I want to sell my negative-equity home
Q I will be moving abroad for work in October and will be selling my apartment before I go. It is in negative equity although I am unsure by exactly how much. I have had an agent out and if it sells for his best estimate I will be €40,000 short. When do I tell my lender about the sale? I intend taking out a personal loan to cover the shortfall – although I won’t know how much I need until the sale goes through.
ABefore you talk to any other estate agent about the sale, you need to talk to your solicitor and your lender because the reality is that the apartment is not yours to sell without approval. The bank holds the deeds as security for the loan and a sale cannot go through unless the sale realises sufficient funds to discharge that loan. That is unless you come to some prior agreement with the bank – the crucial word here is prior.
In the normal course of events, the buyer would pay you enough to cover your outstanding mortgage. In a negative equity situation, that won’t happen and your solicitor will not be able to close the sale without sufficient funds to discharge the mortgage – unless the bank agrees to accept the lower amount or some other arrangement.
If you put your apartment on the market before getting an agreed plan in place with your lender, you are simply wasting everyone’s time as there is a good chance the bank will not permit the sale to go through. Your plans to take out a personal loan are also shaky unless you have some collateral or significant savings. Unsecured personal loans are difficult to get at the moment.
Builder says we need spiral stair to attic
Q We are in the early stages of planning an attic conversion and have talked to a local builder. We would prefer a regular staircase but he insists that only a spiral staircase will work as there won’t be headroom to build a proper staircase as the space is awkward.
AGetting the staircase right is key to the success of an attic conversion. The best ones usually copy the style and proportions of the main staircase but that is not always possible. An architect or architectural technician may be able to devise an alternative to a spiral staircase that will still work in your space and meet building regulations. It is crucial that all aspects of your attic conversion conform to building regulations – and that an engineer or architect signs off on the job confirming that it does comply. The regulations cover all aspect of the job. For example in the section on "staircase head room" – which may be what your builder was getting at – the regulations state that, "In the conversion of a loft where space is limited, headroom measured at the centre of the stairs should be not less than 1.9m but may reduce to not less than 1.8m at the side of the stairs", (see environ.ie/en/Publications). Ask your builder if you can visit previous attic conversions he has completed so you can get an idea of the quality of his work.
Your questions
Send your queries to Property questions, The Irish Times, The Irish Times Building, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2 or e-mail propertyquestions@irishtimes.com. This column is a readers’ service and is not intended to replace professional advice.
