County Council House Purchase Application

Going forward

Registered User
Messages
48
Good morning all,

I recently applied to my local county council for a house purchase loan but being a newly discharged bankrupt i knew i would have to jump through hoops with my application. I did everything that was asked of me and more and was pretty much told from the outset that its nearly impossible to get such funding from them and this was before my application was processed. This to me meant that they weren't even interested in my situation or furthermore knew nothing about the bankruptcy process or didn't want to know either. Their theory on it was that i walked away from my debt and my house. Just shows what my country knows about my situation and what myself and other ordinary people go through when you have no other choice but to go bankrupt. I dealt with my debt with a pretty heavy payment order but kept my head down and got on with it for 2 and a half years and voluntary surrendered my home. I am now renting and house has gone on the market and have been offered first refusal on it. I am in a position to pay back a mortgage hence forth was advised to ask council for mortgage. Submitted all that was asked of me for council purchase application and was told that all had to go to the Department of Housing in Dublin and would take 3 weeks to come back. Within a week and a half word was back!!, surprise surprise I was refused. In the interim of application being supposedly in Dublin i went to a TD (after all these people were put there by us to help us) and i could not fault the man or his office for their time and efforts. He looked into all for me and came back to me with the knowledge that any County Council House Purchase Application loans are not sent to dublin that it is up to the discretion of your local council to decide. So my local council lied bare faced to me.

How in God's name is it said that discharged bankrupts can move forward after this whole process and we are told that there is life after it and you can move forward. Has anyone experienced anything similar to my situation in trying to move forward. Thanks in advance for helpful comments.
 
I helped a friend out with an application for a Council House Purchase loan a few months ago. The application is sent by the County Council to The Housing Agency in Dublin to make the decision on whether to approve it or not, the Housing Agency carry out ICB checks, look into past loan repayment history etc and pass on their decision to the Council. This decision came back in roughly two weeks from the time my friend applied. One of the main criteria to qualify for the loan is that you must be a first time buyer (even if you are separated and family home has been sold). In the end my friend did not get approval as his ICB report was not up to scratch (he had issues in the past with arrears on two credit cards).
 
The rules of the scheme are quite clear, you must be
  • Be a first-time buyer (some exceptions may apply, for example, if you are divorced)
  • Earn more than €35,000 as a single applicant or over €45,000 combined income as joint applicants
  • Be in continuous employment for at least 2 years (if self-employed you must be able to submit 2 years' certified accounts)
  • Have proof of being unsuccessful in securing a sufficient mortgage from 2 banks or building societies to buy a home
  • Be aged between 18 and 70

Therefore your refusal based on the facts on your post has nothing to do with bankruptcy, you simply were never entitled to a loan in the first place. Now, it must be said, the council and your TD should both have told you that, however that is a different discussion altogher
 
The rules of the scheme are quite clear, you must be
  • Be a first-time buyer (some exceptions may apply, for example, if you are divorced)
This rule is vague and open ended..

Where are the definitive list of 'exceptions'? Why can't bankruptcy be added to divorce as an 'exception'??
 
This rule is vague and open ended..

Where are the definitive list of 'exceptions'? Why can't bankruptcy be added to divorce as an 'exception'??

Individual county councils go into more detail on this, for example, Westmeath say
  1. The trustees of a trust (to which section 189A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 applies), whose trust funds are raised by public subscriptions for the benefit of permanently incapacitated persons, in respect of the first house(s) bought after the establishment of the trust, for occupation by the beneficiary or if more than one, each of the beneficiaries.
2.A spouse to a marriage the subject of a decree of judicial separation, a deed of separation, a decree of divorce or a decree of nullity in the case of the first acquisition of a house by the spouse following the separation or divorce provided that the spouse had, in relation to the former marital home
  • left that home;
  • not retained an interest in that home;
  • whose separated/former spouse continues to occupy that home, which home was occupied by both spouses prior to the separation or dissolution of the marriage
I think you have been badly advised here, you were probably never within the scope of the council scheme in the first place. That's not the council's fault, they are following the rules they have been given. Have you spoken to a bank or broker?
 
Back
Top