To buy a house next to housing association properties?

[Brightskiesahead]

I need some advice/opinions please.

Soon to be divorced and left with some equity to buy a small house for me and 2 primary age DC.

One has come up on a new build development which is great on paper. Detached, 3 bed, garage, 2 parking spaces and west facing garden. It's in budget. I can't stretch to the next house type up. But the house types I'm looking at are next to housing association properties. The immediate neighbour is a disabled property then its 5 terraced houses of HA.

Would you buy it?

I can't investigate the area as it's not complete yet. The general neighbour hood is lovely (I live close by currently).

I got divorced and had to buy a flat as that was my budget. Previously was in a house. My flat is in a HA block with private homes one way and more HA the other.

It is fine.

I wouldn’t. I own a house in between several council houses and I regret it. I guess because they don’t own it, they don’t care as much about upkeep or don’t see it as their responsibility, and the gardens are overgrown, full of rubbish, fences falling down etc.
I’m always a bit embarrassed when people visit actually.

The people are mostly lovely though.

I have lived next door to Housing Association tenants for 25 years. Been 4 families in that time and they have all been great neighbours.

I live in a HA block of 4 flats and have not heard a peep out of the neighbours or had any bother in the 6 years I've lived here. There is a privately owned house about 5 numbers down which is a bloody nightmare. Police may as well have an officer stationed there. There will always be good and bad but please please don't stereotype

I wouldn’t because of potential impact on resale value.

I did look at a new build in a 50-50 development and as someone above has said it was scruffier than other neighbourhoods.

The houses were also not as aesthetically pleasing as other areas.

I live in a HA property.
My neighbours each side own their houses. They are bloody noisy and their gardens are shit tips.
Being a home owner doesn't make you better than anyone else!

I wouldn't. I guess that makes me a snob. I wouldn't buy a new build either.

OP, are the HA homes already occupied? You could ask the developers or the HA if they have a local lettings plan in place for their properties. The council home options team may also be able to tell you. This means that they will set initial criteria for the first lettings, often including no history of ASB. It might reassure you a bit if they have. Also, check they are not earmarked for supported housing or ex offenders - that does happen but mostly one bed properties. Shared ownership is usually not problematic. You may also be able to see the details just by googling the HA name and the development name.
Also bear in mind that a 3 bedroomed property may be let to a family with 4 young children so possibly a noisy household.
At the end of the day, this is your money and you need to protect your investment.

@Kinneddar

or accommodation for sex offenders- and a HA may have such tenants in its accommodation

Because obviously sex offenders NEVER buy their own homes do they

We live on a street next to HA properties and I have no issues with it but I spent some of my childhood on a bit of a rough council estate so it would probably take quite a lot to bother me. The HA actually do a lot more maintenance of the area than in houses we've lived in previously so I'm fine with it!

We bought a house in a part of a new build estate which is mainly housing association. There are about 12 houses and a few flats, and only three or four properties are privately owned.
There is one rowdy household - late night parties with loud dance music playing, weed smoking, failing to mow the lawn regularly. But we're moving out of the area soon and then our HA neighbours will get some peace and quiet again.

I’m in a brand new ha property. Next door and I are the only ha homes on the street. There was strict criteria for us to live here. We had to be a working household and they checked for any antisocial behaviour etc. I absolutely love it here. My neighbour is lovely. Not all ha homes are bad

People are going way over the top saying you're being an awful snob. She's only asking for opinions!

I'd have to say in my experience no. My friend lives on a new build estate, on her street there are 2 mortgaged houses and rest are HA. I think she has had bad luck but her neighbours are awful. Kids playing out shouting and swearing at all hours, adults on quad bikes riding up and down the cul de sac. It always smells like weed and loads of the front gardens are scruffy with couches etc dumped in them. I feel sorry for whenever the owned houses need to sell.

I grew up on 2 HA estates. Loved my neighbours, no antisocial behaviour at all that I experienced. One of them was a cul-de-sac where we lived until I was 14 - I was best friends with the neighbour kids. A lot of really judgemental comments on this thread.

My estate has HA homes but they’re tucked away quite a distance from me. I live in a lovely looking street with some beautiful houses. The house directly opposite me is the biggest on the estate and is owned by a drug dealer/generally awful and ignorant person. It’s a nightmare. I wish my plot was next to the HA homes.

Pretty snobby. reactionary to not want to live near HA tenants IMO.

BUT I've lived on council estates and been really, really happy. I live (private rented) in a very 'nice' area now and I hate it.

Full of middle class wankers who seem to be really up themselves.

I don't feel welcome, and while people aren't unfriendly they're not particularly friendly either.

The kids don't play out and so my kids don't have any friends locally which is weird, they've always played out and I'm used to loads of kids in and out all the time.

You don't want to be mixing with the Hoi polloi OP , our cul-de-sac contains such miscreants as Teachers and Nurses, scum of the earth the lot of us !

Just went upthread and read loads of proper snobby posts so i won't be coming back into the thread either.

FFS. 'really regret buying a house between two council houses'. Not as much as people forced to private rent regret the council houses being bought up and sold to judgemental people with money who think they're better than their neighbours.

Once I’d have said of course, don’t be such a horrible snob. However I’ve lived next to a street of HA houses for the last 9 years. Small rural town, Was a lovely quiet family estate at first (I guess it has to be to shift those massive new overpriced 4/5 beds). In the last few years we have had drug dealers, extreme domestic violence, fighting in the street, multiple arrests, drug dealers from London coming and shouting threats to burn flats down. I’ve recently moved but my lord there was never a dull moment. However it grinds you down big time because there’s so often kids involved in these homes and I was constantly worrying/reporting to police/SS. We also had a neighbour with a very severe mental health condition who had very little support and was a constant niggling worry for us. In truth they are not capable of keeping up a house/garden independently and it swiftly descended into a stinking shit tip. He had one visit for a housing support officer and that was it. So to answer your question I would never buy a house next to HA on a new build estate. Sorry!

Why can’t people have an opinion without name calling?

No!!!
I live in a council house, my nice neighbour owns her house.
My other neighbour is also council.
At 4.30Am I had to call the police.
They are neighbours from hell and have been for 2.5yrs. Every single agency from social services, police the council to the school are involved , almost daily.
My nice neighbour is lucky Im her neighbour but as a result of my bad neighbour, my nice one has just put her house up for sale.

A 3 bed detached with double parking is ‘a small house’ get a serious grip of yourself. Have you read the threads in here of women leaving a marriage with the shirt on their back?
What an utter snob you are, I wouldn’t want you living near me.

There are strict tenancy rules in place so any tenant would be a fool to risk breaking the rules and losing their tenancy.

I’ve seen zero evidence of this where I lived. We had to kick up such a massive fuss and even involve the local MP to get an enormous pile of rubbish bags that were tipped on the communal green by one family who couldn’t be arsed to put their rubbish out for collection. My experience is an awful lot of HA tenants couldn’t give a toss about maintaining their property.

I bought a house in an area which is 50-50 HA/owner-occupier and I regret it but we're here for the long haul so trying to make the best of it. Unfortunately it has lived up to a lot of stereotypes, but the up side is that I've kind of got used to it??? Yes, most people are fine, but there's a LOT of rubbish and fly tipping, and you really notice the gangs of kids setting fire to stuff outside Lidl and the stressed parents swearing at their children.

I wouldn't buy a new build either as they tend to run small. Maybe you found an exception, but most detached new build houses that I looked at before realising that a house that size was way outside of my budget were smaller than an old semi. Have you thought about that as well?

With hindsight I should have bought a flat in the lovely area I used to rent in, rather than a house in a less than lovely estate but it's too late for me now

We had a similar experience to @YakkityYakYakYak unfortunately, loads of rubbish around the doorways, weed, all night parties, rude and intimidating children/teens etc... However, people like this come from all backgrounds, they aren't all in HA homes, and not all HA occupants will be like that. You just never know what neighbours you will end up with either way so if the house etc are what you want then go for it.

Personally no, but I don't like new build estates in general.