Council house looks like council house

Our council are quite good re double glazing modern windows, new front doors re-rendering. But rent in this area is more in line with private lets so they have more money to play with.

What they can't do is create kerb appeal. If tenants don't bother cut the grass, put in flowers so be it.

Not the only one either. Think someone's having a boring Sunday.

Why are you bumping these old threads?

I think you are spot on OP, I don’t know why they do it but they do… I live in social housing and whilst it’s a lovely house it has ugly wood panels on top of the brickwork at the front and bright red window frames… the owner-occupied houses two minutes down the road do not have any of this despite them being built around the same time.

Both architecture and town halls were afflicted by various ideologies. Although the older designs were pretty decent in terms of space, they were built at a time when people were expected to know their place. I suspect that had a lot to do with the uniformity of appearance.

The lack of accountability for past mistakes is shocking. When you look at all the resources wasted in the post war building boom and the utterly crap new towns which were thought of as modern utopias by their designers but which turned out to be quite the opposite. It's a greater travesty that English Heritage believe some it worth preserving, and not just as a warning to future generations.

Why have you resurrected a 3 year old thread Raresun?

Oh dear.

To be honest I would rather have a council house with larger rooms and a large garden than a new build with poky bedrooms and often tiny gardens. Near me I think most council houses are now in private hands.

I live in an ex council flat. You wouldn't necessarily know as one side is a council estate where a lot have been bought. One side is retirement flats and a park. One side is another block of flats and the last side is owner occupied houses. Quite spaced out with grass etc and plenty of parking.

I lived on a owner occupier estate before this which looked more like a council estate than here tbh.

Both in same town.

There are some council flats in another area of town which have these huge name signs on which makes it more obvious. And a lot of council properties in my town have solar panels on the roof. Not mine however.

There’s a new build estate near me that has lots of cladding, so hardly ‘council looking’ 🙄

Same with the interiors - sometimes they deliberately choose fittings or finishes that are ugly for the HA (even if they cost the same as the ones that look better) so the private purchasers will feel they are getting a much better deal.

Why would the private purchasers be looking round the HA homes? What nonsense.

What they will do is deliberately choose fittings which are more durable, but still low enough cost and those tend not to be the prettiest options on the market.

"Same with the interiors - sometimes they deliberately choose fittings or finishes that are ugly for the HA (even if they cost the same as the ones that look better) so the private purchasers will feel they are getting a much better deal."

That really made me laugh. It's usually someone in housing choosing the kitchens, etc and we have limited choice compared to a private buyer. This is because we need to be able to match the units and tiles in 5 years time if the current tenant leaves and there is damage. Its nothing to do with making the private occupiers feel good.
I always try to choose what I would want in my own kitchen but there is never going to be a massive choice or the option of navy blue shaker with copper handles.

@UpTheJunktion That's exactly my point.... You've just completely agreed with me and then called me "nasty" because you have poor comprehension skills

And we are not allowed to improve it ourself

I live in a ha house and I hate inside as its plain white crappy tiles in kitchen and bathrooms , kitchens that are only replaced every 30 years now
Ok the outside it doesn't look like council other than the crappy door which differs to private houses .
But as soon as someone comes on its clear its a council/ ha house

All the council houses here had new roofs within the last few years, if you was wooden clad you are now plastic clad, pebble dash houses had this massive foam insulation put on the outside making the windows and doors look sunken, a majority have solar panels, all have the same doors just a choice of four colours same as the cladding options.

You look at a terrace row and you can pin point what’s private and what’s council housing a mile away.

Love my council flat, bloody cheap rent, most repairs are free, double glazing out in a few years ago free, utilities are cheap. I don’t care if the block of flats look like council it is what it is

I was born in a council house in 1942,, they were built in 1939,, for the purpose of people moving into the area, because of jobs in the war years. It was a lovely house, and the estate was just a short walk to get into the countryside. We had very large gardens, mainly for growing our own food in the food shortages,and two small areas of garden at the front of the house. The only thing that was missing,was heating, just coal fires.

Over the years, the council have put in central heating, and installed new windows and doors etc, most of the houses have now been bought by people, who have made changes inside etc.most of the people have now removed the hedges from the front of the houses, to make a run in for a car etc.

I often look on google instant street views, and I can see my old street,and house, and everything looks good still. The houses were quite solidly built, and look much better than some new build places now. lots of them don't seem to have much garden these days.

Hahaha as if people have a chance of being able to get social housing unless desperate in some way.

In London many people would do anything to get an assured tenancy at a reasonable rent. No one offered social housing would quibble about the look.

Nasty sentiment, too.

If you make them look as nice as everywhere else then people would choose to live in them even though they can afford private accommodation...

Hilarious mnetters pretending they’ve never noticed the difference between normal houses and council estates and believing everyone is equal so it doesn’t matter and no one judges... back in the real world, the stereotype of solid but box-like council houses with no big gardens and front gardens with a mattress/broken washing machine etc still are a regular occurrence that I don’t see in non council house areas.

It’s true that some are better than others but they’re always £50k less than the equivalent size home to purchase and last to sell. I have friends who bought council houses and look after them but when I visit a get called a “fucking snob with my posh car!” - I drive a 9 year old Ford ffs. Those who shout the abuse do not own and are HA tenants.

Clearly, most HA tenants are normal lovely people but the loud, aggressive, nasty ones stand out and everyone is tarred with the same brush.

Our council insist on developers paying a sum into a pot for every ten houses they build a sum to build a council house has to go into a pot or the developer gives them one property. This has gone on for years with developers handing over monies. Not one council house has been built in all this time, god knows where the money has gone.

I can spot a council house a mile off. Probably because I spent the first 20 years of my life in one. Personally I don't have a problem with them. All the ones we lived in were solidly built with decent sized gardens, unlike our second marital home which appeared to be made largely of cardboard.

@dworky

Agreed. I love my council house. It’s big and the garden is literally massive, loads of green areas too but no denying you can clearly tell this is a Council/ex council estate. Years ago it had a rep so most folk avoid. The result for us is very quiet roads (hard to come by in this city) ample parking and green spaces, and the majority of these houses have now been bought. The ones in a state are the tenants who ended up buying and haven’t kept up with the maintenance of their homes (maybe elderly). You can tell the council houses round here though as ironically they look the best due to new roofs etc!

They’re all semi detached, and our neighbours who have bought are lovely. Tbh we feel like it’s a little bit of a hidden gem.