A selection of property related questions answered
Can we sell affordable home after a few years?
We are on the list for an affordable house but are worried about locking ourselves in for such a long time - we are likely to be offered a two-bedroom apartment and are happy to live in that for a few years. But if we have a family, we would like to move to a house. Do we have to keep the apartment for a full 20 years or can we sell it?
You can sell it but all local authorities have a clawback system when it comes to affordable housing - which is only fair as buyers get the property at a price below market rate. The 20 years you talk about is significant - but only because after 20 years the clawback no longer applies and you can sell without giving the council any share of the profits. If you sell before the 20-year limit there is a clawback, which is a percentage of the sale price. This percentage is linked to the initial discount that you receive when you purchase your home. For instance, if the apartment has a market value of €200,000 and you paid €160,000, you got a discount of 20 per cent. Let's say you then sell this property within 10 years, for €300,000. The clawback to the council will be 20 per cent of €300,000 (which is €60,000). After 10 years, there is a sliding scale which reduces the amount of the clawback due to the council. Consult the affordable housing division in your local council for more information.
Who pays to remove previous owner's goods?
Our mother took possession of a house last week and was amazed to find a considerable amount of the previous owner's possessions still there. The attic is full of general stuff, the shed is full of paint tins, and there are bits of furniture in most rooms, including an old bed. I estimate between hiring a skip and someone to clear it, it will cost the guts of €1,000. Do we get her solicitor to pursue this? Or is it best to go to the seller (we know where they live).
This is not an uncommon occurrence. You should leave a house as you hope to find it but, as you unhappily know, that is not always the case. In the past, people didn't mind so much but that was when there weren't bin charges and it was easy to get rid of household stuff. Now it's more difficult. You should have done a pre-signing inspection before finally signing contracts just to avoid such an occurrence - agents are usually happy to facilitate such a visit.
Your mother's solicitor may have inserted a clause in the contract that the house would be clear - but that was obviously ignored. If there was such a clause, and you found all that rubbish in a pre-signing inspection, then you would have been in a strong position in terms of delaying signing until the work was done. At this stage you are basically appealing to the seller's decency - a polite phone call requesting them to take away their stuff might work. There is a chance that, while moving house, they simply forgot to clear the attic and that it's full of stuff they actually want. Other than that, rather than attempting the legal route with all the stress that involves, cut your losses, order a skip, get onto to your recycling centre to find out where you can safely dump the paint tins and get on with getting the house fit for your mum.
Send your queries to Property Questions, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2 or email propertyquestions@irish-times.ie.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to respond to all questions. The above is a representative sample of queries received. This column is a readers' service and is not intended to replace professional advice. No individual correspondence will be entered into.
