|
PROPERTY IN IRELAND
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
                  BUYING A HOUSE
COUNTY BY COUNTY
|
Have we had a stressful time with buying a house, we are
told it is not usually this bad. Maybe it isn't but may people, both
nationals and none nationals seem to have problems and it seems to take
ages. We first put an offer in on our house to be Before Christmas it is
now half way through April and we still haven't moved in.. Here are some
of the problems we had. Our original plan which I wont go into went
completely pear shaped so we had to start again. The Bank of Ireland
were great, we were running out out of time and not having a mortgage in
place we thought we would give them a try. They looked at my earnings
and within a week we had an offer on the table. However all the little
things that happened after just seemed to keep delaying things. A lot of
my paperwork that they wanted was still in the UK which meant either
flying back or getting my parents to find it and post it, this adds
several days delay each time. The lender will require life insurance and
quite often the life insurance company will want a doctors report, as
this again had to come from the UK I opted to have a medical with a
local doctor. The bank messed up sending my transfer for the deposit, it
took four days to do a boomerang impression and end up back in my
account. We decided to get a survey and planning check done, this is not
required but recommended, in our case it has shown up a problem with the
boundaries. Although its an Acre site and wouldn't make much difference,
the Solicitor also has to act for the Banks best interest and the
lenders don't like discrepancies. It looks like being sorted out, but
its time again, it seems the guy who sold the land pegged it all out,
but the guy who registered it under measured the plot. Although what I
have said is just the tip of the iceberg a lot of this can be down too
bad luck. But be prepared, there can be a lot involved and you could be
in for a wait. Also check out the costs below. Buying land to build on can be very difficult with different conditions between counties. Nationals moving from one county to another find they cannot getting planning permission because they are not from that county, despite having family who are already land owners. So if you are not even from Ireland you could find it a struggle. You also have to prove the need for building a new house, ie there is nothing else suitable in the area and you have to be in that area for your work. I think it may be easier in the cities but then you have the problem of finding a bit of land and paying through the nose for it. If you are married and only one partner is buying the house, as it is seen as a family home, his or her partner will have to sign a declaration that they are happy with this. If either partner has ever been divorced you will need all the paperwork House prices in Ireland over the past ten years have risen enormously and like most places depending on where you buy depends on what it is likely to cost you. Dublin for example is very expensive which you would expect from a city. However if you are prepared to commute you can get some very nice properties for a very good price compared to the UK. Dublin is expanding and there are a lot of new developments in the surrounding areas. One house we looked at was in Co Cavan which is about 2 hours away from Dublin. The house was on three quarters of an acre, the house itself was 4000 Square feet with six bedrooms and they wanted 360,000 Euro for it. However it wasn't very practical for work. Most of the work for both of us is in Cork so we had to be able to commute. At some point in your life, you may wish to either buy or sell a home or property. It is not possible in Ireland to fully go through the purchase or sale of a home or property without legal advice and assistance, as this is quite a specialised area of law known as conveyancing. Conveyancing describes the legal work involved in the purchase or sale of land or property (the transfer of rights, interests and liabilities, etc.). It will require the appointment of a solicitor by the parties to the transaction. The duration of the legal process involved in buying or selling a home or property will largely depend on the individual circumstances pertaining to the transaction. Some vendors (sellers), for example, may prefer a quick sale. A typical conveyance, however, may take anything from 8 to 12 weeks. Your solicitor must be qualified and registered with the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland. All practising solicitors must hold a "practice certificate" issued by the Law Society on an annual basis. The two most popular methods by which properties in Ireland are purchased and sold are:
A Good place to start looking for property to rent or Buy all over Ireland
BUYING A HOUSE Costs involved in buying a house Deposit. Buyers will normally need to pay at least 10% of the purchase price and perhaps more as a deposit. The exceptions to this are where the mortgage is from a local authority Local authority mortgages in which case the deposit may be as low as 5% of the purchase price or where the mortgage is under the Shared Ownership Scheme where the minimum deposit is 1,269.74 euro. Lending agency fees. These may include the following: an application fee; the lender's survey; searches; mortgage loan costs and an indemnity bond to ensure that if the lender has to repossess the property it won't make a loss. Legal fees. There is no fixed rate of charges for legal fees in Ireland. you are advised to obtain some quotes before deciding on a legal firm. Solicitors may charge you a flat fee or a percentage of the purchase price. In the past, fees were of the order of 1.5% of the purchase price but again, shop around to get the lowest possible percentage fee or the lowest possible fixed fee. There may be other costs associated with the legal process including land registry fees and legal searches. VAT (at 21%) is also payable on the legal fees. Buyer's survey fee. This is different from the survey carried out by the lending agency. You will need one if you are thinking of buying a second-hand house. The cost will vary considerably, ranging from 127 euro to 380 euro. Stamp duty on mortgage deed. Exempt if your mortgage is less than 254,000 euro. If your mortgage is greater than 254,000 euro, duty is charged at 1 euro for every 1,000 borrowed. Mortgage protection. Mortgage Protection insurance is designed to pay the balance of your mortgage if you die before the loan is fully repaid. Lenders are legally obliged to make sure that you have adequate mortgage protection cover when you take out a home loan, although you do not have to arrange this insurance through them. Premiums vary but always reduce over the life of the loan as the amount of the loan reduces. Local authorities run their own plan (The Local Authorities Mortgage Protection Plan) and people borrowing under the Local Authorities House Purchase Loan scheme must take out insurance through this scheme. Home Insurance. Most lenders will also insist that you take out adequate home insurance to protect your home in the event of fire or other damage. You are not obliged to purchase home insurance from your lender. Stamp duty on house price is a tax payable based on the value of the transaction. See Table Below Land Registry fees - Registration of mortgage: 125 euro
Registration of Ownership
Other charges Rates of stamp duty for new houses and apartments with a floor area greater than 125 sq. metres
Rates of stamp duty on land/housing sites without
residential buildings
More information about stamp duty
COUNTY BY COUNTY
|
![Ireland Administrative: Map [11kB]](ireland_admin.gif)