Estate Agent: obliged to tell the % of investers/Soc housing

R

Rebel Spirit

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Hi,

Can anyone tell me if the Agent is obliged to tell you the % of investers or details on social housing in a particular development.

Thanks

title edidited by ajapale
 
Re: Estate Agent

the agent would not know if buyers are investors or not. im not sure about the social housing thing
 
Re: Estate Agent

I have another question to do with Estate Agents and would appreciate any help.

Is it possible to view houses without mortgage approval? I called into S&F and they seemed totally uninterested unless I have it.....

I do intend to buy within the next few months but i am in the situation where i want to get out there and see whats on the market - then I feel I will have a better idea of what mortgage to get.
(My problem is I know I can get approval for more than I would like to spend on a house).

What happens in the case where you have a mortgage approval for 350k, but end up paying less? Or the opposite situation, I end up wanting to buy a house for more than 350k.
 
Re: Estate Agent

mortgage approval is only needed for the signing contracts stage. estate agents use the question as a sales tactic to filter out serious buyers. tell them you have approval and if they ask how much, tell them it is none of their business.
 
Re: Estate Agent

Thanks for that Eamon66. I was slightly miffed by the Est. Agents attitude to be honest - I know they probably get their fair share of "gurriers" but this ladies attitude put me right off.
 
...

warren, always answer yes to that question, in fact, always tell them you have full formal loan approval, but as above don't let them know how much for.

approval in principle is what you get to start - basically bank takes details of your earnings based on what you tell them and says 'yep we'll give you X amount if you prove all that'. you then go shopping, find a house, bid on it, come back to bank and they process the formal approval for that property. Once you have the approval for one property, you can use it for another if the first falls through so its a good idea to bid on the first house you half like, get the formal approval, and then if you are outbid or dont like the house you can pull out but either way you have the full formal loan approval. This makes you more attractive to the buyer if they are interested in a quick sale as you are ready to go - we got our house based on that. Just tell the agent that you have formal loan approval from property X, but the sellers pulled out and took it off the market.

If bank approves you for a maximum loan of X amount, you can use it for any property up to a value of X (subject to bank's valuation). If you go over X it'll be a case of going back to the bank and seeing if they will increase the amount they will lend you - just tell them that another bank has offered you more and you'll get a few grand extra out of them, but be careful not to borrow more than you can realistically afford to pay back if interest rates rise by a percent or two.
 
Re: ...

Hi,

Can anyone answere the original question regarding Investors and Social Housing in a development. So far I found out that all developments must have 20% allocated for social affordable housing. In some cases I think the builder can buy back the 20%. Can anyone tell me what social affordable housing is and who is entitled to this. Is this the same kind of a scheme as shared ownership.

Thanks
 
Is Selling Agent obliged to let you know deatils?

Can anyone tell me if the Agent is obliged to tell you the % of investers or details on social housing in a particular development?

Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware). As far as I know the Selling Agent is not obliged to let potential buyers know any detail such as you mention.

As the buyer you should make it your business to find out as much about your potential purchase as possible.

I have found that when I asked the selling agent questions like this he responded something like:

"I dont think theres going to be much social housing, I'll ask the vendor and get back to you"
or "Social Housing! thats very unlikely". Both of which are really non-answers.

ajapale
 
Re: ...

is probably a good place for info on social housing and shared ownership.

Would the planning approval file in the local authority give info on how many houses will be dedicated to social housing? Or maybe the info is available under the FOI act?



edited to fix incorrect link
 
Re: ...

The IAVI (which does not cover all agents) states that they should let you know, if asked, what they know......


The estate agent who sold me my property failed to disclose serious defects in it.

The applicable term is “Caveat Emptor” – “Let the Buyer beware”. An agent who voluntarily discloses detrimental information about a property he is entrusted to sell would breach his contract of agency. His legal duty is to secure the best price he can and voluntarily disclosing negative facts about the property flies in the face of that duty.

However, it is important to emphasise that we are dealing with voluntary disclosures, e.g. where you innocently ask about stains on the wallpaper and the agent tells you that not alone is the house damp, it also is affected by dry rot, subsidence and timber infestation. An agent is not able to make such disclosures voluntarily.

On the other hand, the agent should not knowingly lie to you if you were to ask “Does this house have Damp / Dry Rot / Infestation or suffer from Subsidence?” If he/she knows for a fact that such faults exist he should answer your query honestly. To do so does not breach his duty to his client. The difference is that the agent cannot volunteer the information – you must elicit it.


quote from iavi added by ajapale
 
Social Housing

A good tip when you need to know about the social housing element is to check with your local authority. However, this still might not give you a realistic view of how many social/affordable houses will be in your development as there is also a possibility that investors could rent out there houses to the Health Boards etc.

Bear in mind that it's not just the Local Authority that administers the social/affordable housing. Watch out for names like NABCO etc.

I do know that when we bought our house, the estate agent swore blind that the estate had a 5% ratio of social to private housing. Fortunately I checked it out and we actually have a 35% ratio!!! In saying that, the area is lovely, and we bought anyway, haven't had any problems since.

HTH
 
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