New build social housing

[mrsclaus1984]

Our house is currently on the market, and DH wants to arrange to view a house for sale on a new build estate. It’s around a year old, not totally brand new.

The house itself really is beautiful, but I’m reluctant because the adjacent road is full of social housing.

I have said to DH that I feel we should at least have a drive around the estate at a couple of different times of the day/evening to get a feel for the place generally, as well as the social housing roads, before arranging to view and potentially falling in love with the house without seeing the bigger picture.

I’m sure that there are many people in social housing who are great neighbours, but let’s face it these properties do come with problems at times and I would absolutely hate to live close to any issues.

has anyone else bought a home on a new estate and not had any problems with the social housing?

I'm a SH tenant and before I moved (I did an exchange) I still visited my proposed new area at various times! So of course you should do that. My street is a mix of SH, privately rented and privately owned. The only issues I've had have been with a house at the back that's an HMO, a group of younger people, who have parties till 5am the moment a hint of sun is out!

In the past the only issues I had were with a house full of students I unfortunately lived next door to, that would party all the time. Never had any issues with just ordinary SH tenants. For that reason it's any house that looks like an HMO that worries me.

oh my good gosh, thank you ever so much for noticing a spelling mistake - fingers crossed everyone else manages to read it.

Thank god people like you exist.

I think OP is obsessed with social housing and those that live there. Maybe it makes her feel superior

Not all social housing is shared ownership.

I used to be a Parish Clerk of a large parish with about 3,000 homes. We had two new build estates and I spent 75% of my time dealing with antisocial behaviour on the new build estates. The Parish was adjacent to a small, historic city in the South West. Not the type of place you’d anticipate the sort of behaviour we were seeing. 3 bed terraces were around £300k with the big 4/5 beds around £600k.

It was brand new parks being destroyed, vandalism, drug dealing, knives, criminal damage, thefts. It was absolutely constant, we had a monthly meeting between the parish clerk, social workers, police and housing provider. After about a two years a lot of the larger houses were selling up. I’m sure 99% of the people in the social housing were lovely but that 1% made everybody miserable!

You should thoroughly check out any area your planning to buy in. Private or council.

Saying that I live in a council estate and it's dead quite during the colder months. Say November - April you wouldn't see or hear much. It's the warmer months when the trouble starts.

I wouldn't live in a council estate if I had the choice.

Find somewhere else, we not all bad.

The worst neighbours I ever had was when I lived in a large 4 bed detatched on a "naice" little cul de sac of the same type of houses. That was when I realised that money didn't buy class.

I grew up on a council estate - never any trouble from neighbours but that was admittedly in the 80's when social housing wasn't look down on like it is now.

My sister lives in a posh gated private estate and paid £1.5 million for her house - her neighbours are a nightmare!

You can be lucky or unlucky with neighbours wherever you live.

My first flat was in a block of 4 me on the bottom 2 in the middle one on the top, all privately owned quiet no issues. We were attached to a block of 8 social housing. They had a separate entrance you couldn't get into I've block from the other but we all shared a carpark. We had one neighbour who threw used nappies out of the window regularly, dogs barking all day, the Persian stench if weed being smoked, a guy we called Stella man because he would appear with a blue carrier full of Stella cans each day and then the sorting and arguing would start. He also kicked in their communal door and the tweens from another flat in that block kicked down the shared boundary fence. As the private owners we got huge bills for these and things like repainting their hall because it was scuffed and damaged. Even though we had separate entrances and one block couldn't access the other we were told it was the same property so we were jointly liable. They didn't have to pay their share the HA did.
It was a lovely new development in a decent area, the neighbours made it hellish.

I live in HA on a newish estate (7 years old) I'm in a terrace of 3, all HA, there are another 3 across the road the same. Houses a bit further along are part ownership. House's opposite are 5 bed private owned half million pound houses.
Guess where the noise comes from, especially in the summer? The people with the mortgage on their 500k property NOT the people in social housing

I live in a mixed area…homes from high end salary homes to social housing. No one seems to have a problem.

I grew up in social housing and purposefully didn’t buy anywhere near it. The majority of people are fine but if you get a bad one then it will take heaven and earth to get them moved no matter how bad they get, it’s not worth it IMO.

It’s naive to think that residents in social housing are the neighbours to worry about. Yes they can be inconsiderate, noisy etc, but so can your neighbours in a multi million pound house. Paying a stack for your house doesn’t guarantee you lovely neighbours unfortunately. It’s luck of the draw. Personally I wouldn’t buy a house near a children’s playground, bus stop, pub, town centre etc.

I think social housing or not, I would be driving and walking around the area several times before buying a home in the neighbourhood.

I live on a council estate and it’s lovely, a bit too quiet but absolutely no issues.

Whereas, on MN there are constant threads about home owners having issues with other home owners.

The social housing in our estate is less than 2 years old and already there is so much mess and damage to those properties. They park everywhere ( an ambulance had to do a 3 point turn as they had literally blocked the road) broken garages , rubbish, unkempt gardens etc. kids play in the middle of the road ( in the dark!) keeping in mind everyone else on the state paid at least £675k to be here, it is less than ideal.

Oh Look

ANOTHER anti Social Housing Housing thread

Do them a favour OP and don't buy near THEIR estate!!

My parents have just moved into a house on a new build estate. A certain percentage has to be affordable or social housing. They've had no issues. The social housing looks almost identical to the other houses.

Yep. It’s just an excuse to start a goady thread.

Yea def avoid buying it. You don't want us poor folk in social housing infecting your lovely, middle class life now, do you?

I live in social housing. We're the scum of the earth, obviously, and will make your life a misery simply by existing.

Oh don't be so ridiculous. OP didn't say everyone was like it ffs.

OP you're getting a hard time for no reason. I would be cautious too and you have very right to be. Anyone pretending that they don't know why OP wants to check it out is well aware why really. It's not all SH tenants, of course it's not. But there are some less desirable that will have feral kids s framing about and mattresses or shopping trolleys outside or in the garden. Fact. But, like op said not everyone or everywhere!

Our new build backs onto the social housing part. No problems with them at all.

Its our next door neighbors in the detached who are smoking an obscene amount of stinking weed almost every evening in their garden, with no consideration for anyone else around. When its cold they go into their shed.. Still manages to stink up the place.

There's the potential for problems no matter who your neighbors are, is my point :)

Yes, we bought a house on a new build estate 7 years ago, there is a good proportion of social housing, and have never had any problems at all. We are very happy with where we live.

That said, some of the neighbours do complain about stuff going on “from the social housing folks” at the residents meetings, but IMO it’s nothing worth complaining about and doesn’t really affect anyone (a bit of dog poo that could easily be a fox, inconsiderate very short-term parking, teenage kids in the street but not really doing anything wrong, residents smoking in their front garden rather then the back). They honestly want to try and get them evicted for some of this stuff - never heard anything like it!

I had the misfortune to buy a lovely cottage near to some council flats the first time I bought a property. What a mistake- constant trouble with drug dealing, petrol bombing nearby properties and eventually a murder. My life was hell.
I am well aware that the vast majority of people in social housing are totally fine but I wouldn't wish my experience on anyone.
With subsequent properties, I have sat in my car for a few hours late on a Friday and a Saturday night to observe the area. Also knock on neighbours doors and ask about the area in local shops/post office etc.

LFPC? 🤔