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.

Well that is what we think hatwoman, the photo does not do justice to the view.

Our Barratt home hasn't had too many problems (nearly 3 years old). We bought it because it gave us the space we needed for much less money (dp works from home, needed space for an office, also needed lots of garage storage space). The only problems we've really had are with some of the door handles which keep falling off. It's not beautifully finished but there you go. We can hear very little through the walls - never voices, occasionally the odd bang or thump. Never hear plumbing or toilets flushing! But the houses have fallen hugely in value so not really a good buy....

The land opposite is being built on by Bovis. Nothing at all happening for the last 3 months, then suddenly massive building work going on again. Dp's friend is working over there - apparently the whole development (mostly family houses) has been sold to Salvation Army for rental. The local infrastructure just hasn't caught up - there are no places at any local schools at all. No one seems to have thought of this minor problem....

I used to live in a new house, not barratt though. I could hear the neighbours WEEING, the walls were THAT THIN.

In today's economic climate, people who live in HA houses are there because they cannot afford to buy, not because they are bar/horrible/druggies. It will become more and more common so get used to it!

undercover - I live in a victorian semi and I can hear the neighbours weeing. I smile though because it just makes me think if they didn't have an ensuite inbetween their bedroom and ours lord knows what we'd all hear . well I know too, and I'd rather hear weeing...

I agree DM. As I said in a previous post I work quite closely with the HA (by law HAs have to have Resident's working with them) and know that our demographics do include a lot of working adults and our estates are well kept. A large part of our budget goes into keeping the estates and ASB. We have an antisocial behaviour team and send Resident's have ASB training. I have only had to contact them twice in four years but they have dealt with the problem very promptly. We aren't even the HA with the best reputation.

I think a few people outside immediate family could hear dh wee during a 6am silence.

Soem men are very loud weers

Dare I say this.... if I had to scrimp and save and beg borrow and steal money to be able to buy a lovely new 260K house, I would be incredibly annoyed if my neighbours were given one for free by the state because they can't afford it on their own.

I'm from South Africa, and new to the whole social state going on in the UK, but I so don't understand how people who work their asses off to afford stuff end up in the same position as people who don't/can't work. Please explain to me someone?

DH and I work, we're squashed into a back-to-back 2 bed shoebox with one room downstairs, 2 upstairs, with 2 DDs. We desperately need more room, but it will have to wait until we can afford it. Which might be never. So why are people being helped by the state to have a bigger house than us?

I don't want to start a snob war... like I said, I'm not from the UK and genuinely don't understand why things are like this here. In South Africa, if you couldn't afford a house, you didn't have one. End of story.

bashful HA housing is not about giving free houses away. perhaps you could read this which explains what they are.

you say that in SA if you couldn't afford a house you don't have one. personally I don't see that as something to aspire to. I prefer living in a society that (at least in theory) recognises that not being able to afford a house doesn;t necessarily mean you don;t deserve a decent place to live. There are all sorts of reasons people can't afford houses - perhaps, for example, because they are disabled, ill, or working every hour for minimum wages or working for much more than minimum but still unable to afford a house (nurses? midwives?) owing to the inordinate cost of housing. I'd rather they weren't out on the street.

oh, and add to that list carers - people who can;t work because they have to care for relatives

I'd really rather not live anywhere with social policies like South Africa's, thanks. Whether I was rich or poor.

Oh goodnes, don't think I'm saying SA is better!! Of course not! Things are very sucky indeed over there. That's why I'm here. I'm just saying (badly as usual) that I don't understand how things work here... not passing judgement on whether it's good or bad.

Ah, rent is paid for HA houses.... now that makes a lot more sense!!

Thanks for the explanation.

For goodness sake! Not everyone in a HA property are on benefits! There is an estate that we own that has strict restrictions on who can live there - employed adults, no under 18s and a minimum limit.

By law they have to fill certain criteria about who they put in there, they are not allowed to have all HB.

The ignorance of people amazes me!

I should have read the rest of the thread, but the same comments are coming up over and again so it's not just to bashful.

There was a programme a while back on Radio 4 about the way social housing was allocated.

Basically made a case that because the bulk of social housing is allocated on the basis of social need, we now have a situation where council estates and areas with a high density of social housing are disproportionately peopled by those groups who have the most social needs: single parents, people with mental and physical health issues, women escaping from domestic violence, the unemployed, the poor etc, etc.

It argued that this has totally distorted the social make-up of these areas in a really destructive way because it concentrates social problems in one place.

Made the case that mixed housing is what we need.... people in social housing living cheek by jowel with owner occupiers..... social housing becoming available to those who're not in dire social need.

So to the OP - your estate might be seen as being in the forefront of a more equal Britain. Couldn't that a good thing?

our HA built some shared ownership homes in the next village.

today, our friend who works as a personal trainer and children's swimming instructor and whose wife is a teacher told us they'd got one of those houses after 2 years on the wait list.

so pleased for them!

they have two lovely children.

how sad to think someone might see them as the bastard stepchild when it comes to neighbours, they're hardly scroungers.

they're professionals who can't afford house prices around here.

I wonder how long back because my understanding of the law is they can't do that.

The block I used to live in started life as a key worker block (under same HA) then they were told they had to take in some of the unhomeable - council rejects, ex-cons etc. It caused a lot of problems for the block but then another change in law has meant that they have to have a certain demographic per floor. I was living there as a Foyer Resident and by law there could only be one Foyer Resident per floor. As I've already stated there are strict guidelines as to who can go where because of the law - I've been with this HA over 4 years and it's been the same all that time.

It is unforrunate but if you live near council houses the estate agents immediately tell you that your house is worth less. We had a lovely house but ona road that was half council houses - it made me so mad because at the end of the day almost 90% of council houses are actually privately owned!! These new developments HAVE to sell a proportion of the houses to the HA now for some reason and I suppose if having a council house near you reduces the value of your home then being near HA will too - doesn't matter if all the council/HA tenants are absoloute gems - it does affect your house value and Barratts should have told you before you signed. My best friend is HA and she loathes all her HA neighbours!!!!