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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To worry about potential anti social behaviour if we move to this new town?

39 replies

OuEstCoco · 27/07/2012 15:03

Hi, I really hope this OP doesn't cause any offence as I know that this can be a very, very tricky subject. Apologies if it does.

Anyway, DH and I are renting but hoping to be able to buy a house of our own some day. At the moment, we don't have the standard huge deposit needed for a normal mortgage and DH's debts (circa £10,000) mean we wouldn't be approved for any of the 95-100% mortgage schemes either. We've been told that we should qualify for a shared ownership mortgage, however.

We're in East Devon and live near to the new eco-town Cranbrook that's in the process of being built. There are apparently going to be a good number of shared ownership properties available there, so we're seriously considering that as an option.

What we're less sure about though, is whether the high proportion of social housing (roughly one third of the properties in Cranbrook will be designated 'affordable housing', with about a third of those properties being shared ownership and the other two thirds housing association rental) could mean that there may be problems with anti social behaviour.

I'm certainly not saying that I think that all, or even the majority of social housing tenants would be difficult neighbours. It really isn't that. DH and I are very ordinary people with no delusions that we're posh in any way. But the council estates in our town do have significant levels of anti social behaviour and social problems, especially compared with elsewhere in the area. Obviously it's only a minority of people that behave this way but there do seem to be more of them in social housing areas. As I said, I'm not implying that everyone is like that.

We might be worrying about nothing. If it was all ok in terms of neighbours not being a PITA, then this would be such a fantastic opportunity to have our own place. If we don't do this then it will be 4-5 years before we'll be able to pay off DH's debts and save for the deposit on a 95% mortgage, assuming that they're even available then.

I really can't emphasise enough that I don't think that most social housing tenants are inconsiderate neighbours. It's just that the high concentration of social housing in this development makes me worry that there may be a larger number of people who make life difficult for others.

Am I being unreasonable to worry about this?

OP posts:
Olympia2012 · 27/07/2012 15:08

You are comparing council estates tenants with housing association tenants

In my experience HA are quicker to sort problems. I'm on a starter tenancy here and we get inspections and are asked if there are any anti social incidents to report

I reported one and it was dealt with.... Swiftly. This is a 'new' community also.

It's the ones with mortgages that look dodgy round here! Grin

Floggingmolly · 27/07/2012 15:12

The potential for anti-social behaviour is everywhere...

WorraLiberty · 27/07/2012 15:15

YANBU

And I hope you're not allergic to goats?

cuteboots · 27/07/2012 15:18

Im a HA tenant and have to agree with Olympia2012. Ive just moved into a new house and the tenancy agreement has so much stuff in it about anti social behaviour and they will clamp down on it much faster nowadays. I think where ever you live you will get anti social behaviour unfortunately.

kinkynagbag · 27/07/2012 15:22

i can see hwere you are coming from.
im in ha property, first time. i was a bit worried but my neighbours in my flat are wonderfull,

i think honestly think you would have this worry even if you moved some where non social owned.
i say take it,

Original poster
OuEstCoco · 27/07/2012 15:22

Olympia that's good to know, thanks :) Sounds like your HA is really on the case then wrt problems. Hopefully they're all like that then.

Molly I know...

worraliberty ern, no although DH is allergic to everything so it wouldn't surprise me if he was. Why, are there herds of marauding goats to worry about too? Hmm

OP posts:
pinkdelight · 27/07/2012 15:22

Can you get even a shared ownership house with £10k debts? Won't you still need a reasonably-sized mortgage? Why not just keep renting and save up? Sorry if I don't understand how this particular scheme works, but the SO properties I've looked at still weren't exactly a cheap option (in London tho).

Original poster
OuEstCoco · 27/07/2012 15:24

Oh, thanks cuteboots and kinkynag it's very reassuring to hear that you've not had bad experiences :) I agree, it can be a problem anywhere.

OP posts:
YusMilady · 27/07/2012 15:24

YABU for considering living in Cranbrook. Ghastly bloody place built on a beautiful greenfield site. Sheer vandalism.

Original poster
OuEstCoco · 27/07/2012 15:29

pinkdelight we were told by a mortgage advisor that we should qualify although we haven't actually applied and he could be wrong, of course! The deposit needed for the cheapest of these SO houses is around £3000, I think. DH is actually earning reasonable money, so could cover the mortgage easily, it's just that they affect his credit rating so we wouldn't be accepted for a normal mortgage at the moment.

OP posts:
BettyandDon · 27/07/2012 15:30

Well all I can say is that we bought an ex-Council flat and there are HA tenants next door. They are akin to the Shameless family, have 2 nasty dogs and probably deal drugs (rumours), they definitely take them and the language they use it really shocking (5 yr old boy calling his mother all sorts for example no doubt learning this from the parents). We have decided that we will never ever buy near Council housing property again. We regret buying this place for this reason alone. If we had even caught sight of the family next door we would not have gone ahead with the purchase.

The rest of the tenants/owners in the area are lovely however, but you only need 1 bad family to ruin an area.

It is right to say that antisocial behaviour is everywhere, but I am sure they must be a link between high crime and low income so the likelihood of encountering these problems is greater in such an area.

Original poster
OuEstCoco · 27/07/2012 15:30

YusMilady and it's on a flood plain Hmm

OP posts:
Olympia2012 · 27/07/2012 15:36

On a flood plain? Then why would you buy a place on a flood plain? Im naive about this stuff I think!

Original poster
OuEstCoco · 27/07/2012 15:43

Oh dear, Betty that sounds awful :( Are they ever rude to you or just noisy and sweary among themselves IYSWIM? The kind of thing DH and I worry about is just low level stuff like kids hanging around outside and being abusive, our car being damaged, rubbish being chucked into our garden and so on.

Olympia I'm assuming that there must be measures in place to prevent flood damage or permission wouldn't have been given for the development to go ahead. Hopefully!

OP posts:
NarkedRaspberry · 27/07/2012 15:43

Can goats swim?

NarkedRaspberry · 27/07/2012 15:46
YusMilady · 27/07/2012 15:47

OuEstCoco the whole site flooded really badly in the heavy rain earlier this year - they had pumps going 24/7 to get rid of the lakes that had formed. I wouldn't touch it with a barge-pole (hoho). Where are you at the moment? There are better deals to be had in East Devon, I think.

honeytea · 27/07/2012 15:48

It is Devon, how rough can it get? I grew up in totnes and the worst thing that happened my entire childhood was a boy got his cap stolen from the swimming pool changing rooms.

MadamFolly · 27/07/2012 15:57

Devon can be very rough depending on where you are, I've taught in different schools there and although most places are lovely there is a lot of rural poverty and some parts of Exeter are not too great.

Original poster
OuEstCoco · 27/07/2012 15:58

OuEstCoco the whole site flooded really badly in the heavy rain earlier this year - they had pumps going 24/7 to get rid of the lakes that had formed. I wouldn't touch it with a barge-pole (hoho). Where are you at the moment? There are better deals to be had in East Devon, I think.

Christ, I didn't realise it was that bad Shock Um, we're in Ottery so not much better in terms of flood risk! Hmm maybe a move to Dartmoor would be more sensible :(

honeytea Grin I'm also from south Devon and know what you mean but some parts of Exeter really are on the rough side.

OP posts:
Original poster
OuEstCoco · 27/07/2012 15:59

MadamFolly - exactly!

OP posts:
Original poster
OuEstCoco · 27/07/2012 16:02

By the way, when l said "council estates in our town" in my OP, I wasn't actually referring to Ottery, I did mean Exeter. We don't actually live there now but have done and I just didn't want to get into a long winded explanation as my OP was rambly enough as it was Blush

OP posts:
Lilicat1013 · 27/07/2012 16:11

I have lived in Council accommodation and we had some slightly dodgy neighbours but the council were helpful in dealing with problems.

Now we live in a housing association block of flats with shared ownership properties on the same site. There are not really problems, a few minor annoyances of the type you would find anywhere but no real anti social behaviour or dodgy people. I like most of our neighbours.

honeytea · 27/07/2012 16:16

I think I must have lived in Totnes for too long! I didn't realise it could be rough.

Living on Dartmoor would be lovely!

NoVegBeforeSkeg · 27/07/2012 16:25

I'm renting privately on a new build part ownership/part social housing estate, and it's bloody awful.

The first 2 years were ok, but it's turned into a dump.

We have loads of rules in our tenancy agreement (one is not to sing or allow visitors to sing Hmm) but it seems the only one that is enforced is the 'paying rent on time' one.
Lots of people have been evicted for non payment.

It's apparently not a problem that a woman in one of the houses can't open her blinds, due to the fact that her windows get stoned every single time a certain group of boys pass.
And call her disgusting, racist names.

Not a problem that kids as young as 4 are out unsupervised, standing in front of cars coming in and swinging scooters at them.

Not a problem that probably a quarter the properties are empty, people have just walked out-including some people on shared ownership (they just abandoned it.)
It's a horrible place to live.

Not trying to put you off, but this is how ours is!

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