Page 3 | To be worried about buying a semi attached to a council owned house?

mumyes · 2023-08-30T13:48:33+00:00

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.

Supertrouper990 · 30/08/2023 15:36

IMO its random of who you will end up with as neighbours. On my street its a mix of owned and council tenants. There are a few council tenants who are very loud/smoke weed/congregate on the street at weird times but equally the houses which are owned are also not perfect people either.

FWIW we are currently trying to move. :)

EhrlicheFrau · 30/08/2023 15:37

Secondwindplease · 30/08/2023 15:30

@Woahtherehoney yes potentially, if it’s a large family they will be noisy neighbours no matter how they came to be there. But the difference is that I currently live in a four bed semi with quiet retired couples each side. That would be unlikely (but not impossible) in council properties because larger houses tend to go to larger families on the basis of need. Basically I would prefer to have privately owned houses on each side as there is more chance that they will be under occupied.

That's fair enough if it's an actual observation from your area.
In my area there are quite a few council/LHA, and there is a whole mix of people living in them, including lovely families. In all honesty if I could afford detached I'd go for that over semi-detached, purely due to the lack of neighbours per se and not the lack of council/LHA neighbours!

GasPanic · 30/08/2023 15:37

I think if you buy any new place you are going to need to do your homework, irrespective of what type of housing it is.

Check out the area at night and late at the weekends. If a house is a party house you will see and hear that from the road. Look at the gardens, cars.

Then you can go on the web and see crime maps and plenty of other demographics about the area in general. You can find what kind of people live in the area and what they do. Finally you can google the street name to see whether anything comes up.

Shopper727 · 30/08/2023 15:38

I live in a council house, in a nurse(so do spend time in a&e lol working) live with one grown up son and my 13 and 12 year olds quiet and unassuming neighbours keep garden tidy etc

however if I had 500k to spend buggered if I’d be buying an ex council house never mind a semi detached one. Must be v nice?!

Diffrent · 30/08/2023 15:38

Toottooot · 30/08/2023 15:29

BINGO - meet the neighbours in a social setting too 💁🏻‍♀️

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A bucolic scence: neighbours gathered in A&E, huddled round a communal iPhone, watching TikTok makeup tutorials together. It's the future liberals want.

justanothernamechangemonday · 30/08/2023 15:39

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

Absolutely this. Remember, OP - poor people spread disease.

StopThatBloodyNoise · 30/08/2023 15:39

I grew up, from the age of 11, on council estates. I bought my first (council) house with a council mortgage, at the age of 27. If I had £500k, I'd be buying somewhere else.

Secondwindplease · 30/08/2023 15:41

EhrlicheFrau · 30/08/2023 15:37

That's fair enough if it's an actual observation from your area.
In my area there are quite a few council/LHA, and there is a whole mix of people living in them, including lovely families. In all honesty if I could afford detached I'd go for that over semi-detached, purely due to the lack of neighbours per se and not the lack of council/LHA neighbours!

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Yes, both examples are from my experience. Agreed - if I had more dosh I’d be detached too.

Interestingly I have also lived in high rise flats in the Netherlands that was a mix of social and privately owned. It was lovely because it was mixed and hadn’t turned into the kind of sink estate I associate with high rises in the UK. So much is based on context really, isn’t it.

Thehonestybox · 30/08/2023 15:42

Jevwaypock · 30/08/2023 15:33

Jesus stereotype much! I know someone who lives in a council flat who grew up with multi-millionaire parents and went to private school, but she pissed all her money away on drugs.
People who live in council properties are normal people you know! Jobs,hobbies,kids you know human beings - also some of the kindest people I have ever met

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I grew up in council too. It was horrible and I'm just being honest. I saw some really grim and depressing, occasionally frightening stuff go down on my street growing up (including from the behavior of my own family who yep were jobless, alcoholics and just all round horrible).

There are of course people on estates like me who just want a peaceful, normal life but basing solely on my experience, I would say 'nope, I wouldn't spend £500k on that'.

I'd literally die of happiness of I knew one day I could afford a £500k mortgage. I've never even met anyone who was that rich. I would absolutely not waste all that on buying somewhere right back where I started!

IHateLegDay · 30/08/2023 15:42

Has it occurred to anyone that maybe her issue is nothing to do with the area or the possible tenants but maybe to do with the fact that if there are any issues with the adjoining house (eg loose tiles, damp that spreads to her property etc), trying to contact the council to sort it is near impossible?
If she had a genuine issue with the area, she wouldn't be considering moving there.

Jesus, you lot can be utter bitches.

Crikeyalmighty · 30/08/2023 15:43

The most awful neighbour we have had was in a million pound privately owned 4 bed detached in a posh area (we were renting next door for 6 months) woman in her 70s , extremely unpleasant- and we were just a couple in our 50s , minding our own business and keeping the house nice. You can quite easily get shitty neighbours in private areas too .

Diffrent · 30/08/2023 15:45

IHateLegDay · 30/08/2023 15:42

Has it occurred to anyone that maybe her issue is nothing to do with the area or the possible tenants but maybe to do with the fact that if there are any issues with the adjoining house (eg loose tiles, damp that spreads to her property etc), trying to contact the council to sort it is near impossible?
If she had a genuine issue with the area, she wouldn't be considering moving there.

Jesus, you lot can be utter bitches.

Aw, c'mon, you know that's not why OP is "concerned".

OnAMidnightTrainToGeorgia · 30/08/2023 15:45

@IHateLegDay

It's not 'near impossible' to sort via the council AT ALL!!

IHateLegDay · 30/08/2023 15:45

OnAMidnightTrainToGeorgia · 30/08/2023 15:45

@IHateLegDay

It's not 'near impossible' to sort via the council AT ALL!!

I'm guessing you've never lived in a council flat 🙄

Jevwaypock · 30/08/2023 15:46

Thehonestybox · 30/08/2023 15:42

I grew up in council too. It was horrible and I'm just being honest. I saw some really grim and depressing, occasionally frightening stuff go down on my street growing up (including from the behavior of my own family who yep were jobless, alcoholics and just all round horrible).

There are of course people on estates like me who just want a peaceful, normal life but basing solely on my experience, I would say 'nope, I wouldn't spend £500k on that'.

I'd literally die of happiness of I knew one day I could afford a £500k mortgage. I've never even met anyone who was that rich. I would absolutely not waste all that on buying somewhere right back where I started!

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Then maybe you could come across less snobby then…. You can’t tar everyone with the same brush, there was no need to mention class and background!

Tbh if the house is in London? Then 500k is quite cheap for a 4 bed house

Peakypolly · 30/08/2023 15:46

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
This cannot be real. My friend, a graduate nurse with one DC, lives in a pretty end of terrace housing association property in an attractive village. The attached neighbouring house has just sold for £460k. I would be surprised if the new owners know my friend is a tenant, let alone housed by social services.

FP1000 · 30/08/2023 15:48

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

I grew up in a council house and now I own a house worth £550k+ does that mean I'm now a different culture and class?!

Whattheflipflap · 30/08/2023 15:50

I own a semi Adjoined to a council house abd tbh I’m way more of a nuisance than the 20 year old single mum next door

Thehonestybox · 30/08/2023 15:52

FP1000 · 30/08/2023 15:48

I grew up in a council house and now I own a house worth £550k+ does that mean I'm now a different culture and class?!

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That's amazing, well done! How did you do it?

EhrlicheFrau · 30/08/2023 15:52

IHateLegDay · 30/08/2023 15:42

Has it occurred to anyone that maybe her issue is nothing to do with the area or the possible tenants but maybe to do with the fact that if there are any issues with the adjoining house (eg loose tiles, damp that spreads to her property etc), trying to contact the council to sort it is near impossible?
If she had a genuine issue with the area, she wouldn't be considering moving there.

Jesus, you lot can be utter bitches.

I have no issue with the OP's question, more some of the very judgemental replies.

SquirrelFeeder · 30/08/2023 15:53

Aquamarine1029 · 30/08/2023 15:09

I wouldn't buy that house.

DeathstarDarling · 30/08/2023 15:54

I live in a very mixed area- private/Housing Assoc/Council/student HMOs. HA and Council tenants can loose their tenancy for anti-social behaviour and after a complaint about one neighbour they all go completely silent ( music goes off/ parties stop etc) at the proscribed times. They are mostly families and so don't tend to be wild anyway. They keep their gardens clean and tidy. They have lived here a long time and are invested in the community. People feed each others pets and take in parcels

Student HMOs on the other hand .... some are lovely and some have digeridoos and bongos, party till breakfast and dump all their tat on the street at the end of term. And there is very little you can do.

The most anti-social ones round here are the gentrifiers- the middle class doer-uppers. The noise, the mess, the scaffolding going up and down, the tradesman's radios and the endless vans parked up never seems to end.

Its just luck really, and I suspect if you can't see anything to worry you now you should be ok.

outsurance · 30/08/2023 15:55

OMG you might catch the chav.

Imagine.

Abouttimemum · 30/08/2023 15:55

We have a family from hell in our street at the moment. Fighting, shouting, drugs, off road bikes, drinking, litter and fly tipping everywhere. It’s like Shameless. Every day and night. None of them work. Sit in the garden drinking all day. Kids don’t go to school. They’re in a 3-bed semi. Stereotypes like this do exist unfortunately and they aren’t the first family we’ve had like this in that house. They’ll be evicted soon enough then the cycle starts again.

On the flip side, everyone else in HA property round here has lived here since we moved in 20 years ago, and brought families up, retired, all get on really well.

It’s basically whether or not you’re unlucky enough to get the ‘problem’ house nearby / on your estate and for 500k i personally wouldn’t take that chance.

housedramas · 30/08/2023 15:55

I think you can get a mix of people and personalities, regardless of where you live or who owns the property next door to you. In my last home I had the most wonderful neighbours in social housing living just a few doors down from me, absolute hearts of gold and they were just lovely to be around, always helped out and we're not trouble at all - they also worked full time, but just couldn't save up enough for a deposit to buy. Opposite me though were two social housing flats. Piles of ASB, loud music, trouble and a persistent smell of weed. It was awful. I've moved into a new house now, slap bang next to two private rented - who are great, no problems. The house behind me is social housing though and the mother is constantly screaming at her kids, there are parties at least once a fortnight, though luckily not till the early hours, and if I'd known beforehand then I'm not sure I'd have bought the house because of it. The rest of the street is privately owned and trouble free, though they are mainly snobby and weren't envisaging a single Mum with three children moving in I don't think. I have changed their stereotypes though I think. I really don't think you can pre empt what they will be like and I think the price of the house is entirely relevant to the area you are buying in. Social housing need is high and a lot of people are needing this type of housing due to being unable to get a deposit together for a mortgage, despite working hard. It's a difficult one but on balance no I don't think I'd buy a semi next to social housing if there were other options available to me.