Affordable Housing Initiative - No Top Up Allowed

[robt]

Hi i was wondering if anyone had same problem as me or knows an easy solution?

I am hvaing a bit of financial difficulty.
I purchased an apartment on the 'Affordable Housing Initiave' scheme a year ago & was delighted. I then rang my mortgage lender to enquire about future top up's to mortgage.

I was told i could top up after 6 months & we went through figures & all seemed very much do-able & promising.

With this in mind i then fit-out my new apartment to the value of €20k on credit. After 6 months i rang bank to organise a top up to cancel the credit card bill & get on with living in my new apartment.

I was then told by the bank that those people that have purchased an affordable housing initiative home are not eligible for a top up.

This has put me in a terrible financial situation & i cannot manage to reduce the debt.

Although the bank really wanted to help me because of the misunderstanding on their employees side, ther is nothing they can do because they are tied to an agreement with the council.

At this stage the only way out i can see is sell my apartment, take my money & look for a cheaper place. The Council will lose approx 90k as the price of the properties plummetted just like everywhere else.

has anyone encountered a similar situation?

Any advice or direction would be most appreciated!!!!

Thk U.

Robt

 

[flatcat]

Unfortunately, it's true that you can't re-mortgage an affordable housing mortgage (either topping up or moving mortgage to another lender) - the only light at the end of the tunnel is that there are plans to change legislation but not sure of the time frame of this - background is at this link or you will find other threads in the Affordable Housing section

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=95344

It doesn't surprise me that the bank wasn't up to speed on this but they really should have been. What does surprise me is that your solicitor didn't guide you through this condition of an affordable housing mortgage. I have to say that my solicitor wasn't on the ball with this (I would never use him again for so many reasons!) but I did read the condition in the contract I had to sign and was alerted by other posts on this site.

None of which helps you out in your present situation as you have a considerable debt to pay off. Can the bank arrange a personal loan for the €20,000 because at least the interest on this should be less than the credit card debt. If the bank feels somewhat responsible can they figure out something with you?

Is it a one bed apartment or could you let out one of the rooms if it's more than one room?

I would look into all other avenues before thinking of selling the apartment as it obviously puts you in a terrible position as you can't use affordable housing again and lose your first time buyer status.

Sorry that you're going through this - sounds like a sticky situation.