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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be worried about buying a semi attached to a council owned house?

338 replies

mumyes · 30/08/2023 14:48

I'm about to spend nearly £500k on a semi that is attached to a 4-bed house owned by a housing-association...the one I'm buying used to be a council house.

I'm nervous. The little estate it's on is still partly (maybe 50/50) 'council' owned.

Should I be worried?

The house I'm buying is lovely, and well kept. Next door less so...but not as bad as some.

OP posts:
TeaKitten · 30/08/2023 14:50

What are you worried about? The area generally or the fact that you may have neighbours who rent with a housing association? Anyone who moves in there is likely to have atleast 4 kids, if you are worried about noise it’s probably not the house for you.

Devilsmommy · 30/08/2023 14:52

Is there a problem with council/housing association tenants? Or is it a noise thing like pp suggested?

Hopinghonestly · 30/08/2023 14:54

4 bed housing association will most likely be a family.

Might be noisy with kids, but it wont be drug or horror stereotypes if your worried about that.
Its pretty common that all mums want the best for their kids over the horror stories, so there is a higher probability of a normal family :) due to the COL most housing association these days are the usual working families.

OnAMidnightTrainToGeorgia · 30/08/2023 14:55

What are you worried about??

Thehonestybox · 30/08/2023 14:58

Is there anyway you can try and meet the neighbours? Maybe knock on their door and ask them what the street is like?

Let's be honest, someone who can afford a £500k mortgage is a totally different class/culture/background to someone in a council house, so there is bound to be a culture clash and then it depends how agreeable you are to others

Toottooot · 30/08/2023 15:00

For the neighbours sake - please don’t buy the hoose.

Meatus · 30/08/2023 15:01

Oh yuck. Imagine if the poorness seeped through the party wall.

EhrlicheFrau · 30/08/2023 15:02

Thehonestybox · 30/08/2023 14:58

Is there anyway you can try and meet the neighbours? Maybe knock on their door and ask them what the street is like?

Let's be honest, someone who can afford a £500k mortgage is a totally different class/culture/background to someone in a council house, so there is bound to be a culture clash and then it depends how agreeable you are to others

Would you like to expand a little more on your second paragraph, without sounding completely judgemental?

Seashor · 30/08/2023 15:02

I wouldn’t. Many would, but I wouldn’t. I’d go for a three bedroom detached over a four bedroom semi. I don’t want anyones noise and a four bedroom house is going to bring a lot of it.

EhrlicheFrau · 30/08/2023 15:03

Meatus · 30/08/2023 15:01

Oh yuck. Imagine if the poorness seeped through the party wall.

I love this comment (well unless you are going to tell me you actually mean it seriously). 😁

Dotjones · 30/08/2023 15:05

YANBU to be worried about buying next to social housing. It's not that all social housing occupants are "bad" and private housing occupants "good" but social housing increases the likelihood of antisocial behaviour and decreases the chance that problems can be solved amicably.

The trouble is that even if your neighbour is a decent person there's no guarantee that they won't be replaced with a troublemaker.

One of my neighbours is run through a social housing association and it's shocking how much of a trouble magnet that property is. Police round every few weeks, fire engines called out because they've locked themselves out, people shouting abuse at all hours of day or night. The occupant changes every couple of years but the calibre of occupant remains more or less the same.

If you can avoid it, do.

Aquamarine1029 · 30/08/2023 15:09

I wouldn't buy that house.

Bigoldmachine · 30/08/2023 15:11

Quite a few houses on my street are HA, some part buy part rent (like ours) and some just owned outright. Everyone gets along. It’s very quiet. You wouldn’t know which was which.

When the house over the road was empty and the lady who lives next door told me in a gleefully judgmental tone that the people moving in were “a young woman, with FIVE kids. Not all the same dad of course.” And she then went on to say how awful they’d be. Well as it turns out they’re lovely and have been no bother at all. Turned me right off Mrs Judgy though.

Woahtherehoney · 30/08/2023 15:13

Ooooh people’s privilege is showing - it’s not a good look :)

SomeCatFromJapan · 30/08/2023 15:14

You're getting slated, predictably, but I would have concerns as well.

TheYearOfSmallThings · 30/08/2023 15:15

It depends on the neighbours but there is no doubt that when you come to sell it any future buyer will expect the price to reflect that it is ex-council and adjoined to social housing, so make sure this is reflected in the price you are paying.

If it allows you to live in an area you otherwise couldn't afford, or buy space you otherwise couldn't afford I wouldn't rule it out though.

EhrlicheFrau · 30/08/2023 15:15

Bigoldmachine · 30/08/2023 15:11

Quite a few houses on my street are HA, some part buy part rent (like ours) and some just owned outright. Everyone gets along. It’s very quiet. You wouldn’t know which was which.

When the house over the road was empty and the lady who lives next door told me in a gleefully judgmental tone that the people moving in were “a young woman, with FIVE kids. Not all the same dad of course.” And she then went on to say how awful they’d be. Well as it turns out they’re lovely and have been no bother at all. Turned me right off Mrs Judgy though.

I am glad you all get along, and also secretly love when the 'judgey' types are proven wrong! Judging people based on how many partners they've had, how many kids they have or what income bracket they come under somehow still seems acceptable to some people. Also, income brackets are not always related to how intelligent you are (in terms of qualifications or otherwise), what your hobbies and interests are, what kind of person you are and so on.

GuinnessMug · 30/08/2023 15:17

We bought an ex-council house where the neighbours were still council tenants. They were lovely and we became best friends. Then last year they moved out and a family from hell moved in. Drug use, loud and inconsiderate with noise, music and parking. They have been an absolute pain in the arse. We were looking to move in a couple of years anyway but might bring this forward if we can. Council can't do anything as one of the occupants has mental health issues and a lot of the noise is part of their illness.

But, when we move, unless we buy a completed isolated, and very likely not connected to any utility services property then we will have to buy with neighbours and even with other owners, they could still be a nightmare.

So wherever you buy you take a chance, but on balance I would be unlikely to buy next to council/HA property again.

Eachpeachpears · 30/08/2023 15:20

Omg don't do it op. We are terrible to live next to. Everytime I open the door the 'councilness' just wafts out of the door. The poor homeowners must hate that my husband and I work, pay our way, and sit reading books every night after 7pm.

Give me strength

Diffrent · 30/08/2023 15:21

You should be TERRIFIED. You should be CRYING, SHAKING, THROWING UP. Make some preemptive calls to 101 to log your concerns just in case.

GoodnightJude1 · 30/08/2023 15:21

I lived in a semi detached house with HA tenants next door…3 of the most polite, well mannered children I’ve ever met. Hard working, friendly, considerate parents who spent most of their spare time tending to their immaculately kept garden.

I moved to a bigger semi detached house in the same village, my neighbours also owned their home. They were obnoxious, noisy, lazy, rude and thought nothing of flicking their fag ends over my fence and leaving dog shit everywhere outside the front of my house.

Needless to say, we moved eventually.

Thehonestybox · 30/08/2023 15:21

EhrlicheFrau · 30/08/2023 15:02

Would you like to expand a little more on your second paragraph, without sounding completely judgemental?

Show quote history

Sure. Someone who can afford a £500k house has almost certainly grown up middle class (unless lottery winner, or just got very lucky).

Someone in a 4 bed council house is very likely from a very poor background and possibly doesn't work (because council housing lists are so competitive now, you usually have to prove you'd be homeless otherwise and can't afford private rent).

They're just potentially two totally different households and no one likes the idea of their rich new neighbour moving in and then starting to complain about parties, noise, fence not being repaired, etc.

I think if the OP is a working class person "made good" they'll more likely fit in, otherwise I'd pass personally

GoodnightJude1 · 30/08/2023 15:23

😂😂😂 some of these comments.

Such snobbery….it makes me sick.

EhrlicheFrau · 30/08/2023 15:23

Thehonestybox · 30/08/2023 15:21

Sure. Someone who can afford a £500k house has almost certainly grown up middle class (unless lottery winner, or just got very lucky).

Someone in a 4 bed council house is very likely from a very poor background and possibly doesn't work (because council housing lists are so competitive now, you usually have to prove you'd be homeless otherwise and can't afford private rent).

They're just potentially two totally different households and no one likes the idea of their rich new neighbour moving in and then starting to complain about parties, noise, fence not being repaired, etc.

I think if the OP is a working class person "made good" they'll more likely fit in, otherwise I'd pass personally

Show quote history

Maybe I shouldn't have put a line through the 'without sounding completely judgemental' part. 🙄

ElEmEnOhPee · 30/08/2023 15:23

Weirdly the only issues I've ever had, as a housing association/council tenant pretty much my whole life, has been with those who own their home.

The last place I had to be moved because the upstairs neighbour (who owned) made mine and my sons life absolute hell which massively impacted our mental health. We were flooded numerous times, couldn't sleep because of his music despite moving my bed into the living room, he broke two of my garden fences etc

Another neighbour who lived next door to us as kids, again they owned, was evil and kicked my cat causing it to lose a tooth! He was nasty and aggressive to our mum who was a single woman of two kids, apparently he likes throwing his weight around against women.

On those occasions it was VERY clear that the home owners considered themselves above us in station and wanted to make it clear they were "above" us. My advice would be don't move there, because it sounds like you too consider yourself to be above those in social housing. If you don't want to mix with us council scum then buy elsewhere for everyones sake.