to buy a new house next to social housing?

[plentyofsoap]

I had a casual conversation about a house we are looking to buy with a group of friends today. One who is a friend of a friend said it sounded lovely, but we would be mad to buy near those in social housing?! I once had a neighbour who caused me huge problems and she owned her house therefore it makes no difference to me. This was ignored by her. Am I missing something or is she just being a snob?

I live in SH.

My street is ex SH, most bought with about 10 still SH. I am in a terrace of 4, in the middle.

My neighbours love me as prior to me they had neighbours from hell, drug dealing, DV, late night parties, culminating in police raids and eviction by force (again, police involved with doors smashed in).

2 doors up, private house, their sons where a nightmare, boy racers and late night parties, fights, awful basically, I called the police several times but it made no difference. Only stopped when they left home and their parents let the house to a gorgeous family, thank god!

So, you could get a neighbour like that OR, more likely, a normal, working, family, just like mine!

Agree that theres more you can do wrt complaining with a SH tenant, than with private.

I love my house and my street. The HA keep it lovely round here.

Be v careful. I will prob get flamed for this....we live in part social part private housing and some of the families from the social housing are practically feral. Filthy kids running about swearing at all hours, stealing toys from our garden, drunk aggressive adults smoking shouting and swearing, just awful. We are moving. It has made our lives a misery. Of course not all social tenants are like this but if I were you I would go and see the house on a sunny weekend day so the neighbours are outside and you can get a better idea. Don't take chances if this is your forever house.

I've lived in social housing and it was great. I'd steer clear of developments that have lots of bedrooms though. Means really large families, which can be problematic.

I second that washyourhairforgodssake.
That sounds like where I lived, I moved further from my job and school to get to a better area, which was fine, quite different in atmosphere.
( and the HA didn't help, so don't kid yourself they will.)

The HA did move one of the worst families on, after years of complaints, but not until a drunken fight resulted in very serious injuries - permanently wheelchair-bound - to a neighbour.
Then they moved across town, to another area of social housing.

Just for context my DM and DPILs both live in council houses and have done for years. I also consider myself working class.

DH and I own our house on an ex council estate, so about half are owned and half are social housing. In the main the social housing tenants are fine (same goes for the owned ones) BUT sometimes a new family moves in to a council house and they're a total pain. Leaving rubbish outside - two Asda trolleys have been outside of one of the flats for about a month. And last night, some people down the road had a very noisy /drunken BBQ with Karaoke till late because they don't have work in the morning

So yes, it is judgy, but I probably would have thought about it more in hindsight but it's pretty much the best we could afford and ex council houses are great value.

We live near a very large area of previously rather notorious social housing - friendliest place I think I've ever lived. We have never had any bother with living here, it's great.

Big advantage to us is that our 4-bed house cost 25% less than an identical one barely half a mile away, due to the postcode!

I third what washyourhairforgodsake said - I lived on a mixed development. Two families out of many in SH ruined it for everyone. It only takes one and I'd never buy in a mixed development again - especially as it took 2 years of recording disturbances, HA involvement and police involvement to get it to court and for them to be evicted. Far too risky especially if it's your forever house.

And the thing about almost feral kids - wasn't going to say this but the kids who are in social housing around here seem much more bolshy/naughty -I caught one boy chucking huge branches over my fence after whacking them against it.

They also roam outside in the road more than other kids and seem to get left to their own devices till fairly late at night.

And why oh why do people in social housing ALWAYS sit out the front (when they have back gardens) I just don't get it??

If its just part buy part rent, I wouldn't worry too much...

When we bought our part buy/rent out 5 years ago the minimum income they would accept from applicants was 37k!

vulvavoom there is a street of terraces near to me and whenever the sun shines they pull the sofa out onto the front pavement and they all sit there with cans of lager.
In fairness they dont have back gardens, more yards, but putting the sofa out?

We back onto a new HA development, I'd say where we live it is a positive advantage as there are a lot more families with kids than in the other bits of our town, and social housing tends to be laid out in a more child-friendly way (so better for playing out).

Our vile socially spiralling, but common as muck really, ex neighbours sold their house, because the 'council' lot opposite were being relet to 'rough families' and it was getting 'dreadful' Mind you, they also said, when we moved in next door, that they were so relieved, because 'if a black family had moved in, we'd have had to have moved. We're not racist or anything, but 'they' have so many children don't they...' Nice couple..

The younger kids on our development sometimes just stand at our gate staring into the garden. They don't say anything, just stand there. Makes sitting outside in the sun impossible.

As Principality has just said, if it's part rent part buy you are hardly going to be surrounded by huge families living on benefits, as those schemes are still out of the financial reach of many of us who are in work

I had that washyourhair
Also 'Can I come in your house?'
'No'
'Can I come in your house?'
'No'

repeat ad infinitum.

3 year olds out playing until long after dark, screaming and shouting at all hours, black-out blinds needed to shut out the blue flashing lights, plants all smashed, washing lines swung on, hammering on the door next day with 'I know it was you called the police on me' etc.

we lived in a new build on a new estate. Our road was almost 50/50 private/housing association.
It didn't bother me at all when we bought the house, didn't put us off buying it.
And then we moved in.
The housing association tenants (not all but at least half) stayed up late partying, even on week nights (didn't have to get up for work), left rubbish, (think sofas, knackered cars, old freezers etc) on their drives. They'd sit on their front doorsteps drinking alcohol from early evening onwards and then the arguing/fights would start). The kids ran around night and day from toddler years onwards, climbing on cars etc. The housing association weren't bothered.
We moved house, but it took us a while to sell (at height of boom) an we dropped the price twice. The estate agent said it would take longer to sell and achieve a lower asking price cos of the 'state of the HA properties (unkempt gardens/skips/cars being permanently 'fixed')
I can promise you I'm absolutely not a snob and I didn't give it a 2nd thought when we bought the house.

There are many lovely families in social housing, there are many lovely people on benefits. There are some estates where they send the not so lovely people.

Walk around the are you are looking at, see what the people are like. Have a drink in the local, look at crime statistics, read the local paper. Make a judgement on evidence.

The part rent part buy schemes aren't social housing though are they, they're the 'affordable' homes that all new build estates must have a certain percentage of. Many have conditions attached so that they go first to local people, you have to prove a connection to the area etc.

I say 'affordable' because we both work full time and still can't afford the ones in our town. Neither can anyone else, they've been for sale for over a year despite them removing the local connection criteria months ago. Plus they're the size of a shoebox with no gardens and no parking.

We rent privately adjacent to a street of council housing ending in a cul-de-sac of HA houses/flats and I would certainly think twice about buying in a similar area in the future due to the behaviour of the majority of the tenants.

Depends on the nature of the social housing - it may be delightful and it may be a nightmare.

However, when buying a house you should always think about what will happen when you want to sell; social housing (and lots of other things) will put people off (and thus reduce the value) so don't buy it.

Call the police and ask about crime in the area, and as poster above suggests, check police stats for the area.
We were pre-warned by a friend of dh when we were house shopping, that a certain end of town had a lot of nice homes (at good prices) but also a high rate of break in's. We did call the police and it was true. Lot's of social housing there, as well as run down buildings and boarding houses.

I think it also does depend on what you are used to, I have 2 friends (they don't know each other) who each lived in really rough crime ridden areas in other cities who say anywhere in my city is better than where they used to live! (both live here now)

The housing associations in my neighborhood are grim. Maybe this is because I live in London. Who knows.

The kids are always out, til all hours.

There are a lot of menacing dogs.

I live in a mostly private street, but some of the houses are rented. We have a mix of lovely eighbours, OK neighbours, and at either end of our 20 house block, we have slightly unsavory neighbours (druggy with constantly broken windows at one end, Steptoe's yard with endless, ever changing, scrap vans and trucks parked outside, blocking the road, and nappies strewn all over the garden.)

Not all social housing estates are equal, especially in cities. Some are run down and full of people I would never want to live near, while others are lovely and calm with a strong community.

Unless you move somewhere expensive and exclusive, it's nigh on impossible to completely avoid the sort of people your friend is envisaging.

And apart from the two sets of not so near neighbours, I prefer the ones I do have to the sort who complain if your curtains aren't open entirely symmetrical or your kids have toys in the garden.

Re: the comment about social housing reducing the value - unless it's a new build, the current price probably already reflects the location.

I take it you're not in London, then! Practically impossible not to live very close to social housing - everything is side-by-side and that's why I love it.

If you're planning on living in a solitary grand mansion on the edge of a sprawling sink estate, then perhaps have a rethink, but a row of privately owned properties (any of which could be let to tenants on HB at any time) adjacent to a row of 'social' housing properties (any of which may have been sold on privately) should be fine.

Look for the usual clues about what all of your neighbours are likely to be like to live close to, not just the socially housed ones.

It is impossible to not live close to social housing in London, I agree.