Councils will be allowed to sell affordable houses on market
Submitted by admin on Wed, 03/25/2009 - 11:32
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
OLIVIA KELLY
LOCAL AUTHORITIES are to be allowed to sell affordable houses on the open market to get rid of a backlog of 3,700 unsold houses which are costing councils millions of euro in bridging loans and fees.
This would allow private buyers who do not qualify for affordable housing to acquire an affordable house and not have to pay a “claw-back” to their local authority.
General practice is that a local authority gives the developer names of people who are eligible to buy an affordable house. If two affordable house buyers reject the house or apartment, the council is obliged to buy it from the developer at the agreed discount.
Two months ago Dublin City Council announced that it has had to buy 300 homes from developers because they were rejected by buyers and that these houses were costing it upwards of €300,000 a month in bridging loans and fees.