Affordable Housing. Do I have any case against council?

Has anyone any joy on this?

I bought from Fingal in 2002, I was early 20s single and went to their offices to draw down the loan. I was naive and had no legal counsel nor was I advised I should engage some. The council did not provide me with a copy of the contract at the time nor in the post after, I did receive a schedule from them with a calculation for the clawback which they say is not the correct calculation, the difference between them is about €40,000.

Now, I am married with a child and we want to have another kid soon, the house is a 2 bed townhouse 740 sq feet and is too small for the 3 of us.

I asked the council if:

A) I could sell back to them they said NO
B) If I could swap for a three bed they have and pay them the difference, they said NO
C) If my wife could get a mortgage with them, they said NO as she does not count as a first time buyer because she is married to me
D) If we could sign an addendum on the contract, to change my address to the new house and using the original sale, original market value and the price I sell the current house for and keep the same 20 year period as my current house is no longer fit for purpose.

They have said No to every suggestion and all they have come up with was I could rent my current house but if I do that we cannot get a mortgage as I have to sell my current house.

It seems I am trapped every which way by these jobsworths, they have even had the neck to tell me that I cannot deduct the money I spent improving the property as a result of ingress of water due to the poor construction job that one of their surveyors signed off on.

I have obtained a copy of my file under the terms of the data protection act and there is no copy anywhere of a letter to me or showing a copy of the contact issued to me. On this file there is also a letter to their solicitor with the same wording for the clawback that they issued to me.

In light of this they have left me nowhere to go, they want to enforce the clawback on the original contract even though in my view issuing a schedule after the contract was signed with a different calculation should replace the previous one. They then are trying to tell me that I cannot deduct the structural improvements I have made even though the contract states that I can claim for this but not decorating.

I am sending the copy of the file to my solicitor as I have no other options, before anyone says it I have no issue paying a clawback but the Council have adopted a computer says no attitude and want to squeeze every cent out of me even though this conflicts with their own contract.

I have also requested a copy of their Professional Indemnity and Directors & Officers policies (these cover financial loss out of misleading advice or acts), I have also asked for a copy of the builders insurance and their surveyors insurance.

Have I missed anything or has anyone else encountered these issues?

By the way none of my neighbours had legal counsel signing the contract nor did they receive a copy of their contracts.
 
By the way none of my neighbours had legal counsel signing the contract nor did they receive a copy of their contracts.

It's up to you to get your own legal counsel, but you certainly should have received a copy of the contract. Have you contacted the Ombudsman about this?
 
I would be extremely surprised if the county council has a professional indemnity policy. Generally people who charge a professional service for a fee have this cover and this would not be the Co co.

Again you are incorrect on the directors and officers front, as it protect the council and is not a negligence based policy so you would have no actionable claim against it.

So don't be expecting them to provide you with a copy of either (if they had one) as you've no entitlement to the information.

I wouldn't expect them to let you have surveyors insurance details either. Where was your own surveyor here?

Same with builders - no cover for defective workmanship and rectifying it.
 
Hi Steevo,

Are you trying to sell your house? have you tried to sell it on the open market instead of asking the counsel to buy it?
 
Has anyone any joy on this?

I bought from Fingal in 2002, I was early 20s single and went to their offices to draw down the loan. I was naive and had no legal counsel nor was I advised I should engage some.
Sorry, I'm a bit confused. Are you saying that you bought a house with no solicitor involved on your side?

They have said No to every suggestion and all they have come up with was I could rent my current house but if I do that we cannot get a mortgage as I have to sell my current house.
Again, I'm a bit confused. Lots of people have faced similar situations due to negative equity, and have ended up becoming landlords, albeit reluctant landlords. What is different about your case? If you do rent it out, what kind of rent will you get compared to the cost of your mortgage?

It seems I am trapped every which way by these jobsworths,
I understand that you are frustrated, but I'm not sure that you help your case by abusing those people who are implementing a policy that they have no control over. Public servants can't just give stuff away because they see a deserving case or a nice guy. Schemes have rules, and if you qualify for the rules, you get the stuff. If you don't qualify, you don't get.

they have even had the neck to tell me that I cannot deduct the money I spent improving the property as a result of ingress of water due to the poor construction job that one of their surveyors signed off on.
Again, I'm confused - did you not engage your own surveyor when you bought the house?
 
Hello All

Its been while but here is my progress thusfar.

I am filing for bankruptcy, its the only way. I approached NewBegginings and IMHO who said they were non-profit.

NewBeginnings said it would cost about 1k~ for the application and 2.5k for "solicitors fees". So 3.5k to say you have no money...
I then approached IMHO who said they dont charge solicitors fees... but you do have to pay the 1k application. They received some grants from governments and banks to deal with this issue and will accept donations.

I hear NewBeginings have changed their motto and removed the "for non-profit" slogan.

On a final last throw of the dice I went into the council and lay all the cards out on the table. NOTHING HAS CHANGED. They said they will offer Voluntary Surrender as there was a change in "culture..." I thought there was a ray of hope with this, I couldnt belive my ears, I was like "oh my god, FINALLY!".

This turned out to be total and utter BS. As the conversation progressed it turned out their definition of Voluntary Surrender was actually Voluntary Reposession..... HUGE DIFFERENCE.

Now in any mans language Voluntary Surrender means you walk away after handing back the keys and the lender does not take you to court, its a mutual Co-responsive and pragmatic solution. But we also know it does not exist here but we DO know what it is called. They insist on calling this option Voluntary Surrender, ITS NOT, at least by our definition and understanding. They will evaluate the property, ADD the redemption figure and then make an arrangement whereby you sign a discharge form and agree on a figure to pay off by means of a standing order (for something you now no longer own now....). This could be a nominal figure say 20eur p/w till your 500 years old, but thats not the intention, its to string you along until your financial position improves at which point you may be able to pay more, and you will (for something you no longer or never did own), so this further disinsentivises you to even work.

I was exceptionally vexed by this second attempt to mislead me but I learned so much from dealing with this scam, I mean scheme.

So its a race to the bottom. I have filed the forms for the high court and will file for bankruptcy.

When asked the council why on earth would I go for "Voluntary Reposession" there response was "ah well its just cleaner"..... I said for flippen who? You see it costs them money, time and effort to take someone to court. Money that they dont have.... Its just to save them hassel from taking you to court, there is NOTHING in this option for you do NOT be fooled by this.

I'll let you know if the official assignee approves my bankruptcy status and how I get on. I'll offer free help and insight to my experience with the process.

For anyone who's personal circumstance has changed there is no other way out of this. I have exhausted all avenues and now an expert on this subject.

So once they reposess it, I am banckrupt I go DOWNSTAIRS in DCC and put my name on the social housing list.

Not one housing minister/politician replied to any of my emails. This is one seriously rigged game which I'm no longer playing and my kids will NEVER make my mistakes as I wont be teaching them religion or Irish rather Banking/Contracts/Politics and the various financial instruments that could enslave them.

I was told by DCC that "ignorance of the law does not protect you from it" to which I replied, "yes, thats why it is thought so well in our schools, oh wait, thats religion and Irish".

There aint no Irish patriots in my household anymore.
 
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