Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy
Appendix 4
| Purpose of assistance | This discretionary loan can be used in situations where relocation could be a more suitable solution for some applicants in preference to repair or adaptation of their existing dwelling or to fund works required to free their home of serious hazards, which would affect the health and safety of the occupants. |
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| Maximum loan | Subject to funds being available, loans up to a maximum of £50,000 is possible with the advance being no more than 35% of the free equity in the property and secured on the property. This means the loan is secured on the property and no scheduled repayments are due. |
| Repayment of loan | Repayment of the full amount of the loan is required:
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| Eligible persons | An applicant must either:
And have lived in the property as their only or main residence for at least 24 months and be in receipt of a qualifying benefit, including:
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| Eligible properties |
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| Eligible costs |
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| Scope of works | This could include:
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Overview of the application process
Applications should be made directly to the Independent Living Service at Great Yarmouth Borough Council.
Once confirmation that both the applicant and the dwelling that they live in are eligible for assistance a technical officer from Independent Living Services will inspect the property and raise a schedule of eligible works.
The applicant will be asked to supply a minimum of 2 estimates covering the scope of the scheduled works plus any additional costs such as agent or structural engineer fees. The applicant will also need to provide information on all borrowings secured against the property such as a mortgage, the approximate amount left to repay and confirm that the property title is registered. If the property is not registered with Land Registry the applicant will have to instruct their own solicitor to have the property title registered before the loan application can proceed.
Independent Living Services will carry out an initial assessment to see if the amount of loan required does not exceed £50,000 and/or is no more than 35% of the free equity in the property.
Once satisfied that the loan amount requested is unlikely to exceed the maximum limits set out in the step above Independent Living Services will confirm the title registration with Land Registry and instruct an independent surveyor to value the property.
Existing lenders will be contacted and their agreement to a further charge on the property sought.
Once the valuation is received and other lenders consent to the charge is obtained, along with confirmation of the amount of outstanding mortgage/loan outstanding, Independent Living Services will draw up the Loan Agreement in duplicate for the applicant to sign and the council to sign and seal.
Independent Living Services will check with Land Registry that no further charges have been placed against the property during this process. If a further charge has been placed upon the property this will delay or prevent the Equity Loan from being registered.
Once confirmation is received from Land Registry that no additional charges have been placed upon the property Independent Living Services will register the Equity Loan and the relevant funds can be released.
One copy of the Loan Agreement will be sent to the applicant for them to retain and the other will be retained by the Council.
