Would you buy an ex council house ?

[LovelyYellowLabrador]

They seem good value for money and often big gardens

Absolutely. Obviously like any house it depends on the area. Depending on where you are but some older ex council estates are very highly sought after.

Not again. Had one for 4 years, typical 1930s 3 bed semi, solid brick walls inside and out. Was a cold damp money pit. It would never increase in value as much as other houses and was hard to sell.

I honestly couldnt care less what a house used to be. We tried to buy 2 but the sales fell through. They were way nicer than the one we ended up with which is a 1950s build.

We did - and still live in it

It's in a lovely street - we've put an extension, patio and a huge shed in the garden and ds still has plenty room to play footy with his pals out there

Rooms are large - we have 3 sofas, a coffee table and a side board in our living room and there's still lots of space.

£90k 11 years ago - probably worth £165k now (we have spent quite a lot on it though)

Yes I have bought one. The next road along (not ex council) houses go for way over a million. Ni way would i pay that! lovely big garden (for london), great sense of space.

Ex council houses are snapped up here. I'm not worried about mine not selling. My NDN house was sold within a couple of weeks of being on the market.

It would depend on the area but if it's in an estate with a good reputation then why not? My parents both grew up in council houses in the 50s/60s and they were HUGE. Both my grandads had massive allotments in the back garden. If one came up I would seriously consider it.

Yes, they are solidly built and always seem to good size rooms

It depends on

the area/estate
the neighbouring houses
if it’s ugly (a lot are - the one I grew up in had a sort of pebble dash that just looked as if people had thrown buckets of liquid shit on it).

Yes, our house is a bought council house. The estate is about half and half council/bought as far as I can tell.
It doesn't have a large garden or massive rooms but it's a good house, close to school and the community here is friendly. For our pretty small budget we couldn't have afforded anything else with as many bedrooms and a garage.

Like another poster has said, only if it's freehold. Leasehold is a nightmare. Section 20 notices for major works, insane costs that contractors have quoted to take the piss and no one at the council/management company has actually considered whether that represents any sort of value (I'm talking 10x the cost of what a job would cost privately). I still have anxiety opening post 5 years on!!

Ours is ex council on a road with half (ex) council and half privately built in the 1930's. Ours is so solidly built (1946) that we broke three drills trying to drill the walls.

We've brought up three children here and our lovely neighbours have never heard a peep from us through the walls. The back garden is full of trees and flowerbeds and 100 feetlong and the front garden is grassed and about 50 feet longs. We've done a fair bit of work to it and the value has tripled. It is a perfect family home.

It may not be beautiful to look at but it is much much more solid than some of the recently thrown up new builds.

Yes, I work near a mainly former Council Estate. The houses are well built and very well designed. They have decent front and back gardens with side enterances. The estate itself is well laid out with green areas and now mature trees. There is a lovely community spirit there.

I don't think many people nowadays know if it was once a council house, especially the younger generation. I live in one, big garden so we were able to extend outwards. Not overlooked and larger rooms. There are various things that can be done to make the front look pretty if so needed.

Our house is an ex council house in a well sought after village location. We live in a cul-de-sac and out of about 25 houses only two are now council.
It has a big green out the front for the children to play. Love it!

If the only way i could get on the property ladder was to buy an ex council property, then yes i would. I would however go for a smaller non ex council property than a larger ex council

Definitely! We just bought an ex council house. The street is a cul de sac of about 8 houses, a few still council owned and the neighbours are all lovely. The garden is MASSIVE and although the house needs a lot of work its brilliant! It's really well built and the rooms are good sizes. We paid 10k over the asking but it was worth every penny.

No but only because the area I live in people still refer to them as council houses in a derogatory way. There’s nothing wrong the houses and in most cases there are better than the new builds.

Probably not.
But depends on the area / estate I guess.

Our first purchase was an ex-council. We were naïve and didn't know that it was. We had looked at lots of places with tiny rooms and gardens, so were very happy to find our ex-council.

My (huge and lovely) ex Council house, 3 bed semi, sold earlier this year for 500.000.
Nice area, big rooms, huge garden. I bought it in 89, for 48.000. Sold in 97 for 120,000.
I would buy one again.

Yes. My first flat was Council owned. All I could afford at the time. But it was great. And I made a fortune when I sold it on...

My last house was one and so is my current house. Neither are on estates though. Lovely neighbours in both places (same town).

I did, great house, large rooms, solidly built, huge loft which would have made a great conversion. Huge garden. Was a great house. Moved as wanted to be nearer my daughters school and our friends

Yes, we did