I don’t want to buy a house directly opposite affordable housing

[SpainToday]

I have name changed for this because I expect to get annihilated.

DH and I are considering reserving a plot on a new development. I think all developments now need to have a certain amount of affordable housing. Our first choice of house would be directly opposite three affordable plots and this is a real sticking point. DH is also wary. There were originally 8 plots with our preferred design of house, they have all sold except this one and I suspect that’s the reason.

Of course we could always go with our Plan B type of house round the corner, but that seems such a shame. When we bought our current home, 12 years ago. One of the mortgage questions was proximity to any affordable housing, so its clearly an issue.

Am I worrying unnecessarily?

No experience but I would be concerned and check if it may affect your house price when you need to resell because the 3 opposite houses will be at lower price?

My worst neighbour was a home owner. Should have had an ASBO slapped on him. The house on the other side to me is social housing. Single mother & primary school child. They are lovely, a bit loud at times with the odd early hour sing song that I can't hear from my bedroom (only office if I'm still up). Much quieter than the ASBO candidate by miles.

Affordable housing is for first time local buyers though surely?

This.

Affordable housing is usually reduced rents for those on low incomes, or various shared ownership schemes.
They are not what you envision council houses to be.

I live in one wih my DD because i had to leave our very large, expensive family home and start fresh.
We are not bad people.
The only aresholes on our new build estate also live in the big houses!

Sadly with affordable housing (certainly where I am) many people are moved in who have alcohol, drug issues, etc. the affordable housing in our bit has had stabbings, a suicide and the police are never away! I’m glad I don’t stay near it. We live in a very nice area. It’s the same for the affordable housing in another area just up from us, my friend also has this issue. You are right to be concerned! Of course you can get anti social behaviour anywhere, but it does seem that affordable housing is used to mostly home tenants with with anti social behaviour

I’m a conveyancing solicitor and at least 2 of my colleagues live in shared ownership houses. Watch out OP- the person doing your conveyancing could live in social housing.

As other posters have said, and having been in a similar situation, I can promise you the people who generally cause the most problems (dogs, noise, parking, general inconsideration!) are usually the ones who live in the ‘posh’ houses

No matter what the anger or virtue signalling from people on this thread it is true you are more likely to get anti social behaviour and unkempt properties on areas of council/social housing, if you are investing your money in property location I’d the most important thing, I wouldn’t choose to buy a property opposite social housing as the chances for anti social behaviour are higher.

If affordable housing where you are is the same in London it's not affordable to us dregs of society (obviously the people you're worried about!) only affordable to those those on 100k as the rental is over £2k a month and to buy a studio is in excess of £350k. Be warned I live next to a 20 floor 'apartment block' (it's a tower block let's be real) and they are noisy fuckers who don't give a shit about anyone living 10 feet away

I don't see what the issue is or are you just being a snob?

Charming! YABVU! I live in a part buy house, it’s hardly a signifier of having an asbo lol!

At a local housing project they sold the Detached and Semis then built affordable blocks opposite, there was hell to play because the value of the first houses dropped a lot.
Not everyone wants children running round or vans and old cars parked across the road, it does affect the value, so look at the plans carefully.

Affordable or social housing?

This is being repeated over and over again on this thread but it is just not true, go on street checker and compare the crime stats and anti social behaviour between exclusively owner occupier roads to social/council housing estates, certainly in my town it does not back up what many claim on here that all the anti social behaviour and crime is coming from the large detached owner occupied properties.

@SpainToday I wasn’t going to say anything but following your last post I will

look at the posts on here about horrible neighbours who own their houses, living next to home owners won’t necessarily mean nice neighbours

affordable housing is normally shared ownership or below market rent, run by housing associations or local councils, with strict rules and for many, especially shared ownership, it’s the first rung on the ladder to home ownership. Most take care of their properties and are no different to home owners in that respect

you do realise you may end up to private renters? Will that mean you won’t buy pr is that acceptable ( again look at posts on here for issues)

as to different colours on the site map on the ones i have seen houses have also been different colours due to number of bedrooms, so affordable housing will be different

Finally you, and anyone else who wouldn’t buy are just outright snobs, and need to educate yourselves

The home owners that pay full price for the nicer houses may well own barking dogs, have noisy children and have many inconsiderate relatives that park all over the place when they come for a visit.

Then don't

I wouldn't either assuming you mean this is due to unkempt properties and anti-social behaviour (which is the case where I live), not worth the risk imo!

Please don't buy on this estate op. Your poor would be neighbours do not deserve you as someone moving in near them. Go find a house in the middle of nowhere so you can't bother anybody. It can't be a nice sight seeing someone on the daily with their judgey pants so far up ones arsehole

It’s not just about crime and ASBO behaviour though, it’s about general entitled noisy behaviour which can be just as upsetting and disruptive to live with.

OP, if the estate you're looking at is anything like where we live, potential issues with neighbours will be utterly dwarfed by problems arising from appalling build quality, so I wouldn't worry.

At a local housing project they sold the Detached and Semis then built affordable blocks opposite, there was hell to play because the value of the first houses dropped a lot

But surely the provision of the affordable housing would have been indicated on the original site plan?

And yes, LadyVictoriaSponge, it's a simple matter to check crime stats for any location, even if - inconveniently for some - it proves what you said.
It's also another plus to choosing a home in a more settled area, because it gives the kind of longer term picture you'll never get with a new development. Still no guarantee against the future of course, but helpful all the same

You can disagree all you like but it doesn't change the facts. Nearly all new developments have a quota of affordable housing. It doesn't always stay where it's marked on the initial plan. If you can't bear to be in an estate with affordable housing then you're going to be looking for a long time. And if you think a colour on a plan means it can't be moved to elsewhere on that plan, you're very naive.

I live on a new build estate. Mix of big detached houses with lots of bedrooms and triple garages down to semis and little rows of terraced houses which are mainly the shared ownership. However, the social (rented) housing does tend to have problem tenants. Weed grows, bully xl dog breeding (these are truly scary) police attending on a regular basis. Cars being stolen off drives, lots of stuff caught on house cameras in middle of night - hooded guys trying doors, climbing over fences into gardens etc.

It’s all very well virtue signalling and acting outraged but it’s no joke. I would advise don’t buy. I’m not well off by any stretch of the imagination and have lived in social housing myself. I’ve worked very hard for years to get away from that kind of behaviour. My home is modest compared to a lot of the others but it cost me an arm and a leg and I don’t want to be at the mercy of scrotes like I have in the past.

Lots of virtue signally faux outrage on this thread.

20 years ago I lived on a new-build housing estate which had a social (not affordable) housing section. It had the nickname Beirut (may well still do). It was rough and was pretty unpleasant to have to walk through (it was the easiest way off the estate but I tended not to use it if I was on my own). It is not snobby or unreasonable to worry about the types of families who may be given such housing.

Some liberal councils thought that if you put problem families on naice new estates with naice families, the "naicesness" would rub off and they'd behave well. It didn't work and they were just as antisocial as they'd been in their previous homes. Using their front gardens as rubbish tips seemed to be a common one. It might have been our estate and these families, but somehow I doubt it, and I suspect it happens all over.

However, it's entirely true to say that anyone can get a mortgage and be antisocial - eg loud parties, garden cinemas, parking their SUVs on pavements and across driveways etc. It should be uncontroversial to say that a homeowner usually cares a bit more about their home than a tenant though. I wouldn't care if I was lining a landlord's pockets either (though I wouldn't flytip the garden!)

Affordable housing isn't the same as social housing, either. I wouldn't be concerned about affordable housing.

What the OP isn’t telling us is whether this is one of several good options for her family or more a case of should they buy this as the only decent house they can afford or keep renting.