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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

342 replies

SpainToday · 31/12/2022 17:34

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?

OP posts:
ScroogeMcDuckling · 01/01/2023 09:50

The figures that I have seen, very few can afford them.

in London, a 25% share is over £120,000 the rent is nearly £800, then there is the service charge £115, then council tax and utilities, it’s not a cheap option, they even say you need over £70,000 income to be able to do it

If you’re on £70,000, one bedroom flats are available from £200,000, so that’s not even three times wages

Catlover77 · 01/01/2023 09:58

Mine too! Never again

Catlover77 · 01/01/2023 10:03

Catlover77 · 01/01/2023 09:58

Mine too! Never again

That was my response to sick of turkey! Oops

SchnauzerEyebrows · 01/01/2023 13:44

starfro · 31/12/2022 23:03

AVOID!!!

A friend has a plot like this and has to put up with endless noise, drinking, screaming, violence, police visits etc.

Mostly they'll be fine, but perhaps 1 in 10 won't be and you'll live in misery. A huge gamble to take.

1 in10?! Well there's 12 of us on this development and not one of us behaves in this manner! How dare you?!

SchnauzerEyebrows · 01/01/2023 13:45

Murdoch1949 · 01/01/2023 03:51

Affordable housing is not social or council housing, it's just smaller homes that people on lower incomes can buy. The homes are bought by people earning maybe lower than you and your partner, but they are just NORMAL PEOPLE. As are those in social housing, by the way, but they are renting their houses. All housing estates are required to have a mix, you are lucky to have the choice of whether to buy a house or not.

Not true. I live in an affordable housing home on a new development and rent it from a housing association! I was allocated it by the council. Please get your facts right

SchnauzerEyebrows · 01/01/2023 13:47

ScroogeMcDuckling · 31/12/2022 23:22

i haven’t read all the threads

i thought social housing was properties given to people on the local authority list either as a “council property” or “housing association”, and property can’t be rented on the open market

I thought affordable housing is “part buy - part rent” and had to be lived in by the people that bought the property, there are flats like that not far from me, and the incoming occupants have to earn over £70,000 to qualify, and property can’t be rented on the open market

Then you have 100% privately owned property that their are no rules or regs on, so a beautiful executive 4bed/4bath property could end up as a HMO, or a brothel, or guest house or a family home.

I know someone in a part buy part rent, he loves it, it’s brand new, he is in his 40s and divorced, but when you listen to the outgoings, it’s expensive, he could have bought a small flat round the corner on a 100percent mortgage, but it was not brand new and shiny and probably wouldn’t be as successful with the ladies

Not true. I live in an 'affordable housing' plot on a new development and rent it from a housing association! I was allocated it by the council.

SchnauzerEyebrows · 01/01/2023 13:48

@clairelouwho Not true. I live in an 'affordable housing ' home on a new development and rent it from a housing association! I was allocated it by the council. Please get your facts right before mocking other people who are correct!!!

Puzzledandpissedoff · 01/01/2023 13:55

You can look up the planning permission for the development on the Local Authority's website (Planning and Development) and this will specify how many affordable units are to be included and where, and what type of affordable units they are (social housing, first time buyers, key workers, part buy, etc).

Spot on, BootifulLoser, and IMO a much better option than asking the builders

After all, if they really are having trouble shifting this plot there's an obvious motivation to be economical with the truth

BootifulLoser · 01/01/2023 13:59

Puzzledandpissedoff · 01/01/2023 13:55

You can look up the planning permission for the development on the Local Authority's website (Planning and Development) and this will specify how many affordable units are to be included and where, and what type of affordable units they are (social housing, first time buyers, key workers, part buy, etc).

Spot on, BootifulLoser, and IMO a much better option than asking the builders

After all, if they really are having trouble shifting this plot there's an obvious motivation to be economical with the truth

Yes. Provided the developers stuck to the submitted plans, of course! But let's think optimistically.. If they deviated it would likely be to include fewer affordable units.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 01/01/2023 14:03

True enough, BootifulLoser, and it just goes to show that almost any account could be more reliable than the builder's

I write as one who once viewed a new home and saw that the sales plan had the nearby drug den pub down as a "family restaurant" ...

KeepYaHeadUp · 01/01/2023 14:36

CrapBucket · 31/12/2022 17:41

I bought a new build and they made a big deal of pointing out where all the affordable and social housing was on the plan... I couldn't care less. Most of the people round here are lovely, the only ones who aren't, live in the big posh house.

This!

I got my arse handed to me on here for a thread i started once pondering why all the arseholes lived in the big expensive houses while most of the decent folk were all in the smaller or affordable plots. Big houses with their 5 yapping dogs and their sound systems at the end of the garden. By the one opposite the affordable plots.

caramellandscape · 01/01/2023 15:00

OP, why don't you look directly at the price point of the affordable housing flats in your development? I don't believe in judging people by their income, but if you're taking a pragmatic view of safety/peace/noise level, realistically people with dysfunctional lifestyles probably aren't going to be able to fork up that amount.

The affordable housing flats/studios a stone's throw away from the council estate I rent on costs £100-200K for a 25% share, paid by the person living there (full price for £500K-800K; council pays for the rest for 75% share). So I reckon could be professionals (civil servants, teachers, etc) trying to get on the property ladder. I know £100-200K is the max many in my generation can stump up. These are London prices so will differ in other areas but benchmark idea is the same.

Those who are saying council housing is fine are obfuscating the issue in my opinion. I rent on a council estate in Central London (rent 4 figures per month, mid-range for London) and there's all kinds of chaos everyday and every night. (I don't mind at all though - always feel safe due to the bright lights, high density, neighbourhood camaraderie and friendly police presence; actually felt more unsafe coming home to a yummy mummy suburban part of London which got very quiet at night.) The point is that even if you don't think such an environment is fine, it probably won't be the case with affordable housing.

MilkyYay · 01/01/2023 15:13

Yanbu. Buying a house is a huge financial decision and like it or not, buying next to affordable housing tends to suppress property values of nearby property.

I wouldn't do it. We didnt realise the housing adjoining our garden was owned by a housing association and it causes us a lot of problems. Tenants are placed there who behave in an antisocial way and in our experience they tend not to be evicted the way a private landlord will.

The tenants living there have to be very low income to be eligible to live there, and this means between them and the (charitable) housing association, there seem to be a lack of funds to maintain the properties to an ok standard or make the exterior of the property attractive. Its mainly aesthetics - battered cladding, fascia & sofitts that want repainting, dead grass in front where the drainage needs improvement, no nice plants, dying hedges, trees that aren't being pruned or managed at all. In addition, the housing association don't do what's required to maintain their property boundaries and it leaves us having to foot higher bills to replace fences that should be their responsibility.

prettyLittlefool · 04/01/2023 22:01

Affordable usually means poor. And poor often means rough. And rough means rough people. Drugs , loud music, mattresses on the street. Stay well away.

Angeldelight81 · 04/01/2023 22:04

The criminals and drug dealers live in very unaffordable housing, because they are criminals and drug dealers

Busybody2022 · 05/01/2023 07:28

prettyLittlefool · 04/01/2023 22:01

Affordable usually means poor. And poor often means rough. And rough means rough people. Drugs , loud music, mattresses on the street. Stay well away.

Shame money doesn't buy you common sense or knowledge of what it actually entails.

Ironically many of the poorest are the most house proud.

Angeldelight81 · 05/01/2023 08:36

Busybody2022 · 05/01/2023 07:28

Shame money doesn't buy you common sense or knowledge of what it actually entails.

Ironically many of the poorest are the most house proud.

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That used to be the case about 60 years ago not any more.

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