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).

Since I've been in mine my fence has blown down 3x, HA have replaced them every time.

Im a single parent work full time and pay full rent, only since mine have grown up.

You get good and bad HA groups, not all are the same. Just like there are good and bad neighbours.

If you want to buy on a new development there will always be Housing Association properties. The planning agreements are made so that a percentage of houses are for affordable rent/shared ownership. I have 5 in the road I live in and have had no problems at all. It is the few in the minority that give everybody a bad name. Wherever you buy you run a risk of bad neighbours.

We bought a new build next to HA properties
Sold it and moved within 18 months and lost a load of money doing so. Was awful.. drugs.. fights... kids running riot at all times.. kids trespassing on our gardens etc.. it was a nightmare

Only got 3 pages into this thread. I am absolutely disgusted by the snobbish attitude on here. It's truly sickening.

This did make me laugh though:

One of my DD most trusted friends lives there, from a humble but truly lovely family

I can imagine them dothing their caps to you 'oh missus we do fank you for allowing you're dat der daughter to play wiv our kiddie. So benevolent of u missus'

Get fucking real people. HA tenants are not a fucking underclass.

I used to work for a tenants nationwide charity, were they could get help if their landlord was not assisting them with their issues.

I met some of the kindest, most intelligent people in the decade I worked there. So please do not judge.

People who are twats, are twats whether they pay a mortgage, or pay fucking rent.

Unbelievable.

I live on a new build estate. The phase I live in has no ha. However the neighbouring phases do. The developer built most of their affordable housing % in the first phase. The ha houses are mostly 4 beds.

My honest experience is that the first few years of the estate were the worst in terms of anti social behaviour. From what I can see, people who were housed here who became problem tenants have all been evicted now or moved because they didn't like it here. The behaviour came from very specific individuals - no the cohort at large - quite the opposite!!!

The estate is about 5 years old now. It's a very nice place to live in a pleasant suburb. I don't think the long term residents will tolerate much these days in terms of anti social behaviour it's actually quite close knit now.

There are two similar developments within 2 miles of this estate. They have been very similar - first couple of years were rocky - now they have settled down.

This is my experience - I have no issue with ha tennants why would I?

Easy to be a home owner with a massive mortgage online
Reality is probably very different

No I wouldn't. HA homes around here are treated like shit, police are out a lot, would never buy near HA again.

Name call all you like but that's my experience.

I think Detached limits risk but an established estate (any established estate) gives you an idea of what you are moving into. I wouldn't like any new estate for that reason and would go for a 3 bed semi on am established road instead...

You do get arsehole everywhere sadly so i always make a point to meet the neighbours.

Re your question:
My own experience of owning a previously HA flat (converted large period house and I didn't know it was HA until a week before exchange 🙄) was one of low level annoyance but broadly alright.

I live in a former council house, and a lot of properties in my area, including my neighbours, are housing association owned. I love my house, the neighbours are great, and there's a real sense of community. Everyone's super friendly. Most new developments now will have a mix of private ownership and affordable housing through housing associations or local authority under section 106. They don't build 'council estates' anymore.

In my opinion, you can have shitty neighbours wherever you decide to live. People renting through housing associations aren't 'bad', same as home oweners aren't all 'good'.

I get it. I live in a HA property and the area is lovely, all the neighbours are nice and there are never any problems. Everyone is either a young family with working parents or retired so usually there’s not many people about. But my parents live in a HA property and while the majority of their neighbours are lovely, their immediate NDN are awful. But honestly I’ve had bad neighbours while privately renting with no HA properties around, bad neighbours pop up everywhere unfortunately!

Moving always fills me with anxiety regardless of the types of properties surrounding, so I hope it goes well for you! Good luck!

Can't believe the number of people pretending to be so outraged that the OP would be considering whether she wants to live near HA properties. They're literally shoved at the back of every new build estate because they are less likely to be well maintained (I know this from working in property for years). There is obviously a higher risk of anti social behaviour, that is obvious and makes no sense to deny the fact. That doesn't mean I'm saying all HA tenants are antisocial, but a higher proportion. And yes, you could get unlucky with non HA neighbours but it would be unfortunate and unavoidable.

No I wouldn't.

On MN HA estates are always amazing, filled with doctors, judges, nurses and everyone else in between and everyone gets on really well and equally takes pride in their home. I spent a large chunk of my childhood in a council estate (it was considered a nice one!) and it put me off ever living in one. I have friends who live in the mixed estates and it just takes me back... I would go as far as saying I could probably point out the HA properties as a lot of the behaviour is similar to what I experienced growing up.
But, then the hypocrite in me was horrified when dB put an offer on a lovely house and withdrew it after finding out he was surrounded by HA properties. It hurts to be tarred, I remember a school friend in primary school wasn't allowed to visit me as I lived in an estate.

@Ideasplease322

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 wouldn’t. The HA properties on our road have piles of junk in the front garden and completely abandoned back gardens. Rowing in the street at 3am, police calls, constant smell of weed, and even some windows boarded up from where they were smashed! Lovely. And to answer a PP; yes it is just the HA properties causing this hell.

There is some disgusting snobbery on here.

I live on a new build estate. The only neighbours I've had any issues with privately own their home. The HA properties are directly across the road from me and are quiet and well maintained.

You can fall unlucky with neighbours whether they have bought, privately rent, or are social housing tenants.

We have a new build with 80 council houses / housing association behind us.
We had the odd problem from house behind,the teenagers were fond of throwing half full 2 litre bottles of coke at our patio windows...they also liked to sit on the roof of their shed dangling their legs in our garden watching us and making comments.very small garden we have as well ,so it did put me of going in my garden.the house next door to the one behind us ,put a dart board on the side of their shed .
The family next door to us had a newborn and their families over one Sunday ,when a dart came flying over the fence and on to the grass ...they moved fairly quickly it has to be said ..
But we are still here ...you get used to the smell of weed in summer ,can’t smell it in winter .we had 4 bikes all stolen on one night from the young guy behind,(garden where they had the dart board)..police said they knew it was him but couldn’t prove it ...never got them back.
Police there approx once a month ..which isn’t to bad ..
I’m sure we aren’t perfect neighbors either I still love a bit of happy hardcore on a sunny day ...so you know live and let live

It could have been you applying for those properties very easily - single mum of 2 is a typical occupant of new build ha properties!

In my area when new affordable housing goes up a fraction has to be social type housing (or housing association I’m not sure) so if you are on a low budget then it’s likely that will be the case everywhere.

Most of the people I know in housing association etc are great. Wouldn’t have a problem with them.

There’s people who own their houses who are knobheads too. We have a nightmare family across the road and they own their house.

Would make no difference to me.

There is some disgusting snobbery on here.

I think there's more wide eyed faux naievety.

I would also point out that the price for this house may be lower due to its position @Brightskiesahead 3 bed detached houses are not usually described as small by anyone I know!

The HA properties near me are all shared ownership and the only slightly problematic ones are unfortunately directly opposite. They don't really interact with anyone else but they're not pleasant to live opposite.

That's the them as people, the rest of the estate is either friendly or keeps themselves to themselves.

Make sure you check the maintenence fee for living on the estate, heard some horror stories about them leaping up after a couple of years

For all of you screaming about snobbery, has it occurred to you that whilst you might be a model housing association resident, the horror stories aren’t just pulled out of nowhere.

Having witnessed the hell that a housing association tenant put my mum through, it’s not just snobbery.

You can’t just accuse people of being snobs when there are incidents of horrendous situations with housing association tenants, otherwise where do the shitty stories come from?

(Disclaimer, yes I know there are shit private tenants and homeowners too, I’ve had my fair share of dealing with that crap too and I live a few doors down from lovely housing association properties)

Friends of ours bought a new build and ended up near the AH part of the estate. Fights, broken windows, frequent police visits etc.

They were unlucky as this isn't always the case, but it's a risk that I personally wouldn't take.

Some places sound like The Bronx.

My view is based purely on my own experience and not snobbery. I would advise you to base your decision based on what people have experienced, whether it’s good or bad, rather than that of virtue signallers who have never lived near affordable housing and think anyone even questioning it is a snob.
No, don’t do it, it was bloody horrendous and we only escaped by managing to PX our house with a developer.