To ask if you are in London council housing - is it well maintained and do you like it?

[wanderingstranger]

I hope to one day get housed by the council if I am lucky.

What are properties like? I have heard that you cannot see them before accepting them, are they generally in good or poor repair?

What are you neighbours like?

[snakeyline]

I'm in a flat in a central London borough. I was able to view mine before accepting it, and I was able to refuse a couple of flats before accepting this one. It depends a lot on your council's policy though.

My flat is 1950s, a solid brick building with six floors on a large estate. Some aspects of the building aren't great (poor soundproofing, tiny kitchen) but generally the rooms are big and there is decent storage and central heating. My kitchen and bathroom are brand new - they were about 15 years old before the council replaced them recently. It used to be single glazed but we got double glazing for the whole block about five years ago. We have a caretaker who cleans the communal areas twice a week and there are regular patrols by our neighbourhood area team who spot any issues. Repairs are dealt with fairly quickly although they don't tell you when they'll come so sometimes it can mean being stuck at home all day.

Neighbours are OK, it's quite a deprived area and a few of them are on benefits due to family/disabilities. Quite noisy as there are a lot of families, but nothing too bad. I don't socialise much with them as I have my own group of friends.

[wanderingstranger]

That sounds very positive overall, Snakeyline, thank you for replying.

[Ncbecauseitshard]

It's going to depend on the borough isn't it? I lived above a council tenant in Lambeth and their flat was lovely as was the council house next door, utterly beautiful. But places friends had in Bethnal Green were death traps, with condemned boilers and indifferent housing officers.

[Suzcat78]

I have lived in my flat in the Haringey borough for nearly 6 years and was able to view beforehand. The block is four floors with a mix of council and private tenants/owners. My kitchen was new when I moved in and bathroom was replaced about a year ago. Neighbours are friendly enough, never had any problems. You're responsible for the internal decoration, flooring etc but anything else is down to the council. Radiators, plumbing and anything external etc.
Never had any issues, but as someone mentioned it all depends on the area and borough!