PROPERTY NEWS - Everyone dreams of owning their own home, and with the national government's incentives, this may become a reality for many qualifying applicants.
People with a monthly househould income of between R3 501 and R15 000 can benefit from a Finance Linked Individual Subsidy, generally known as Flisp, to become homeowners.
The Western Cape Department of Human Settlements invites everyone who earns within the prescribed income range and who may be interested in owning their own home to attend a Flisp support workshop on 19 August from 09:00 to 13:00 at the D'Almeida Community Hall.
To qualify for a Flisp subsidy, applicants must be South African citizens with a valid identity document and 18 years or older.
Applicants may not previously have benefited from government housing subsidies or have owned a fixed residential property before. Single applicants must have dependents who are financially reliant upon them.
Once off
The Flisp subsidy programme is a once-off payment to qualifying households who have secured finance from a bank to purchase their first ever home.
The Flisp subsidy assists qualifying applicants to either obtain an existing home, or to buy a vacant, serviced erf which is linked to house building contracts with home builders registered with the National Home Builders' Registration Council (NHBRC), or to have a house erected by a NHBRC builder on a serviced stand that is already owned by the applicant.
First-time buyers and low-to-middle income households face many barriers when entering the property market.
Challenges include affordability, credit worthiness and the supply of affordable housing in the province. Flisp aims to provide qualifying applicants, who secure mortgage finance with a financial institution, with a once-off subsidy towards their bond.
Applicants are encouraged to join the workshop on 19 August to learn more about affordable housing and find out whether Flisp can help them.
At the workshop four training sessions, held every hour, will help guide future applicants on how to access the Flisp subsidy.
Applicants may expect to receive hands-on support in preparing Flisp application forms. Contact Riaan Pienaar at the Mossel Bay Municipality (044 606 5187) for more information.
ARTICLE: NICKEY LE ROUX, MOSSEL BAY ADVERTISER JOURNALIST
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