Rebuilding Ireland home loan

xxsammyxx085 · 15-02-2020 12:05pm

BKWDR wrote: »

Define 'kitted out'

Emm.... do we need floors tiled, wooden floors skirting boards.... I know we need a kitchen and bathroom.... would we have to have the an suite in if we have a main bathroom done??

BKWDR · 15-02-2020 12:13pm

xxsammyxx085 wrote: »

Emm.... do we need floors tiled, wooden floors skirting boards.... I know we need a kitchen and bathroom.... would we have to have the an suite in if we have a main bathroom done??

AFAIK they're more concerned with the build aspect and higher level stuff such as waste water drainage windows etc. It'll all have to be signed off by qualified professional.

xxsammyxx085 · 15-02-2020 3:23pm

BKWDR wrote: »

AFAIK they're more concerned with the build aspect and higher level stuff such as waste water drainage windows etc. It'll all have to be signed off by qualified professional.

Super thanks a mill

KH1591 · 15-02-2020 4:49pm

Quick question for anyone who has applied and drawn down their mortgage with this scheme

Do you have to have the solicitor fees and stamp duty before they process the application? Our plan is to put our application forward with our 10% deposit.. once approved we will move home and save the solicitor fees / stamp duty but wondered if they would approve us without having the full solicitor fees saved?
Just wondered what others peoples experience with this part of the process was
Thanks

Tumbleweed2 · 17-02-2020 12:13pm

KH1591 wrote: »

Quick question for anyone who has applied and drawn down their mortgage with this scheme

Do you have to have the solicitor fees and stamp duty before they process the application? Our plan is to put our application forward with our 10% deposit.. once approved we will move home and save the solicitor fees / stamp duty but wondered if they would approve us without having the full solicitor fees saved?
Just wondered what others peoples experience with this part of the process was
Thanks

Yeah I was approved with just my deposit, I was using the c. 2 months to continue to save for other expenses and that was fine. Be wary, some councils outsource their legal work and you'll have to foot the bill. I paid Wexfords legal fees. There is also more than just the legal fees, there is land registry cost and deed related costs.

KH1591 · 17-02-2020 8:49pm

Tumbleweed2 wrote: »

Yeah I was approved with just my deposit, I was using the c. 2 months to continue to save for other expenses and that was fine. Be wary, some councils outsource their legal work and you'll have to foot the bill. I paid Wexfords legal fees. There is also more than just the legal fees, there is land registry cost and deed related costs.

That's great thank you! We have sourced our own solicitor and they are covering all fees including stamp duty for around 5k. Glad to hear you got approved with just the deposit though. Did you get your own solicitor or did you have to use someone from them?

Tumbleweed2 · 18-02-2020 9:33am

KH1591 wrote: »

That's great thank you! We have sourced our own solicitor and they are covering all fees including stamp duty for around 5k. Glad to hear you got approved with just the deposit though. Did you get your own solicitor or did you have to use someone from them?

I had my own which I paid for everything incl stamp duty. Then with wexford they outsource their legal work to a private firm, so I also had to pay for that. Legal fees ended up costing me about 3k which I did not budget for at all haha!

JD3112 · 18-02-2020 7:30pm

Can you apply for the Help to Buy scheme and Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan before you have a set of fully costed house plans? I have planning permission on the site but I want to resubmit plans (as they were over ambitious in terms of my financial ability).

If RIHL & HTB weren’t available I’d just go with the 3.5X that the banks will offer but I want to get the RIHL loan.

I don’t want to waste more time designing plans and then having to redesign them again if RIHL & HTB values change

So essentially how do I proceed to design a house that will cost too much for the banks to give me a mortgage but will be small enough for RIHL?
If I could apply for RIHL first, then I’d know how much I could borrow which would dictate the house that I can design?

scheister · 19-02-2020 3:52pm

I just spoke with Kildare county council re RBI. They are currently dealing with applications made last July.
I was not planning to apply until the summer but was advised to apply now and they will request updated information when they get around to me

With regards to bonus they consider other income to the the lower of bonus or 10% of gross pay

Tasfasdf · 19-02-2020 4:06pm

I am wondering is the RIHL more expensive than vs a bank even with a lower interest with the MPI over the course of 30 years for example.

AlmightyCushion · 19-02-2020 4:28pm

Tasfasdf wrote: »

I am wondering is the RIHL more expensive than vs a bank even with a lower interest with the MPI over the course of 30 years for example.

It's hard to know what the total cost of a bank mortgage will be over 30 years as no one offers a fixed rate for that long. I'm pretty sure someone calculated the cost of the MPI as adding an additional .55% on to the interest rate. That puts the 25 year at 3.3% and the 30 year at 3.55% which aren't great. You can get better rates that that at some banks and they will let you overpay a portion of the fixed rate as well. I think you'd be better off going with a normal bank if you can.

kotac24 · 19-02-2020 6:59pm

Just a note on the lump sum payments... as far as i understood from the meeting last week with fingal, for people that went in with the old rates, there are no penalties calculated as long as the interest rate at the time when you want to do bulk payment is higher than it was when the contracts were initially signed (which now is the case). Also a good information to know...

Tumbleweed2 · 20-02-2020 10:46am

kotac24 wrote: »

Just a note on the lump sum payments... as far as i understood from the meeting last week with fingal, for people that went in with the old rates, there are no penalties calculated as long as the interest rate at the time when you want to do bulk payment is higher than it was when the contracts were initially signed (which now is the case). Also a good information to know...

A lot of the older approved loans are also on variable rate which would also mean no penalties for additional payments. They no longer offer variable anymore.

Scr88 · 23-02-2020 1:43pm

Just looking for some advice from people who have drawn down a mortgage on a new build. I have just been approved and wondering what next step is. The house is due to be finished in August. Can I start the ball rolling or do I need house to be complete. Thanks in advance

Lwoods90 · 24-02-2020 10:36pm

Can someone help me in regards to our application. For example we are offered €200,000

1) Do we have €200,000 plus our deposit?

2) Will we loose a % for each dependant

A certain high street bank have docked us €100,000 for 2 dependants.

Tumbleweed2 · 25-02-2020 1:30pm

Lwoods90 wrote: »

Can someone help me in regards to our application. For example we are offered €200,000

1) Do we have €200,000 plus our deposit?

2) Will we loose a % for each dependant

A certain high street bank have docked us €100,000 for 2 dependants.

If I am reading this right, it means you have €200,000 mortgage for a property worth c. €222,000. The balance being made up buy your deposit. Max loan to value 90% - so for example if you found a house for €200,000, that mortgage amount would be reduced to €180,000. Again your deposit making up the balance.

In terms, of dependants. This wasn't applicable for me as I do not have any, but from a professional basis (without going into too much detail about myself) the amount "Pillar banks" knock off per dependant is ludicrous. For a family with 2 kids, you are looking at losing minimum €1,000 p/m from you Net disposable income (NDI). Aside from the LTV rule of 3.5 times your income, the next 2 things they look at are your NDI and regular savings amounts to see how that measures up to a proposed repayment which is also stressed tested to allow for a potential rise in rates by X %. A majority of people can struggle with this, before even deducting dependants.

Example of the NDI test, I can give.
John (earning €2k p/m) and Jane (earning €2.2k) and their 2 kids. No loans.
Total earnings: €4.2k p/m - €2200* (considered living expense of married couple) - 1000 ( 500* x2 for deps) = 1000 euro left over for a stressed repayment test.

Take a rounded of loan repayment of €250 p/m
NDI €1000.00 - €250.00 = €750.00
Based on a quick calculator from a pillar bank, €750 p/m as a stressed repayment wouldn't even break €190k

So a couple earning c. €60k - would qualify for €190,000 provided they had regular savings/evidence of rent payments that would stack up to this.

If rent and saving did entitle you to €190k and lets say based on them you are eligble for €175k. That is the amount you'd be offered.

Essentially its the lesser of the LTV, NDI and Rep cap (saving and rent) test.

* Also not the figures in the equation are rough, I've seen married living expenses range from €2000 to €2500 and dependants range from €500 - €750 per dependant. I've also seen €1000 for first dependant and €500 for every dependant thereafter

I am led to believe that the CoCo isn't as harsh on dependants but this may vary council to council. I am not 100% sure.

Sorry if this is information overload and the rant but the above is something that has bothered me for an incredibly long time.

kbman · 25-02-2020 9:44pm

Lwoods90 wrote: »

Can someone help me in regards to our application. For example we are offered €200,000

1) Do we have €200,000 plus our deposit?

2) Will we loose a % for each dependant

A certain high street bank have docked us €100,000 for 2 dependants.

On the dependents, we have one child of 2 years, 1 at time of applying. The amount we got offered by 2 County Councils was 2 euros less than the amount the calculator gave which doesn't ask if you have children.
That would indicate to me that it's not taken into consideration. I applied to Dun Laoghaire cc and wicklow cc.

I share tumbleweed opinion,.
One bank told me that they deducted 250 per child, and determined you would need x to live on which if I remember their calculations worked out at 1.5 times salary which wouldnt get you far.

Lwoods90 · 26-02-2020 2:33pm

Hi, one final question,

If our maximum loan amount is €216,000. How much deposit would we need saved ?

macplaxton · 26-02-2020 2:37pm

For a 90% mortgage, €24k (216/9 x 10)

(in the case of Rebuilding Ireland, 3% (7,200) need to be regular savings, not gifted)

Hudur · 26-02-2020 11:59pm

Declined from both counties. I guess it was too much to expect county councils to understand ESPPs (https://www.revenue.ie/en/additional-incomes/employment-related-shares/employee-share-purchase-plans.aspx ) even after I provided them all statements.

I had 10% of my gross salary going to company ESPP directly from my salary for 2+ years and it wasn't counted as regular savings. Also funds that are in ESPP aren't even counted as savings, they just ignored them.

Waited for 2-3 months, appeals going on now and will wait more months. I did now withdraw all funds to my bank's saving account so got there now 10% deposit +4k more. I guess still 50-50 if this works.

Cutielaide · 27-02-2020 9:59pm

Hello,

I am just wondering if anyone can help me with below questions.

the max RBIH I will be qualified for is 320000, but with that amount it's really hard to get a new build. I found one worth 330000, would I be allowed to add the balance 10000 by myself?.

raheny red · 28-02-2020 12:50am

Hudur wrote: »

Declined from both counties. I guess it was too much to expect county councils to understand ESPPs (https://www.revenue.ie/en/additional-incomes/employment-related-shares/employee-share-purchase-plans.aspx ) even after I provided them all statements.

I had 10% of my gross salary going to company ESPP directly from my salary for 2+ years and it wasn't counted as regular savings. Also funds that are in ESPP aren't even counted as savings, they just ignored them.

Waited for 2-3 months, appeals going on now and will wait more months. I did now withdraw all funds to my bank's saving account so got there now 10% deposit +4k more. I guess still 50-50 if this works.

Fingal Coco were fine with sharesaving. However, majority of savings were in the joint account.

Tumbleweed2 · 29-02-2020 12:21pm

Cutielaide wrote: »

Hello,

I am just wondering if anyone can help me with below questions.

the max RBIH I will be qualified for is 320000, but with that amount it's really hard to get a new build. I found one worth 330000, would I be allowed to add the balance 10000 by myself?.

No, it's max house value of €320,000. €330,000 will be the house outside of the credit policy of RBIH. Potential options here, try negotiate €10k off somewhere with the developer or discuss a potential under the table payment, if you catch my drift.

Also Rebuilding Ireland isn't just for new builds, you can buy an existing home, but you wont be able to avail of the HTB scheme if its not new build.

GarIT · 01-03-2020 7:30pm

Tumbleweed2 wrote: »

No, it's max house value of €320,000. €330,000 will be the house outside of the credit policy of RBIH. Potential options here, try negotiate €10k off somewhere with the developer or discuss a potential under the table payment, if you catch my drift.

Also Rebuilding Ireland isn't just for new builds, you can buy an existing home, but you wont be able to avail of the HTB scheme if its not new build.

Disgusting attitude.

L1011 · 01-03-2020 8:22pm

Tumbleweed2 wrote: »

No, it's max house value of €320,000. €330,000 will be the house outside of the credit policy of RBIH. Potential options here, try negotiate €10k off somewhere with the developer or discuss a potential under the table payment, if you catch my drift.

Also Rebuilding Ireland isn't just for new builds, you can buy an existing home, but you wont be able to avail of the HTB scheme if its not new build.

Encouraging illegal activity is not acceptable here

Auld Jim Halpin · 01-03-2020 8:30pm

Hello All.

Does anyone have anyone experience of the below.

I was offered a mortgage and to accept and enter into the 6 month window I need to return a Form of Acceptance - the form needs to be witnessed by a solicitor.

The problem is that when I try to get a solicitor to do that they want to register me as a client at circa E500. I was told by the council that the solicitor that witnesses the form does NOT need to be the same solicitor that does the conveyancing work. The form mentions giving independent illegal advice on the contract and hence that is why they want to register me as a client.

Anyone have the same problem?

Thanks.

Tumbleweed2 · 02-03-2020 11:22am

GarIT wrote: »

Disgusting attitude.

Ouch, my feelings.

Auld Jim Halpin wrote: »

Hello All.

Does anyone have anyone experience of the below.

I was offered a mortgage and to accept and enter into the 6 month window I need to return a Form of Acceptance - the form needs to be witnessed by a solicitor.

The problem is that when I try to get a solicitor to do that they want to register me as a client at circa E500. I was told by the council that the solicitor that witnesses the form does NOT need to be the same solicitor that does the conveyancing work. The form mentions giving independent illegal advice on the contract and hence that is why they want to register me as a client.

Anyone have the same problem?

Thanks.

Do you have a solicitor already? For this my solicitor reviewed the document then brought me literally across the road to another firm and had one of them witness the signing of a document. I think I paid like €20 euro for them to witness and that was all. Realistically your solicitor is providing you with independent legal advice so you don't require a second solicitor to do same. Speak to you existing solicitor and they'll advise you or alternatively put you in touch with a someone that can be your witness.

If you don't have a solicitor yet, then they are probably trying to take you on as a client for the whole process. Make sure you shop around on solicitors, fees vary. Also make sure you ask your council who is paying their legal fees, I got mine from Wexford CoCo and I had to pay their fees as they outsource their legal work to a private firm in Wexford town.

Auld Jim Halpin · 02-03-2020 6:22pm

Hello Tumbleweed2,

Thanks for reply. If I find a property within my budget (which is not likely at this time) I will employ a solicitor and pay the fee for conveyancing but if I don't then it's lost money. It doesn't make sense to pay E500 just to get a form witnessed. The legal advice will come when I have made a deposit on a property and employed a conveyancing solicitor at that point.

I don't believe I can book a solicitor for conveyancing, not pay anything until I find a property, and just pay E20 for the witnessing, or can I?

The form of acceptance is just a hoop jumping step, it should not cost E500.

Infuriating stuff.

Thanks All.

Tumbleweed2 · 02-03-2020 9:58pm

Auld Jim Halpin wrote: »

Hello Tumbleweed2,

Thanks for reply. If I find a property within my budget (which is not likely at this time) I will employ a solicitor and pay the fee for conveyancing but if I don't then it's lost money. It doesn't make sense to pay E500 just to get a form witnessed. The legal advice will come when I have made a deposit on a property and employed a conveyancing solicitor at that point.

I don't believe I can book a solicitor for conveyancing, not pay anything until I find a property, and just pay E20 for the witnessing, or can I?

The form of acceptance is just a hoop jumping step, it should not cost E500.

Infuriating stuff.

Thanks All.

No worries Jim.
This is where our situation varys I think. So I got approved with approx 3 properties in mind. After approval, and by that I mean acceptance letter (not letter of offer) I didn't need a solicitor, I picked the house I wanted and put down a booking deposit of €6k. Once I had that down I then reached out to solicitors, but in the meantime I got my surveyors and valuation reports and had an interview with the council. They were satisfied with my documents and issued me my Letter of offer, which is essentially an acceptance letter with actual specifications included, house address, confirmed mortgage amount etc. After I got this I then officially employed a solicitor to do the rest from there. I already had my 6 months approval prior to even having a solicitor. If memory serves me right. I did a big right up on my process previously closer to when I did it. I'll go back and quote it in here again for reference.

If you don't mind me asking what council are you going through, they seem to vary in how the process goes.

Tumbleweed2 · 02-03-2020 10:04pm

Tumbleweed2 wrote: »

http://rebuildingirelandhomeloan.ie/apply/

I'm not sure of where exactly you are at in terms of the process so I'll just start from the very beginning.
First thing i'd do is contact the county council mortgage department of the area you are looking to live ( You may apply at multiple counties, but you need to send original documents to each one). Some councils do the process in different ways, mortgage meeting prior to application, to inform you of the product, some tell you to fill out the form and then wait to be approved before they meet you.

Fill out the form on available at the link above. Send all your documents and your application form out to the council mortgage department. Decision times seem to vary from county to county, I think an average seems to be 6 - 8 weeks, but there have been some as extreme as 6 months I've read here previously.

Once approved (all going well) you will have sanction in principle, basically you've been approved for X amount, which can be a maximum of 90% of the house value you are looking to buy ( if you are a first time buy, if not it can be a max of 80%).

You find a house that you like, you discuss with the vendor buying it, and give a booking deposit (normally refundable) for them to hold the property for you, this figure is normally between €6k - €10k or a flat 5% of purchase price.

You then meet the council, with additional documents, valuation, surveyor report etc and they confirm that the house is within policy, i.e the mortgage is only 90% of value/purchase price and that you have the remaining funds to make up the difference in the form of a deposit.

They review the documents and if satisfied they will offer you mortgage approval specific to the house in question. You will have to fill out an a form to join the councils group mortgage protection insurance scheme, if for any reason a queries arises from this you will need to do a tele interview about your health with one of their medical staff. You will also need to get home insurance.

So you have mortgage approval, been cleared to join the MPI scheme. Next up snaglist and paying the rest deposit. Once this has all been addressed then your solicitor calls for the issuing of the cheque, which takes 5 days to clear and they will transfer to the vendor.

Last stage. Get your key.
I know its listed there simply enough but be warned, it's long winded and can get stressful, there is a lot of people involved and there will be setbacks. You just need to push through all that and think of your home at the end of it all.
Any questions on it just ask.
Best of luck

There you go aul Jim. I'm pretty sure, I only got in touch and started working with a solicitor after I got my letter of offer stating I was approved for Xxx, xxx over xx years for a specific property address. Because the first this my solicitor did was request the outstanding deposit which wouldn't have been until after that letter. Hope this helps. Any questions just ask

optogirl · 03-03-2020 1:02pm

Sorry if I'm being a pain in the posterior about this but the whole documents having to be dated within 4 weeks of the application thing is driving me nuts. Requested salary cert etc in January and now need to ask for this again? Latest utility bills for both Elec & Gas are dated January so what do I do here? Bank statements arrived early Feb. Me head is melted

optogirl · 03-03-2020 1:59pm

1. With regard to salary certificate, is a letter from your employer with the details sufficient or does it need to be Appendix supplied by RBIHL application form
2. Is a HPL1m form ordered from revenue online sufficient or does it need to be Appendix supplied by RBIHL application form

AdmiringWig · 04-03-2020 9:09am

optogirl wrote: »

Sorry if I'm being a pain in the posterior about this but the whole documents having to be dated within 4 weeks of the application thing is driving me nuts. Requested salary cert etc in January and now need to ask for this again? Latest utility bills for both Elec & Gas are dated January so what do I do here? Bank statements arrived early Feb. Me head is melted

I know, it is really hard to get everything within the timeframe. I wouldn't worry about the salary cert being within 4 weeks- I think it more so relates to bank statements and loan statements. Best thing to do is make an appointment with the council to go in to drop off the application. Then you can chat with whoever's dealing with your application and if they think they need more recent documents you can forward them on to that individual. That's what we did anyway and it all worked out! Best of luck with it.

Tumbleweed2 · 04-03-2020 10:18am

optogirl wrote: »

Sorry if I'm being a pain in the posterior about this but the whole documents having to be dated within 4 weeks of the application thing is driving me nuts. Requested salary cert etc in January and now need to ask for this again? Latest utility bills for both Elec & Gas are dated January so what do I do here? Bank statements arrived early Feb. Me head is melted

optogirl wrote: »

1. With regard to salary certificate, is a letter from your employer with the details sufficient or does it need to be Appendix supplied by RBIHL application form
2. Is a HPL1m form ordered from revenue online sufficient or does it need to be Appendix supplied by RBIHL application form

Hi,

I was always under the impression that the utility bill and salary cert had to be dated within the last 3 months. Statements had to be within 1 month. All documents must be that of the Appendix attached to RIHL application form.

optogirl · 04-03-2020 1:51pm

Tumbleweed2 wrote: »

Hi,

I was always under the impression that the utility bill and salary cert had to be dated within the last 3 months. Statements had to be within 1 month. All documents must be that of the Appendix attached to RIHL application form.

Ah nuts. Am going to have to cancel our appointment now

Have generic HPL1 forms which took a couple of weeks to get signed & stamped and savings statements that took over a week to get (BOI doesn't allow printing of savings statements from website). Trying hard not to weep here.

Auld Jim Halpin · 05-03-2020 12:05am

optogirl wrote: »

Ah nuts. Am going to have to cancel our appointment now

Have generic HPL1 forms which took a couple of weeks to get signed & stamped and savings statements that took over a week to get (BOI doesn't allow printing of savings statements from website). Trying hard not to weep here.

BOI statements can be downloaded as pdf If I remember correctly? Its in Banking 365, statements?

Auld Jim Halpin · 05-03-2020 12:21am

Tumbleweed2 wrote: »

There you go aul Jim. I'm pretty sure, I only got in touch and started working with a solicitor after I got my letter of offer stating I was approved for Xxx, xxx over xx years for a specific property address. Because the first this my solicitor did was request the outstanding deposit which wouldn't have been until after that letter. Hope this helps. Any questions just ask

Thanks again Tumbleweed2, your contribution and patience with this thread is to be admired. Thanks also for the repost, its a nice little summary of the process, with such a long thread it can be hard to re-find a piece of info further back.

The problem I had is that the offer of €xxx gives me a very tight budget, I may not find a property within the 6 month window so no good reason to employ/register with a solicitor until then.

As has been mentioned before the variation in the process between different councils is frustrating, others don't require you to witness an acceptance document, some would have you pay €1500 odd for their legal fees on top of your own. Some councils will leave you waiting and waiting when you try to phone/email them.

These unnecessary extra costs could be crucial when you do find a place, they could pay for tank of home heating oil, fix a roof, or get a new cooker for instance.

GlowStick · 05-03-2020 8:41am

Auld Jim Halpin wrote: »

The problem I had is that the offer of €xxx gives me a very tight budget, I may not find a property within the 6 month window so no good reason to employ/register with a solicitor until then.

I dunno if this has been said already. But when I got my original offer of the mortgage, I had no solicitor and no house in mind. I had 4 weeks I think to confirm via email if I accepted the draft offer of the mortgage, and it was only when I found a property that they sent the official mortgage documents to my solicitor. Up until that point, I had no solicitor. I remember being confused about having to find a solicitor, even though I hadn't even found a house! And they said it only gets sent to the solicitor when you go sale agreed and it was pretty easy to get a solicitor at that stage. I had emailed a few locally to get quotes for the whole process so, as soon as I went sale agreed, I just picked one and that was that.

Laurazal · 05-03-2020 10:11am

optogirl wrote: »

Ah nuts. Am going to have to cancel our appointment now

Have generic HPL1 forms which took a couple of weeks to get signed & stamped and savings statements that took over a week to get (BOI doesn't allow printing of savings statements from website). Trying hard not to weep here.

If it helps, I got my HPL1 form stamped by just going to revenue office directly - it only took a minute there. And to get bank statements up do date, I just printed online bank account transactions and balance by printing website page form the browser.
Good luck!

Tumbleweed2 · 05-03-2020 10:26am

optogirl wrote: »

Ah nuts. Am going to have to cancel our appointment now

Have generic HPL1 forms which took a couple of weeks to get signed & stamped and savings statements that took over a week to get (BOI doesn't allow printing of savings statements from website). Trying hard not to weep here.

If you have the day off to spare, I wouldnt cancel my appointment, worst case they don't accept what you have and you post it in. I didnt have a valid surveyors report (the picture if the house on the front was slightly obstructed by a tree) and they couldn't accept it. They still issued me my approval pending a valid one, which I was allowed to post to them as I told them I cant take another day off. I would say they are quite flexible on certain things, and almost unreasonable on others.

Auld Jim Halpin wrote: »

Thanks again Tumbleweed2, your contribution and patience with this thread is to be admired. Thanks also for the repost, its a nice little summary of the process, with such a long thread it can be hard to re-find a piece of info further back.

The problem I had is that the offer of €xxx gives me a very tight budget, I may not find a property within the 6 month window so no good reason to employ/register with a solicitor until then.

As has been mentioned before the variation in the process between different councils is frustrating, others don't require you to witness an acceptance document, some would have you pay €1500 odd for their legal fees on top of your own. Some councils will leave you waiting and waiting when you try to phone/email them.

These unnecessary extra costs could be crucial when you do find a place, they could pay for tank of home heating oil, fix a roof, or get a new cooker for instance.

I'm inclined to agree with you Jimbo.
The varying processes is infuriating but I also acknowledge that this is going through a bit of a teething process, I think the councils are a bit in the dark too.
Have you tried speaking to the council about the costs involved in just witnessing the acceptance. I still can't believe that they are charging you just to watch you sign a document. You could also emphasis to the solicitor that you are not seeking legal advice, you just need a witness for this acceptance letter. I dont really understand the requirement for witness on a generic letter that says you have been approved for this amount, now go find a property and then you will get your official letter of offer.
Dont mention council legal fees, I got an invoice for €1500 before they had done a thing, I caused murder, and discovered I was being double charged as the council were doing the same checks my solicitor was, eventually we agreed that I'd pay €900 and my solicitor will forward them on the required checks after they carried them out.

I hope you get sorted.

optogirl · 05-03-2020 12:07pm

Auld Jim Halpin wrote: »

BOI statements can be downloaded as pdf If I remember correctly? Its in Banking 365, statements?

Only for current accounts unfortunately - sure I'll go along to the meeting & let them know I'll forward the updated statements when received

Auld Jim Halpin · 06-03-2020 9:56pm

optogirl wrote: »

Only for current accounts unfortunately - sure I'll go along to the meeting & let them know I'll forward the updated statements when received

Oh,sorry Optogirl, I assumed it was a current account, if you don't have the same online benefits of a current account then call your branch manager and ask, it's just some ink, paper and postage, they should be able to manage that. Now whether you can actually call your branch manager or even call in and speak to them is another thing but you have to make them work for you sometimes. (Not to mention the bank bailout!)

Tumbleweed2 wrote: »

Have you tried speaking to the council about the costs involved in just witnessing the acceptance. I still can't believe that they are charging you just to watch you sign a document.

Thanks again Tumbleweed2 - Yes I explained the witnessing problem and the cost but they would not move on it. As for teething problems, they should have streamlined it a bit more by now. The charge you endured for their solicitors fees is wrong and unfair and should also be addressed. I find it hard to be mad at the admins in the council, I suspect they didn't put enough staffing resources behind it.

Tumbleweed2 wrote: »

I hope you get sorted.

- Cheers.

Auld Jim Halpin · 06-03-2020 10:01pm

GlowStick wrote: »

I dunno if this has been said already. But when I got my original offer of the mortgage, I had no solicitor and no house in mind. I had 4 weeks I think to confirm via email if I accepted the draft offer of the mortgage, and it was only when I found a property that they sent the official mortgage documents to my solicitor. Up until that point, I had no solicitor. I remember being confused about having to find a solicitor, even though I hadn't even found a house! And they said it only gets sent to the solicitor when you go sale agreed and it was pretty easy to get a solicitor at that stage. I had emailed a few locally to get quotes for the whole process so, as soon as I went sale agreed, I just picked one and that was that.

Thanks Glowstick, yes that was my understanding too, - In my case I could not accept the offer by email, had to post it and had to be witnessed. Because the doc to be witnessed mentioned being given independent legal advice it meant registering as a client with a solicitor, otherwise a Commissioner of Oaths would have done it for a E10.

Citygirl1 · 10-03-2020 12:51am

Hi all. Unlike most here, I'm selling a property at the moment. Sale agreed late last week. I just heard today that the purchaser has the mortgage approval in principle with Dublin City Council.

My concern is whether this could cause significant delays beyond what might be expected with a regular bank. My impression is that life cover could be a sticking point, so have asked the purchaser (via my estate agent) to confirm if they have their ducks in a row, in this regard.

However, am interested in hearing the experiences of others on this thread. How long did it take you to go from Sale Agreed, to Sold, including drawing down a mortgage from DCC?

The sale of this property has fallen through once already, hence my caution in watching out for potential issues with a new purchaser....

Tumbleweed2 · 10-03-2020 11:08am

Citygirl1 wrote: »

Hi all. Unlike most here, I'm selling a property at the moment. Sale agreed late last week. I just heard today that the purchaser has the mortgage approval in principle with Dublin City Council.

My concern is whether this could cause significant delays beyond what might be expected with a regular bank. My impression is that life cover could be a sticking point, so have asked the purchaser (via my estate agent) to confirm if they have their ducks in a row, in this regard.

However, am interested in hearing the experiences of others on this thread. How long did it take you to go from Sale Agreed, to Sold, including drawing down a mortgage from DCC?

The sale of this property has fallen through once already, hence my caution in watching out for potential issues with a new purchaser....

Hi,

My experience was a little different as I bought a new build that had a few issues that need addressing. But I'll give you my time line.
Application to approval in principle - 6 to 8 weeks

Approval in principle to Full approval - about 4 - 6 weeks, I had to get reports etc. and due to having asthma I was made do a phone interview with a healthcare professional, my brother has no health issues and had his life approved straight away.

Approval to Sale agreed: This where I had issues with what was to be done and provided with it. So there was back and forth for a while but my deposit was paid as soon as documents were signed confirming I was getting what I was told was included. So I'd imagine it shouldn't have taken that long had everything been in order with the developer.

Sale agreed to Sold: As soon as they completed the work (cosmetic, not structural otherwise I'd have needed another valuation and surveyor report). I signed all the final documents and sent off request to drawdown, HTB drawdown request and it was drawndown in a week.

I suppose what I am trying to say here it varies case by case and depends where your buyers are at now. Realistically from Sale agreed to Sold shouldn't take that long if its smooth sailing. The only real hold up is the documents being passed through solicitors and estate agents. If your solicitor is happy with everything, chances are their solicitor is happy with everything. But overall to answer your question, yes this will take longer than a bank loan.

A final concern you may have and its probably justified, if the fund was to run out like last time, people with approval, gone sale agreed that were unable to drawdown. With this we can only hope lessons were learned.

Sorry its a little long winded but I hope it somewhat addresses your issues. Best of luck with the sale.

Lwoods90 · 12-03-2020 10:22pm

Hi,

Can anyone provide an updated time frame for Cork City & Cork County Council ?

gandalfio · 13-03-2020 9:20am

Hi,

Am I correct in reading here that if you have children, the banks will significantly reduce the amount they will loan you? Whereas with the RIHL, there is no reduction if you have children?

I wasn't aware the banks did this. I thought if we can show how much we pay in rent without missing payments, 2k a month, and have our minimum 10% deposit saved, that we'd still qualify for 3.5 times our salary.

Tumbleweed2 · 13-03-2020 11:19am

gandalfio wrote: »

Hi,

Am I correct in reading here that if you have children, the banks will significantly reduce the amount they will loan you? Whereas with the RIHL, there is no reduction if you have children?

I wasn't aware the banks did this. I thought if we can show how much we pay in rent without missing payments, 2k a month, and have our minimum 10% deposit saved, that we'd still qualify for 3.5 times our salary.

They do for sure, I know that from my line of work.
I did the calculations a few pages ago. The figure you get it the lesser of LTI (3.5 times you income), Regular savings ( stressed tested vs mortgage rep) and NDI ( Net disposable income after living expenses, kids and existing debt).

RIHL; I am not 100% sure as I dont have kids, but there focus is more Net monthly income, rather than LTI or NDI.

Lwoods90 · 13-03-2020 9:59pm

gandalfio wrote: »

Hi,

Am I correct in reading here that if you have children, the banks will significantly reduce the amount they will loan you? Whereas with the RIHL, there is no reduction if you have children?

I wasn't aware the banks did this. I thought if we can show how much we pay in rent without missing payments, 2k a month, and have our minimum 10% deposit saved, that we'd still qualify for 3.5 times our salary.

A large high street bank offered us €173,000, when we had our 1st child the offer went to €150,000.

Then we had our second child offer went to €72,000.

Hudur · 17-03-2020 12:50am

Went to ask situation in local council last Friday. They sent update today that:
"...due to the current circumstances regarding the Covid 19 situation, the date for the next sitting of the credit committee cannot be confirmed as yet."

Probably same everywhere and nothing will happen for some months.

Rebuilding Ireland home loan

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