and avoid agents commission.

uck51js9zml2yt · 19-01-2018 5:55pm

What section would deal with this?

NauP · 19-01-2018 5:58pm

Elianna Wooden Trademark wrote: »

What section would deal with this?

Housing Dept.

Graham · 19-01-2018 6:11pm

NauP wrote: »

You don't need an estate agent. Deal directly and avoid agents commission.

Estate agents aren't nearly as daft as some vendors.

As the EA has already made the introduction and assuming the OP has already contracted the agent to sell the property, I can't think of any way this wouldn't end up with the OP receiving a bill from the EA.

hairyslug · 19-01-2018 6:31pm

We sold to them, they offered 4k above the previous bid.
We were told that once they put an offer in, they never pull out. But we had to wait an additional 3 weeks while whoever had to sign off on it came back from holidays.

Samuel T. Cogley · 19-01-2018 6:58pm

hawkelady wrote: »

Does the estate agent tell the seller it's a county council ? Obvisiously the seller will accept the highest bid no matter who offers I suppose. Kceire.... was your mates place a house or apt??? I hear that the council are slow to bid on apt due to " hassle with mgmt companies". Not sure if true or not

There are numerous reasons why a vendor might not take the highest bid. Nowt as queer as folk.

the_syco · 19-01-2018 7:07pm

hawkelady wrote: »

Obvisiously the seller will accept the highest bid no matter who offers I suppose.

Not always. Past neighbour back in Ireland sold their house to someone who lived locally, as the neighbour had friends on the road. Think the family who got the house was 2nd or 3rd highest; the others were buy2let.

Sleeper12 · 19-01-2018 7:18pm

I can't speak for other councils but DCC can be a nightmare to deal with. They will follow through with the deal but it can take twice as long as a regular sale. Every i has to be dotted and every t must be crossed to the extreme.

Gumbo · 19-01-2018 8:06pm

hawkelady wrote: »

Does the estate agent tell the seller it's a county council ? Obvisiously the seller will accept the highest bid no matter who offers I suppose. Kceire.... was your mates place a house or apt??? I hear that the council are slow to bid on apt due to " hassle with mgmt companies". Not sure if true or not

A house.
Technically you don’t need an estate agent either as you can call the city council directly. They will tell you straight out if they are interested and the ball starts rolling from there.

They will inspect and value the property and you accept of your happy.
Only fees are your legal fees then.

Gumbo · 19-01-2018 8:06pm

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Every i has to be dotted and every t must be crossed to the extreme.

Which should be the case in any house purchase to be honest.

October · 19-01-2018 8:14pm

I sold to Fingal. Took about a month longer than normal but that was mainly because it was over Christmas/solicitor went on maternity/staff on time off. But apart from that it was a smooth process and I knew council wasn’t going to pull out of sale.

Sleeper12 · 19-01-2018 8:25pm

kceire wrote:

Which should be the case in any house purchase to be honest.

Yes it should but DCC take months longer for some strange reason.

Dee01 · 19-01-2018 10:49pm

WE sold to the council (DCC) because we knew they wouldn’t pull out of the sale. They weren’t the highest bidder, but we knew we had a guaranteed sale, so we took the safe option. They were fine to deal with and while it took a bit longer, that didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.

uck51js9zml2yt · 19-01-2018 11:55pm

Dee01 wrote: »

WE sold to the council (DCC) because we knew they wouldn’t pull out of the sale. They weren’t the highest bidder, but we knew we had a guaranteed sale, so we took the safe option. They were fine to deal with and while it took a bit longer, that didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.

How long did it take?

mad m · 20-01-2018 1:07am

Just remember DCC will have a max to go to. They factor in a certain price also to bring house up to renting standards.

DCC do not want to be seen to be out bidding people , they won’t get into a bidding war etc.

AFAIK it’s not the housing dept, there is a section in there that solely deals with buying houses- “buy backs” as it’s known.

evolving_doors · 20-01-2018 1:17am

mad m wrote: »

Just remember DCC will have a max to go to. They factor in a certain price also to bring house up to renting standards.

DCC do not want to be seen to be out bidding people , they won’t get into a bidding war etc.

AFAIK it’s not the housing dept, there is a section in there that solely deals with buying houses- “buy backs” as it’s known.

The 10 yr lease is a different kettle of fish but i know they just go to the daft report and estimate the rent from that figure in your location.
They might use the property register to calculate an average from there too as they are actual sales as opposed to asking prices on daft.

It would be interesting to see if the offer people received is around the average daft sale figure during that period.

hawkelady · 20-01-2018 8:11am

mad m wrote: »

Just remember DCC will have a max to go to. They factor in a certain price also to bring house up to renting standards.

DCC do not want to be seen to be out bidding people , they won’t get into a bidding war etc.

AFAIK it’s not the housing dept, there is a section in there that solely deals with buying houses- “buy backs” as it’s known.

You are right. The cc have an acquisitions dept that look after purchases. I believe the property has to be vacant before they will negotiate, even if a landlord is selling a property with council tenants in situ ..

Dee01 · 20-01-2018 10:01am

Elianna Wooden Trademark wrote: »

How long did it take?

We went sale agreed at the start of August and everything changed hands on 22nd December. We did push and push for a date before Christmas as we didn’t want it dragging into the new year. The only tip I’d give you is to keep on them. We called them directly whenever we needed an update.

October · 20-01-2018 11:13am

Council bought my house which was rented out at the time to a tenant in receipt of rent allowance. Tenant was also on the housing list and they kept tenant in house after sale completed.

You are right. The cc have an acquisitions dept that look after purchases. I believe the property has to be vacant before they will negotiate, even if a landlord is selling a property with council tenants in situ ..[/quote]

Scienceless · 26-02-2018 12:23am

Are all city councils buying houses if they consider them suitable?

CollyFlower · 26-02-2018 1:45am

Scienceless wrote: »

Are all city councils buying houses if they consider them suitable?

They (the Council) will buy anything in any area. They had 20% of the housing on the new Ballsbridge development but somehow they came to a deal with the developers and will now get 0% of that development.

SNNUS · 26-02-2018 8:16am

Your neighbours will be delighted with your decision.

SuperS54 · 26-02-2018 9:14am

SNNUS wrote: »

Your neighbours will be delighted with your decision.

Ex neighbours soon!

amcalester · 26-02-2018 9:20am

SNNUS wrote: »

Your neighbours will be delighted with your decision.

Then let them buy and they can chose who lives in it.

October · 26-02-2018 11:22pm

You are right. The cc have an acquisitions dept that look after purchases. I believe the property has to be vacant before they will negotiate, even if a landlord is selling a property with council tenants in situ ..[/quote]

Council bought my house with tenant in situ.

Caranica · 27-02-2018 10:27am

October wrote: »

You are right. The cc have an acquisitions dept that look after purchases. I believe the property has to be vacant before they will negotiate, even if a landlord is selling a property with council tenants in situ ..

Council bought my house with tenant in situ.[/quote]

Depends on the council. Dun Laoghaire Rathdown require vacant possession, not sure about others

karenalot · 27-02-2018 11:55am

I’m currently in the process of trying to sell a property with a hap tenant to Kildare Council since before Christmas. They give you a case no and say they will come back to you, have heard nothing since despite regular calls to them. Personally wouldn’t bother with it again. If I had of put the house on the market the sale would have been on its way to completion right now.

MatchaPeekaboo · 14-05-2018 11:27am

October wrote: »

I sold to Fingal. Took about a month longer than normal but that was mainly because it was over Christmas/solicitor went on maternity/staff on time off. But apart from that it was a smooth process and I knew council wasn’t going to pull out of sale.

Hi how long did you have to wait until you got sale agreed? That’s the main thing I need for now and hoping the council don’t drag their feet!

October · 14-05-2018 2:17pm

Hi how long did you have to wait until you got sale agreed? That’s the main thing I need for now and hoping the council don’t drag their feet![/quote]

I think the deposit was paid within a couple of weeks. If I remember correctly, I think I was told cheques are only issued on certain days.

MatchaPeekaboo · 14-05-2018 5:56pm

October wrote: »

Hi how long did you have to wait until you got sale agreed? That’s the main thing I need for now and hoping the council don’t drag their feet!

I think the deposit was paid within a couple of weeks. If I remember correctly, I think I was told cheques are only issued on certain days.[/quote]

MatchaPeekaboo · 14-05-2018 5:57pm

MatchaPeekaboo wrote: »

I think the deposit was paid within a couple of weeks. If I remember correctly, I think I was told cheques are only issued on certain days.

[/quote]

Thanks! Council said they are interested but were a bit vague on the time frame

poolfandar · 15-05-2018 2:02pm

October wrote: »

You are right. The cc have an acquisitions dept that look after purchases. I believe the property has to be vacant before they will negotiate, even if a landlord is selling a property with council tenants in situ ..

Council bought my house with tenant in situ.[/quote]

Did they pay full market price or try to get it cheaper?

October · 15-05-2018 3:14pm

poolfandar wrote: »

October wrote: »

You are right. The cc have an acquisitions dept that look after purchases. I believe the property has to be vacant before they will negotiate, even if a landlord is selling a property with council tenants in situ ..

Council bought my house with tenant in situ.

Did they pay full market price or try to get it cheaper?[/quote]

I think I messed up with the quotes when I was replying to previous messages! Council bought house from me for market value with a tenant in situ.

Vivers58 · 06-06-2019 8:26pm

Myself and my husband agreed to sell property to housing authority on behalf of Dublin City Council mid September 2018, it is now June 2019 and sale still not closed. Contracts only signed in mid April. Its a rental property so no income to pay mortgage since Aug 18. Auctioneer told us it would only take four months??. Dont sell to local or housing authority unless you have time on your hands and font need the money or quick sale. Its been a nightmare

BrokenArrows · 07-06-2019 10:07am

Vivers58 wrote: »

Myself and my husband agreed to sell property to housing authority on behalf of Dublin City Council mid September 2018, it is now June 2019 and sale still not closed. Contracts only signed in mid April. Its a rental property so no income to pay mortgage since Aug 18. Auctioneer told us it would only take four months??. Dont sell to local or housing authority unless you have time on your hands and font need the money or quick sale. Its been a nightmare

Surely the price has risen significantly enough in the past 9 months that you would pull out of the sale and relist it or go to the council saying its taken so long you need to increase the price to recover lost earnings.

The_Conductor · 07-06-2019 10:46am

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Surely the price has risen significantly enough in the past 9 months that you would pull out of the sale and relist it or go to the council saying its taken so long you need to increase the price to recover lost earnings.

Good luck with that.......
Some local authorities really have their acts together- and try to complete sales within a strict timeframe (even if it means the property will be vacant for a protracted period of time after they purchase it). Other local authorities are notorious for dragging out the process- often taking a year or even longer to close a sale- of these- Dublin City Council are far and away the worse offendors (though Kildare and Galway Co. Cos are rapidly developing bad reputations).

If you are desperate to sell to the local authority- and want the peace of knowing the sale won't fall through- though it may take a protracted period of time to close- go with a local authority. If you'd like to sell in a reasonable timeframe- and would rather take the going rate- but the sale *might* fall through- sell it privately..........

Its a bit ironic that DCC have such an appalling reputation for messing sellers around the place- given the lions share of the homeless issue is in DCC's functional area...........

LFC Murphy · 07-06-2019 12:18pm

The_Conductor wrote: »

(though Kildare and Galway Co. Cos are rapidly developing bad reputations).

Where are you getting this information from regarding Galway CoCo. I have started the sale process with them so am interested to hear.

rightmove · 07-06-2019 12:25pm

Where do the delays occur?? Pre contract or at the signing stage??

gerrybbadd · 07-06-2019 12:29pm

kceire wrote: »

Same as a standard sale.
Time period is the same.

The council offered my mate 5k over the other highest bidder recently here in dublin.

The councils aren't allowed to do this.

machalla · 07-06-2019 12:56pm

gerrybbadd wrote: »

The councils aren't allowed to do this.

They are allowed to offer a premium over market rates I've been told (at least in Dublin).

I didn't think they generally got involved in private market sales though. Perhaps that policy has changed?

SusanC10 · 07-06-2019 1:03pm

My Mum sold one of the Investment Properties she inherited from my Dad to the Council. She had had enough after some bad Tenants.
It took about 6-7 months from Sale Agreed to closing.

BrokenArrows · 07-06-2019 1:22pm

gerrybbadd wrote: »

The councils aren't allowed to do this.

Theyre not paying above market rate. They have placed a bid which was 5k above the previous bidder. Thats the way houses are bought!

mad m · 07-06-2019 9:46pm

The_Conductor wrote: »

Good luck with that.......
Some local authorities really have their acts together- and try to complete sales within a strict timeframe (even if it means the property will be vacant for a protracted period of time after they purchase it). Other local authorities are notorious for dragging out the process- often taking a year or even longer to close a sale- of these- Dublin City Council are far and away the worse offendors (though Kildare and Galway Co. Cos are rapidly developing bad reputations).

If you are desperate to sell to the local authority- and want the peace of knowing the sale won't fall through- though it may take a protracted period of time to close- go with a local authority. If you'd like to sell in a reasonable timeframe- and would rather take the going rate- but the sale *might* fall through- sell it privately..........

Its a bit ironic that DCC have such an appalling reputation for messing sellers around the place- given the lions share of the homeless issue is in DCC's functional area...........

With Brexit, NCH, Broadband, I think the councils budget is being hit. Everyone is being told to STOP......

rightmove · 07-06-2019 10:46pm

mad m wrote: »

With Brexit, NCH, Broadband, I think the councils budget is being hit. Everyone is being told to STOP......

Stop what. Once council is sales agreed it Will go ahead???

mad m · 07-06-2019 11:06pm

rightmove wrote: »

Stop what. Once council is sales agreed it Will go ahead???

Unless they have signed contracts nothing is certain.

BrokenArrows · 08-06-2019 8:56am

mad m wrote: »

Unless they have signed contracts nothing is certain.

Unless they have exchanged contracts nothing is certain

Selling to council

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