Right to buy your council house

Depending on how long you have been living in your council house or flat will directly influence the discount the council will give you off the market value.
Click Here to find out your starting point for buying your council house.

The process of buying your council property is primarily a 2 part process. The first part is asking your local council to provide a price tag of how much they would want to sell the property to you. The council valuer will come and inspect your property and will then send you a letter confirming the price. This can take anything from 6 weeks to 1 year depending on your council. The second part is applying and getting your right to buy mortgage, which normally takes approximately 6 weeks to complete the whole process.

Did you know you can borrow more
than your discounted purchase price?

• The true market value of your council house is higher than the discounted
  purchase price you have to pay.
• We can help turn that extra value into cash in your hand.
• You can now afford to borrow extra cash for that new kitchen or double glazing all at the same low interest rate.
• Your dream of home ownership starts here.

The overall cost for comparison is the APR. The actual rate will depend upon your circumstances. Ask for personalised illustrations.

How much can I borrow?

In the first instance the council valuers tend to value properties marginally below the true value, which can be beneficial to you as the purchaser. In addition, you will be receiving a discount off your right to buy property depending on how long you have lived in the property. This could mean that a property valued on the open market at £140,000, may be sold to you for just £78,000. However, you may decide that once you own the property you will have new windows fitted, a new kitchen and bathroom and additional loft insulation. It could be that the cost of this work would be £12,000. You could add the £12,000 to the £78,000 required to buy the property, giving you a right to buy mortgage of £90,000. This would mean you have borrowed £90,000 against a property worth £140,000 (64% loan to value). However, on a right to buy property worth £140,000, you are likely to be able to borrow up to £119,000, or even higher, so long as your income(s) are sufficient.

What if I have had debts?

We have Right to Buy mortgages which can accommodate CCJ’s, arrears, defaults, discharged bankruptcy. Whatever your circumstances just let us know as accurately as possible what has occurred, when it happened and has the debt been paid or not. It can be very helpful to get a copy of your credit file from either www.experian.co.uk or www.equifax.co.uk . It will probably cost about £8 and can be accessed online or by post. The credit file is likely to be very accurate, once we have it we can pin point the lowest cost mortgage for your circumstances.

Can I add my credit card debts to my Right to Buy mortgage?

The short answer is yes, you are likely to be able to borrow up to 90% of the value of your property. You could consolidate any loans you have into your Right to Buy mortgage, therefore reducing your monthly outgoings and having a single payment rather than many smaller loans with more expensive interest rates.

Interest only or repayment mortgage, which one?

Interest only means you will only pay interest on the amount you have borrowed. The payments per month will be less expensive than a repayment mortgage, but no matter how long you pay an interest only mortgage, you will never actually start paying off the original loan. In other words if you borrowed £80,000 and stayed in the same house for 20 years and always paid an interest only mortgage, you would still owe £80,000 in 20 years time.

Repayment mortgages are more expensive per month but you are actually starting to pay off the money you borrowed. Every month the amount you owe to the lender reduces a little more. In the case above, of the loan for £80,000, at the end of 20 years you could have paid the whole loan off and any other debts you had added into your mortgage.

Can I rent out my Right to Buy property?

The short answer is yes, we can provide a Right to Buy mortgage that will allow you to rent out your property. However, different councils have different views on this and it would be essential to check with your council or ask your solicitor to check the contract of sale to make sure there is nothing in the contract to prevent you renting your property.

Can I choose the type of mortgage I want?

Absolutely, you have the full choice of types of mortgages, ie, fixed rate, trackers, discounted, capped, etc. You can have the special discounted rate for 1 year, 2 years, 3 years or more. You can have interest only or repayment. As with any other mortgage, the whole market choice is available to you.

The dream of owning your own property starts here, apply online or call us between Monday and Friday from 9am and 8pm for friendly help and advice.