To be furious at Barratts Homes.. we thought we had bought our dream home

[ButtonMeUp]

in a quiet location with working families and young kids. Is lovely, mid terrace, overlooking woodland, nice neighbours.. well in the houses sold that is.

Have now found out that the remaining properties including the 2 next to us (we are mid terrace) are sold to Housing Association as Barratts have been unable to sell them at the ridiculous prices they were asking.

THis means that the back garden is directly overlooked by housing association, with waist high fences. We already have so social housing here and have had some issues in terms out of control dogs, very loud parties, shouting and fighting etc. TO have that right next door as a possibilty is a real worry.

We paid a lot of money for our home and regardless of economic condition the value of the property will be affected by the fact that we are mid terrace with social housing.

I know i am likely to be flamed by some for not being politically correct but the fact is with socail housing there are often social issues and i didnt want to live next door to that. We saved for a long time to afford our home and now we are dreading the tenants moving in.

I have also been told that one of the women who will be going for one of the house is a well known drug user and that dealers will visit her...

and Barratts have really put us in the poo.

Let's examine the crime statistics shall we and find out where most of our criminals live, I don't it's the 'posh' areas is it?
riven, of course vast areas of council houses are so unique... I'm off to Southmead to remind myself of the plentiful designs of HA housing.
It's not snobbish to say that poverty generates more anti social crime, it's true. I's only judgemental if you assume every family that lives in HA are alcoholic and anti social twats and noone in HA is like that.
Crossing the road is more likely going to get you run over, it may not but the odds are greater than if you open your eyes.
If we're talking posh areas of Bristol BTW, Abbots Leigh, Sneyd Park, Stoke Gifford then I'm not sure the houses are so similar.

Noone who privately owns not HA are idiots, sorry.

pmsl your so right. you are always so right.

ok

firstly the notion of vast HA / council estates has been misguided for years- ime often the majority of former council houses are now owner occupied, and HA houses tend to be amongst o-occupied housing.

the middle classes aren't saintly (but statistically tend towards less obvious crimes- too busy cooking the books to be noticed?- obv. thats a crap generalisation but ahs the gist of what we learned about criminalisation in sociology all those years ago)

I live on a new build estate (not Barratts btw) where there is a 75/25 split on new houses/ha houses.

So far we have had a rottweiller chase my dd (who did nothing to provoke it), a drug dealer and another person who left their Yorkshire terrier locked up in a brand new house for 3 months, someone selling stuff off the back of a lorry, kids chucking bricks at other kids, egging on doors, I could go on and on.

All of the above from the HA houses.

of course that must mean all HA people are bad.
we have a couple of shit families, the rest are just people. they might not all dress in bodem but some have been very kind to me over the years.
but of course it is good to look down on people. then you can feel better about your selves.

In our district, all new developments are supposed to include 40% affordable housing (council/HA/shared ownership etc). In reality, developers seem to be paying their way out of it.

they don't have to HA on new estates. the builder just has to provide 'affordable housing.' so on our estate that's a row of about 6 two bedroom houses. they've all been bought by young couples or families with one baby on shared equity schemes.

I am not looking down on anyone, I couldn't careless what type of house you live in.

The examples I gave are of what has happened on our estate.

I live on a HA estate.

70 houses. mix of 2 and 3 beds.

Its lovely. Very quiet and very few problems.

Dont know of any drug dealers on this estate.

My immediate neighbours are lovely lovely people.

We are just normal people who have been a bit down on our luck.

Thanks to OP for admitting twattery!

For the rest of you - fark off!

ButtonMeUp - I think your OP was insensitively worded but you did not deserve the flaming you have gotten. You will no doubt be paying a high mortgage for the same kind of housing most of your neighbours may now be getting for free. That sucks.

Whether people like it or not, it is damn hard for priced-out working poor families to get social housing of any kind - that is why I, among many MNetters endure the insecurity of private rentals. And so tenants in new social housing don't currently have the best reputation - though my experience of my neighbours has been very positive - I think it is reasonable to be concerned.

Its not all bad. I live in a council street, new HA properties at the end. There are a couple of neighbours I avoid but generally the people who live down here are very nice. They'll do anything for you if they think you need a hand.

I had my windows put through four times in that house I owned!

Might be a case under property misdescriptions act, if house was sold to you on the understanding whole estate was private you may have a case against the builder, if you can be bothered to pursue it!

My heart bleeds about as much as it does on the private schools thread

Move!

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cod this thread needed to either disappear for pure snobbery or kick off I think you've dealt with that.....

Icod, I felt you were too diplomatic tell us what you really think!!

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Reminds me of the time I heard a bloke in brighton poncey food shop say 'I really lost it and dropped the buddha' never found out what he was on about though!

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My twopennorth.

I live in social housing. I'm a 'nice' well educated girl from a middle class background. I have a degree and everything!

Why am I here then, on a council estate in Edinburgh?

Well, to cut a long story short, through a series of dreadful life events I became homeless. I was sleeping on sofas for 6 months while trying to hold down a job and also making time to look after my DS.

Eventually I got somewhere. It's not the best area but I have decent neighbours (mostly older people on their own and young families). Can't pretend I'm here through choice but DS and I have a warm and comfortable roof over our head, which is the main thing. There are also lots of O/O properties near me. In fact it's quite a popular area.

There's an awful lot of prejudice about and tbh sometimes I get sick of hearing it.

Anyway not sure what my point is.

OP is hardly in the middle of a council estate is she? You're just as likely to get problems from a private let, I'd have thought.

I own an ex council house and live on a council estate. My nighbours are an equal mixture of people who have brought their council houses and those who havent.

There is no problems from anyone on the estate except from two houses. Both of which are council tennants. One of the familys is due to appear in court for drug dealing and blackmail. They're oldest son has an ASBO from the neighbourhood and cant return home for a year.

I dont know if this repreensitive of the country as a whole but I have a feeling it may be.

I'm a council tenant and I am lovely. Therefore all council tenants must be lovely. Trufact .

Of course there are lots of lovely people in HA properties - but if truth be told most people who buy houses are willing to pay a premium to live in a "nice" area with a low level of crime and anti-social behaviour. That is why it is "location, location, location". As a private renter, I've lived surrounded by social housing and counted myself very lucky - but it was long established social housing with old people and families. There was one new estate we ruled out because, when we went to view, the inhabitants scared us.

The OP paid her premium to live in a nice area and now realises it won't be what she was led to believe when negotiating with the developers.