Right-To-Buy Transfer Ownership

[the-enforcer]

Hi All,

This is my first post and any help / advice will be much appreciated.


I have purchased our council property using the Right-To-Buy scheme jointly with my mum (as she was a named tenant).

Because of her age we were given a maximum mortgage term of 18 years.

Although this is fine for now, ideally we want it to be 25-30 years so that our monthly payments will be lower.

I wanted to know if I transfer the mortgage into just my name will we have to repay all / some of the discount we received?

I know if we sold the property within 5 years then we would have to repay the discount but if it's a transfer between the two original applicants then it shouldn't trigger the discount being repaid?????

[charitynjw]

Re: Right-To-Buy Transfer Ownership

Hi the-enforcer, & welcome to Legal Beagles.

As you are a family member, you may not need to pay back any of the discount.

See https://www.gov.uk/right-to-buy-buyi...ling-your-home

[PlanB]

Re: Right-To-Buy Transfer Ownership

I have purchased our council property using the Right-To-Buy scheme jointly with my mum (as she was a named tenant).

. . . . I wanted to know if I transfer the mortgage into just my name will we have to repay all / some of the discount we received?

You (and I ) need to look into this in a bit more detail.

You cannot transfer the mortgage into your sole name without removing your Mum from the deeds. No lender will allow a mortgage on a property where someone else has a financial/legal interest. Your Mum will have a legal interest since she is living there as an "occupier". You cannot get a new or different mortgage in your sole name while your Mum remains on the deeds.

Once your Mum has been removed from the deeds this may imply that she has in effect *sold* the property to you which raises issues of Capital Gains Tax for her (because she's *sold* it as a profit), Stamp Duty (because the property has been *sold* i.e. she's transferred ownership to you) and all the other HMRC issues.

At first sight I can't see how she will be able to convince her Local Authority that she hasn't *sold* the property to you, and this may mean that she has to obey the rule which says if she wants to sell the property she has to offer it to her old Landlord (i.e. the Council) first. See link in previous post

[PlanB]

Re: Right-To-Buy Transfer Ownership

I have purchased our council property using the Right-To-Buy scheme jointly with my mum (as she was a named tenant).

Could you just clarify something. If your Mum was the named (sole?) tenant what was the reason you were allowed to purchase the property jointly? Did you do this because you may have had *succession rights*? Whose names are on the deeds at Land Registry?

[the-enforcer]

Re: Right-To-Buy Transfer Ownership

Tenancy of this property was in my Mum'sánd Dad's name.

I was allowed to be on the RTB application as I've been living in the property for 12 months or more.

My mum was named on the tenancy with myself because with her age it allowed us to get 18 year mortgage term where as if my dad were to be named then we would only get 14 year term.

Mine and my mum's name are on the Deeds in Land Registry.

[PlanB]

Re: Right-To-Buy Transfer Ownership

Tenancy of this property was in my Mum's ánd Dad's name.

I was allowed to be on the RTB application as I've been living in the property for 12 months or more.

My mum was named on the tenancy with myself because with her age it allowed us to get 18 year mortgage term where as if my dad were to be named then we would only get 14 year term.

Mine and my mum's name are on the Deeds in Land Registry.

Please don't think I'm being insensitive or intrusive when I ask whether your Dad is still an *occupier* of the property?

I only want to help

[the-enforcer]

Re: Right-To-Buy Transfer Ownership

Hi,

Not at all.

My dad is still an occupier in the property.

He signed the RTB Application stating he does not want to buy the house and that he knows certain rights / benefits that he'll no longer have access to.

I think when me and my mum purchased the property we signed it as "Tenants in Common", Not sure if that makes any difference at all.

Thank you again for your feedback. Much appreciated.

[PlanB]

Re: Right-To-Buy Transfer Ownership

My dad is still an occupier in the property.

He signed the RTB Application stating he does not want to buy the house and that he knows certain rights / benefits that he'll no longer have access to.

May I ask whether your Dad was advised to take independent legal advice on his legal rights at the time? I'm not trying to alarm you, I just want to be clear on who said what to whom

[the-enforcer]

Re: Right-To-Buy Transfer Ownership

We never seeked any legal advice regarding that. We simply decided it on the fact that by having my dad on the application we were being told maximum term they would give is 14 years.

As far as we knew, as we were buying the property, we would not be entitled to any housing benefits or other benefits you would be entitled to as a tenant. This was highlighted in the application.

[PlanB]

Re: Right-To-Buy Transfer Ownership

We never seeked any legal advice regarding that. We simply decided it on the fact that by having my dad on the application we were being told maximum term they would give is 14 years.

As far as we knew, as we were buying the property, we would not be entitled to any housing benefits or other benefits you would be entitled to as a tenant. This was highlighted in the application.

One more insensitive question if I may. What age were each of your parents when they signed that contract?

[the-enforcer]

Re: Right-To-Buy Transfer Ownership

Mum - 51
Dad - 58

[PlanB]

Re: Right-To-Buy Transfer Ownership

Are/were either of them in work at the time or in receipt of benefits since they may not have been officially retired?

[the-enforcer]

Re: Right-To-Buy Transfer Ownership

My dad and mum received housing benefit I think. I know they did not have to pay rent but I did as I'm working and was paying about £500 a month for just myself.

[PlanB]

Re: Right-To-Buy Transfer Ownership

My dad and mum received housing benefit I think. I know they did not have to pay rent but I did as I'm working and was paying about £500 a month for just myself.

^^^^ This may be an important issue. What would happen if your parents or you could not keep up with the mortgage payments? Would their home be repossessed and would they be classed as *intentionally homeless* and face a future living in a cardboard box? Would your parents have been better off as tenants entitled to Housing Benefit? Like I say I'm not trying to alarm you, I want you to check out your and your parents' legal rights in case the council have not given you unbiased legal advice at the time of the deal.

Don't worry because it'll all come out in the wash :washing:

[the-enforcer]

Re: Right-To-Buy Transfer Ownership

Well, our main decision to buy the property was the fact that I was paying about £500 p/m on rent. So purchasing the property with the discount available meant that I would only be paying £615p/m. It made sense to do that then keep paying rent.

I agree the risk is always there if I lose my job and can't make repayments but we're pretty confident it won't come to that especially as my brother works as well and contributes a lot so that's not a big problem.

We just wanted to increase our mortgage term by changing it into my name so that our monthly payments would be reduced by £200 or so that we could save a little extra towards a planned house extension.

I guess I'll have to seek some legal advice from my solicitor on if it;s possible and what's the best route to use.

Thank you for your input.