Adamstown Castle thru PropertyPath - Waiting for Valuation

Hi All,

We (my wife and I) put down a deposit for one of the houses in Adamstown Castle and applied for the affordable housing scheme/initiative at PropertyPath (SDCC).

Everything is ok - I've appointed a solicitor, I've got a mortgage offer from the bank, PropertyPath said that my application is fine, so no problem really.

Except that right now we are waiting for the valuation. It's been about 2 months now, and still nothing.

I've rang PropertyPath a few times and they've said they have not got it yet from the Valuation Office, and they don't know when they're going to get it. However - they've told me also that it is the last development of the five that they have on the list now, that they still haven't got the valuation for.

Is anyone else in a similar situation? Does anybody know if something can be done about it? I could even hire a valuator privately to get it done - I'm kinda tired of waiting...

Any help, anyone? Or at least some consolation

Hi there,

I was also waiting about two months for the valuation on a different development under the affordable housing initiative - as far as I know the council have to wait to get the valuations from the Affordable Homes Partnership as it is they who do the negotiations under that scheme, not the council. I think its just that in the current housing market they want to make sure they're getting the best deal possible, so its probably in your best interest. In my case at least it went in my favour so its probably worth the wait

Hi Sheera,

Thanks for the reply - it's really uplifting!

I was actually planning to hire a private valuer in order to be in a better position when negotiating the clawback - I read about some people doing so somewhere else on this forum.

But you're saying that it is actually PropertyPath/SDCC who are 'on my side' here and if they get a lower price from the developer, they'll 'transfer' that onto me by lowering the clawback?

On the other hand - I read about e.g. the Fingal CC which now have some 'affordable' properties in prices equal to the open market ones... and there's still clawback on them. Would that mean that getting a private valuer wouldn't be such a bad idea after all?

Geez, it's all so confusing...
Anyway, thanks again for your reply! Gotta be patient - maybe they'll call me this Monday already

Cheers,
Adam

Hi Adam,

If I was you I would wait until you get the valuation from the council and see if you are happy with it.

In my case the market value of the property had fallen signifigantly in the time between me paying the booking deposit in August and getting the valuation letter the week before last - the Affordable Homes Partnership had got the apartment re-valued in the meantime and renegotiated the price with the builder. So yes, your clawback may be lowered.

If you are buying under the Affordable Housing initiative and not the scheme (which I think you are), those properties are aquired in a different way than those on the scheme. The ones on the scheme may have been bought by the council in bulk for a certain price at a certain point in time so there is less room for manoevre on the clawback with these, even if the market value does fall before they are actually sold. This might be the case with some of the other properties that people are talking about getting independently valued.

This doesn't seem to be the case with those properties acquired under the initiative. I'm not sure of the exact ins and outs, its v. confusing, but either way, the council/Affordable Homes Partnership will want to be getting the best possible deal for themselves which is good news for you too.

Hope that makes sense & hope it works out for you!

Hi Sheera,

Thanks a million for all that info! It makes perfect sense - and I'm a lot calmer now that I know all this.

Cheers,
Adam