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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:
identiy102 · 30/08/2023 15:55

I have supported housing next to my house. Zero issues.

Wherethecrawdadssingg · 30/08/2023 15:56

I wouldn’t buy an ex council house or in a council area. Have relatives who have and I’ve seen the issues. I certainly wouldn’t be spending £500k on one! You must be crackers!

Meatus · 30/08/2023 15:56

EhrlicheFrau · 30/08/2023 15:03

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

Show quote history

Tongue firmly in cheek.

Living in a semi-detached or terraced house brings risks, whether the neighbours own, rent privately, or rent via HA.

In my case, I didn’t want to live anywhere where I was at the mercy of neighbours so I bought a detached house with a big garden so I can’t hear (or see!) neighbours. The OP should do the same if she’s that concerned about possibly noisy neighbours.

TheHappyCarrot · 30/08/2023 15:57

I would think twice. Having said that though all my neighbours have been owner occupiers and several of them have been awful so you just can't tell.

EhrlicheFrau · 30/08/2023 15:57

Wherethecrawdadssingg · 30/08/2023 15:56

I wouldn’t buy an ex council house or in a council area. Have relatives who have and I’ve seen the issues. I certainly wouldn’t be spending £500k on one! You must be crackers!

You might want to re-word this a bit, unless you want to imply that every council tenant in every council area brings issues with them.

CocoPlum · 30/08/2023 15:59

We didn't realise, as innocent 20 something FTBs many years ago, that our semi was attached to a council house, and 2/3 of the houses on the road are council owned.

We had an elderly lady there for several years, then a family. There have been plenty of times there's been family noise, shrieking, TV, singing, shouty parent, but probably no worse than comes from OUR house! (Apart from the 3am party a few weeks ago followed by a loud argument at 4am, but that's not usual!).

The one neighbour we have clashed with is a private owner (intimidating behaviour to me after our respective children argued at school). It's not likely to be better or worse than any other street in the area, I expect!

onanotherday · 30/08/2023 16:01

OMG ....run for hills...
I'm a housing association tenant...I'm working full time...educated to post grad and love to garden...be scared!

SquirrelFeeder · 30/08/2023 16:02

I live in a HA new build. The house next door to me, was sold for £569,000 a few months after we moved in. We are perfect neighbours! I can’t remember the last time I was outside at the same time as my neighbours, we keep ourselves to ourselves. Look after the garden & lawns. Keep the driveway clear & clean. Don't make any noise. Very very rarely have any visitors and any we do have are daytime visitors as I'm a sad sack with not many friends(!)
My child doesn't make much noise either and only plays out once a week - supervised.
I make sure my child is polite & respectful, as I am too. Alongside being very friendly & chatty when I do bump into them.
In terms of neighbour luck, they hit the 'jackpot' really. At the risk of blowing my own horn.
My neighbour on the other side is also HA and is exactly like us - quiet & reserved. Garden also maintained and rarely has visitors. The other two HA properties on the street also seem to look after their homes and are the same as us.

Hardertheyfall · 30/08/2023 16:02

OP I don't think you should buy this house. I would be really concerned and there are so many red flags jn your post already, so it's a firm "No" from me.
That family that would potentially have to live next to such a judgemental snob such as you don't deserve the hassle. Please stay away and spend your money elsewhere.

SquirrelFeeder · 30/08/2023 16:03

Hardertheyfall · 30/08/2023 16:02

OP I don't think you should buy this house. I would be really concerned and there are so many red flags jn your post already, so it's a firm "No" from me.
That family that would potentially have to live next to such a judgemental snob such as you don't deserve the hassle. Please stay away and spend your money elsewhere.

Fantastic! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

PerspiringElizabeth · 30/08/2023 16:03

Wherethecrawdadssingg · 30/08/2023 15:56

I wouldn’t buy an ex council house or in a council area. Have relatives who have and I’ve seen the issues. I certainly wouldn’t be spending £500k on one! You must be crackers!

Everything in that bracket is ex-council round here. So you would simply have to not live in this area. Which is fine by me as it means fewer snobs around 🙂 same with the fantastic school my kids go to - luckily none of the snobs can get in as they live too far away and theyre all complaining about it 😄

Biker47 · 30/08/2023 16:05

Nope, grew up in a council house and spent most of my life as of there as of now, was on a mixed estate, had shit neighbours who were council and shit neighbours who were privately owned. But nope, I would never personally buy a house attached to or even remotely close to a council or housing association property.

Peony654 · 30/08/2023 16:07

We used to own a flat in a council-freehold-owned block, in London, about half the flats were council owned. It wasn't somewhere we wanted to live long term though. I found the noise and fly tipping unbearable. I'm just sharing experience, not being snobby.

Ozziedream · 30/08/2023 16:07

I’ve lived in a £1.5m terraced house and despite the fact the neighbour was a high-earning currency trader, it didn’t provide as much soundproofing as I thought that income level would buy.

defo don’t do it.

(in all seriousness, the council tenants across the road were the best neighbours as their house was immaculately maintained by the council (repainting re-glazing etc) and as they were retired they were a round the clock neighbourhood watch team!)

Beseen22 · 30/08/2023 16:08

I owned an ex council flat where 4 flats shared a close, 2 council 2 owned. First 2 years were perfect, everyone was going about their own business, neighbours were perfect and helpful but not intrusive.

Then one downstairs neighbour had a breakup and sadly began using drugs, she lost custody of her daughter, multiple needles in the shared garden and kept her pipe hidden in the close so it wasn't on her property. She had 'clients' to her home every day so I was meeting random men while taking my toddler out. Everytime she forgot her key she kicked the lock in so we had to pay around £50 every month to fix it.

My other neighbour had schizophrenia sadly his DM passed away and he became quite unstable, had to phone emergency services multiple times and each time he was sectioned for weeks because he was running about the close naked and going into neighbours flats and threatening her. He was incredibly vulnerable and large groups of teenagers would congregate at his home.

A lot of these issues would be less of a problem in a semi detached compared to my situation. I would absolutely not buy a property with shared access to a LA where I am responsible for part of the upkeep and they are responsible for part again because they decide when work is to be done and everything is on their say (once had a quote for my share of £120 to change a light bulb) and they did not deal with the problems we had either their tenants, nothing to do with the 'quality of people' that live there...I've just had my fingers burned.

Turtlegurl888 · 30/08/2023 16:08

We live in a mortgaged terraced house on a housing association street. It is in a very nice generally expensive area. Honestly the neighbours we have here are far and away kinder and more respectful than any I've ever had living on a privately owned housing estate. It's the luck of the draw though. There are some right wankers living in council and privately, just as 95% of people who live in either are normal.

EhrlicheFrau · 30/08/2023 16:09

Peony654 · 30/08/2023 16:07

We used to own a flat in a council-freehold-owned block, in London, about half the flats were council owned. It wasn't somewhere we wanted to live long term though. I found the noise and fly tipping unbearable. I'm just sharing experience, not being snobby.

I'd be inclined to suggest that the noise issue would, at least in part, be down to living in a block of flats. As for fly-tipping, that seems to happy in far too many places nowadays and it's horrible to see on your own doorstep.

OhmygodDont · 30/08/2023 16:09

I mean to get a four bed council house there’s got to be quite a few children so it’s going to likely be noisy.

At least four children and even then a lot of councils would say still a three as two-three children could share a bedroom. My aunt was told two children to what would be classed as a single bedroom would be fine, and then if she had more to sleep in her living room.

The issue and plus side with council houses is they are either shit hot about bad tenants or they are just shit and wash their hands. Same with repairs.

Id want to drive past the house a few times try and see the neighbours.

SquirrelFeeder · 30/08/2023 16:09

@Wherethecrawdadssingg What a vile, judgmental thing to say! As I said, I'm a HA tenant and we look after our home beautifully! Our neighbours' house cost £569,000 and they're very happy! We're quiet, respectful and keep ourselves to ourselves but are friendly when we seen them.

You need to change your attitude. Vile

InOffice · 30/08/2023 16:10

Presumably it's priced accordingly. There are always compromises when buying a house. I don't suppose you'd do it if you could get something similar in a fancy area for similar money.

My first house was excouncil and in many ways we've never had a better house since.

JanglingJack · 30/08/2023 16:10

I've been in my council house for 7 years now. Went through homelessness and what felt like 20 months of hell to be where we are today.
I've been so lucky. I'm on a lovely street. My immediate neighbour has lived here since the houses were built. She's in her 70's. The next door has been here 20 years.

I am worried that when elderly neighbour dies about who will move in. We're terraced, not much garden privacy. They worried who was moving in when I arrived.

It's a lottery.

No, I wouldn't move next door to a council house.

PinkTonic · 30/08/2023 16:10

I think that the fact that in social housing there is likely to be a large family in a 4 bed is very valid. This would put me off from a noise potential point of view. Even if it’s currently an older couple who’ve been there years, next time it will be allocated to a big family.

Handsnotwands · 30/08/2023 16:10

as an aside, we are attached to a council house (well social housing). we had a problem with our shared chimney leaking - our attic is converted, next door is not, we have an open fire, they do not, so they were pretty much unaffected. i contacted the hosing association to ask them how best to proceed in terms of agreeing the work etc, they asked if i'd be willing to contribute towards the cost of repair, which i readily agreed to so i didn't have the hassle of being ripped off by a succession of unreliable trades people. they came within a couple of weeks, put up scaffolding, fixed the problem then billed me.......£100 😁

DinnaeFashYersel · 30/08/2023 16:10

What are your concerns?

Aquamarine1029 · 30/08/2023 16:11

All of this self righteous indignation is laughable. The op is making a half million £ investment. She is sensible to have concerns about buying property that ajoins any other property. I wouldn't buy a semi-detached home full stop, so I appreciate her hesitation.