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

[mumyes]

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.

I have a bought house in a new estate with quite a few social houses. Apart from 1 the rest of the neighbours (approx 30 households) are great. They are decent, working people who are nice neighbours with lovely, well brought up kids. The street nutcase is in social housing but she is just her own worst enemy and largely ignored by everyone else now.

Brilliant

As someone who grew up on a council estate, I think it's fair to be a bit concerned

Sure there are plenty of decent council tenants, but there's definitely a much higher proportion of nightmare neighbours than you would get in the general population - so it is a risk.

In my experience, they often wreck the property

I think one thing you can take away from this thread OP is that clearly there are people who wouldn’t but a house next to a HA property, therefore you may find selling up more difficult.

I live on a council estate, and a retired bloke, probably divorced from hi long suffering wife, bought a house next to a council owned. He moaned so much to the family and the authorities about noise from the kids (a really nice family, but primary school age) that they got a transfer. New tenants moved in and he started complaining about them. I knew all the kids and they weren't hoodlums by any stretch. He eventually sold up and effed off. It really does work both ways; he made those families' lives a misery with complaints and the anxiety it caused. If you are going to be that kind of neighbour then please don't buy the house. You will inevitably always have a family next door, not a spinster librarian in carpet slipper. the soundproofing will probably be crap, and there will be a bit of noise and playing in the garden.

Putting all the perceptions aside, my worry would be that there is usually a ceiling price for ex council housing so I would ensure you're not overpaying, and then the other thing that would worry me is the saleability; if you're worried, other potential future buyers will be too, which may reduce your buyer pool.

I honestly resent that. Many renters have a vested interest in their home being nice. It's where we live.

We bought a house, ex-council, next to social housing (moved from council to housing association and still classed as social, so heavily subsidised (this changes the allocation criteria), rather than affordable which is 80% of market rent, or market rent 100%) and one side were lovely and had been there for 30 odd years, the other side believed, as it was not theirs, then they could do as they wanted and the kids were verging on the feral, 24/7! Having been in this situation in our previous property too and only moving for more space and thinking a quieter life, I'd never move next to social housing again. I am not able to deal with the lack of care from a housing association, whether to do with behaviour or issues of infrastructure, and being in a semi could also mean you incur issues of maintenance, or lack of, something that has led to the new Housing White Paper and Regulation! I work in social housing, so I know you could have wonderful neighbours or those that will make your life a living hell and trying to get issues resolved can take years, if they ever are that is! Even moving one set of neighbours out for another is no guarantee of a happy resolution, just perhaps another set of issues. I am definitely no nimby or snob but if I get to choose where I live, no longer would I live where once I did and fearing for your safety is not a place I want to be again (and for me that's how bad it got). How social housing is now allocated and how it was once allocated is not the same and, I had good neighbours, but the stress of bad is not something I ever want to deal with again and I am no shrinking violet, but the frustration of no one acting or caring, even when vandalism and crimes are commited is not for me any longer, especially when the police won't respond saying it is the HA and the HA say it is the Police. I know that any neighbour, anywhere, can be a problem and I was brought up on a very large council estate in the centre of London, but the issues today from some social housing residents and the lack of anyone dealing with these issues, means I would never buy near one again. It is Buyer Beware in any purchase, just my experience, but who your neighbours are today, are not necessarily who they are tomorrow either.

Horrible neighbours come in all forms, owners, tenants etc.
there's a few HA houses in my road, and you wouldn't know who owned or who didn't. BUT there is one house (a 4 bed) that has had two awful tenants in the 20 years since we've lived there. The first was a paedophile, so was glad when he moved away, and then a family with 8 kids moved in. They have been a nightmare! Noisy, loud music, beaten up cars. Police round all the time and one of the teens is dealing drugs, quite openly from the house, so all sorts of scum at all times of day and night.

I live on a council estate

If I had money to move, say 500k - would I chose to live on a council estate?
No. I would not even consider it

I have known three different people who were forced to move due to neighbors issues, and one of them, a vulnerable adult, was left blind.

Are some of my own neighbors scumbags? Yes a proportion actually are.

Ffs what are you worried about?! Would you be bothered if it was someone privately renting?!

So fucking sick of "council" housing being seen as a bad thing! It's a good thing and if it wasn't for the bloody tories selling off all the council houses then most people could afford to rent these days instead of private landlords ruining the property market!

You know what Op? YANBU to be thinking twice. It's OK for posters here to get all righteous with you, bit it is something to consider. I honestly think it will be more difficult to sell a semi that's attached to a council house, or social housing. That may upset people, but that's life.

Can only speak from my experience, which is that I live in a mostly privately owned estate that used to be a council estate in the 1930s. Vast majority of houses went into private ownership in the 50s.
There is a single housing association house. The resident family openly deal drugs on the street, the front garden is stacked high with old furniture/pallets etc, and regular antisocial behaviour relating to the house and its 'visitors '. The police are aware and couldn't give a toss.

I wouldn't buy it. I'd sacrifice a smaller house somewhere else. Reason being I wouldn't want to live in an estate (any estate council or otherwise) but also I'd be concerned about a potentially high turnaround of neighbours or it being turned into a HMO.

Can I just ask where OP has said it’s noise and behaviour she’s worried about, as most people seem to be assuming?

Being attached to a house means their maintenance issues (structural, damp etc) often become yours. That’s the point here.

I would buy it but I would do some scouting missions at odd times.

Housing associations on mixed estates tend to be really strict with tenants. Ours is.

@readbooksdrinktea we rent a house (for all kinds of reasons) that is way more than most peoples mortgages (except maybe in posher bits of London) - it's lovely 4 bed late Victorian semi, it's in lovely order -here is my garden - Right scumbags we are- I truly resent the way some people turn into utter judgemental idiots just because they own and describe it always as 'going into rented' as if we are some lesser species. I will take my lovely rented house thanks , especially at the moment with a downward market. We do intend to buy but not in UK.

Ah I left my garden off !!

Omg sounds like our experience. Shouting and fighting at all kind of ungodly hours and the guy next door sold drugs as well. Police didn’t wanna know.

500k i wouldnt and i live in a HA house.

Hmm, well you probably can't make good now if you're having to ask. And then you may end up being one of those awful 'new money' types who wears gold and has some sort of dreadful loud car. It's such a minefield.
Just be reborn into money there's a good person

I have a council property and live next door to people who have bought their house. It is about a 50/50 split. You can't really tell the difference between the two in this particular area as everyone takes care of their homes. Most of the council tenants have been here a long time and raised their families so we all have adult children or older teens none of which cause any issues. I'm anticipating that the neighbours who bought their property will likely start a family within the next few years based on their age. Not all areas are bad and not all council tenants are bad. It's just not 'posh'.

It depends where it is and what the surrounding properties are like. There are some 'bought' council houses which stick out like a sore thumb on a council estate but not all are like that. We cannot generalise about such things. I've known a few people who have bought an ex-council (or HA) place which is absolutely lovely and many others in their immediate vicinity have done the same. They also make quite a bit if they want to sell and move on.

Then why mention council/ HA and not adjoining walls?

Is there any chance your old man could be come a dustman or at the very least wear a dustman hat?