To really regret buying on a council estate

[Gameofmoans81]

5 years ago we bought our first house. We live in a very expensive town so to get a house rather than a flat meant buying an ex council house on a council estate where about 90% of the flats and houses are still council owned. It’s a small estate surrounded on each side by millionaires in a good location basically.
I didn’t think anything of buying on a council estate - I’m not a snob, I grew up and have lived in normal working/middle class suburbs and rub along with all sorts of people in life and when we viewed it seemed quiet and fine. However after 5 years of living here I absolutely hate it to the point where it’s making me ill.
Firstly there are some lovely people living here, this is not an attack on council tenants but the actual truth is that these are main issues:
teenagers outside my house all night screaming/drinking
dog shit everywhere
rubbish everywhere - think bins tipped over and not picked up, used nappies thrown in hedge etc
sofas/tvs dumped outside for months
screaming arguments/fights/regular police visits
music blasting all day
weed smoke continuously wafting in to my babies nursery if we open the window
young kids out til late swearing and shouting at passers by.

I am desperate to move but the house next door but one has been on the market for well over a year despite being nice and a bargain and no one’s biting. No one but us is stupid enough to buy here. If you picked up our house and put it on the street behind us you’d raise the price by around £100k basically and it would be sold within a week.

i feel so trapped and depressed everytime I walk through the estate to get home plus I feel totally stupid for buying it.
And I feel increasingly furious at these people who are literally costing us thousands of pounds because they can’t be bothered to pick up their shit.
Aaarrrggghhh!

[Banana2079]

We live in a new build and unfortunately the tenants here are absolute nightmares drugs and fights on the stairs smoking cannabis in the block it’s been an absolute nightmare not even newbuilds are exempt from antisocial behaviour, Police every other day the flat next to me got raided the other day I can’t wait to move out but I doubt anyone will swap with me plus my rent is disgustingly hi it’s £290 a week! @safteyfreak

[Elsanore]

@Gameofmoans81

To bring this thread back to you and your personal situation, I think that if where you are living is harming your health for ANY reason (which it absolutely is in your case) you should move. It could be neighbours, the actual house, being under a flight path, being too busy or too isolated. It doesn't matter why. The point is it's ruining your life. This thread has become a debate about something broader.

But for you and your family.. you should move.

Loads of good practical suggestions been given. If I was you I'd be seeking to sell to housing association or a landlord, pricing it cheaper than next door's to sell quickly, putting it up to rent, relocating to a cheaper town... I would get myself out before any more harm was done to me.

I've been unlucky enough to have serious neighbour problems 3 times in my life. It's horrible. Wishing you the very best.

[HappyScot2022]

Contact your local housing department of the council they may be interested in buying it as it’s already on a council estate.

[Fairislefandango]

Oh come on. I've been on MN long enough to know that any thread about council estates brings out all the snobs.

And people lying on MN? oh the very thought...

So you find it unbelievable that this kind of behaviour exists on some council estates then? Or you think it does exist, but despite that, you've decided that no MNers have experienced it? Or just not the MNers on this thread? I'm not saying people don't lie on MN. I just don't find it particularly unlikely that a number of people have experienced antisocial behaviour on council estates! Some people just like to claim people are lying when they see views they don't like.

[ilovesooty]

@Banana2079

Have you Thought of selling it back to the council?

She said they didn't want it.

[Mrseven]

@MindYourBeeswax, your solution won't work, because it is deeply unfair: "One solution could be that instead of paying rent, the housing benefit is paid as a mortgage payment to the council so that they are paying for a house they will own and any equity that builds up in it will be theirs."

This will enrage those people who rent privately (and want to buy) but can't afford it. Paying a mortgage for council tenants - how unfair!

[EmeraldShamrock1]

I blame authorities on allowing the situations become so bad.

There is a local estate close to me with 300 social houses, the majority of people are hard working people who want to live peacefully, then there is the tenants determined to ruin in for everyone else.

There should be fines and penalties dumping rubbish even if they're own garden, they need to evict for antisocial behaviour, dog wardens with the authority to remove large non muzzled dogs, community police watching, anyone who assaults should lose their property.

You've large families beating up people who try to disagree with them.

One new large estate was assessed by the council as a future troubled area, given a listing of options to prevent it, 10 years later the estate is exactly as they predicted, lawless behaviour ruined it, the people who live there cannot have deliveries or post brought in.

There let a handful of low life people take apart the whole area and establish a getto based on fear.

[CaramelTwirl]

@Mrseven

@MindYourBeeswax, your solution won't work, because it is deeply unfair: "One solution could be that instead of paying rent, the housing benefit is paid as a mortgage payment to the council so that they are paying for a house they will own and any equity that builds up in it will be theirs."

This will enrage those people who rent privately (and want to buy) but can't afford it. Paying a mortgage for council tenants - how unfair!

Paying the mortgages of buy to let Landlords with housing benefit seems to be acceptable though.

[seashellsontheshore]

We sold our new build back in 2010 for £100,000 we bought it for £145,000 we took a huge loss but was worth it! It just covered the mortgage left on it. It backed on to a council estate and I'm sorry to say it was just awful, litter everywhere, a large rottweiler that used to freely roam and barricade you into your car when you got home from work, drinking all hours, smashed glass everywhere, dog mess everywhere, loud music, fights between the neighbours, there was a large fence between them and us and I hated it that it was a them and us situation but was also glad! We rented for a bit saved up and 6 years down the line bought a house it was the best decision we ever made our house has increased £70,000 in value. We have a nice basic semi, quiet area with nice neighbours. Do it you won't regret it.

[chilllove]

@mamabear715 thank you for your kind words. Sending all kinds of good energy your way x

[Roselilly36]

@QuebecBagnet

A friend of mine was in a similar position and approached the council about them buying the house back for council stock and they did. Market rate, no estate agent fees, etc.

Good idea, many councils are now doing this and paying market rate. Good luck OP, sounds really difficult.

[TheYearOfSmallThings]

There let a handful of low life people take apart the whole area and establish a getto based on fear.

In fairness, it falls on the authorities to house the families nobody else will house because they are absolute nightmares. These people tend to be very aware of their rights and fully reject all responsibilities, and within the law it is almost impossible to prevent them ruining any area they are placed in. I would be quicker to blame the authorities if I could see an obvious solution.

[mooongooose]

@chilllove

The virtue signalling from people who've never experienced it is revolting.

I've been driven to the brink of suicide by antisocial behaviour. Trying to hold down a full time job when neighbours party through the night, every night, music thumping, shouting, fighting, drug dealing. Not to mention the things my 8 year old has had to hear and witness. Finally going to court in December, after 4 very long years.

Perhaps those unaffected, but telling us to be kind would like to do a house swap?

Put very well. Not lived in a council estate but have lived in a notorious part of london. People are virtue signalling while they live in their quiet semi and shut down people's lived experience.

[99redballoonsgobyy]

@MindYourBeeswax oh so were supposed to have tolerance for those drug users and prostitutes that target the elderly, vulnerable and frail and steal from them to fund their drug habits. This happens a lot in my area and I've had an elderly relative who has dementia fall victim to them scum bags they stole hundreds of pounds from him.
Ive got absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for them they all want rounding up and shoving on a remote island somewhere in my opinion because they just make other peoples lives an absolute misery.
Even when they are offered rehab or undertake rehab they go back to their drug using way. we have one who lives near me who has been on heroin since the mid 1980s it's amazing how he's still alive but he has no intention of changing his ways.
You've obviously never lived amongst it.

[megletthesecond]

I live on an ex council estate. It seems to be a 50/50 rental / owner split.
Loads of skanky people who don't care what the place is like. Neighbour smokes weed which wafts into our house. Muggins here goes litter picking and reports fly tipping and drug dealing. (Turned out the last lot of drug dealers, who are now banged up, had guns tucked away despite me huffily litter picking around them 😳).
I would never set up a community group as I'd get a brick through my window. However it is safe living here and keeping our head down.

[Pyewhacket]

Sell up and move. It’s the only solution.

[MaryVee]

@CaramelTwirl

Paying the mortgages of buy to let Landlords with housing benefit seems to be acceptable though.

sickening

[Butitsnotfunnyisititsserious]

@Mrseven

@MindYourBeeswax, your solution won't work, because it is deeply unfair: "One solution could be that instead of paying rent, the housing benefit is paid as a mortgage payment to the council so that they are paying for a house they will own and any equity that builds up in it will be theirs."

This will enrage those people who rent privately (and want to buy) but can't afford it. Paying a mortgage for council tenants - how unfair!

Yep and rightly so that it would enrage them. If they want to get a deposit, they can work and save for it themselves.

[Georgyporky]

Apart from the local Council, are there any Housing Associations in your area?
I used to work for one, & they bought all sorts of properties.

[CaramelTwirl]

@Butitsnotfunnyisititsserious

Yep and rightly so that it would enrage them. If they want to get a deposit, they can work and save for it themselves.

Many do work and pay their own rent.

[DoingJustFine]

Me too! I could have written this.

You can sell the house back to the council. I'm thinking of doing that. They pay less than you'd get on the open market, but (like you say) these houses are harder to sell on the open market.

We could probably get £350k if anyone was daft enough to buy ours. The council would give us £310k.

[tenbob]

@Pyewhacket

Sell up and move. It’s the only solution.

It’s clearly not as simple as that if the house next door can’t/won’t sell…

[mam0918]

I grew up on a council estate, it was lovely and I could NOT afford to buy a house there now as people bought many of them up then the middle class have taken over the area and pushed the prices through the roof.

We moved to big expensive house in a non council area that honestly you wouldn't have noticed the difference between where we moved and an active warzone - it was hell on earth.

I dont think 'council estate' has anything to do with it, you could move anywhere and discover it sucks.

[Chevyimpala67]

Contact the council about buying it back

[MindYourBeeswax]

@Butitsnotfunnyisititsserious

Yep and rightly so that it would enrage them. If they want to get a deposit, they can work and save for it themselves.

Not always so easy. What does it matter if they saved or were helped if it led to a better life for everyone. It's the end result that matters.