Would you buy an ex-council house attached to a housing association house?

[Indigo3]

The house is well built and has a nice solid feel. The fact that its ex-council doesn't really bother me as its not on an estate, has lots more space than other 3 bed houses in the area, and apart from being in a row of council built semis, some of which are privately owned, its got other private houses close by. But neighbours on both sides are renting from the housing association...this makes me nervous, but should it??

Would appreciate any advice or experience you have, many thanks!

My good friend had absolute hell from his neighbours, constant noise, parties & aggression if confronted over any of it, it was so bad, that despite loving his home, he tried to sell up & move, but couldn't because of the situation they finally mov end out this week

The neighbours owned their property too, as did the nightmare neighbours we had up to the end of last year & other friends of ours

On the flip side, we have plenty of friends who live in rented social housing property & have fantastic, thoughtful, helpful neighbours, one didn't & turned out the neighbours were dealing drugs - dealt with & gone.

In short what I am saying is, it's not about what sort of property you back onto, private housing or not, you can still gave nightmare neighbours, but those in social housing IME are dealt with quicker, its about doing your research - speak to the local Police for example, I found them very helpful - find out which housing association owns the property & do your research, do they deal with complains well etc etc

My first property was ex council, my neighbours were wonderful, only one was a problem - regular parties at 3 am on a Tuesday, she was dealt with swiftly by the council - I made a huge profit when I sold up, (placevwascderilct) but I lived there happily for a very long time

Do your research - good luck

Our next door neighbours property is still council owned as is the house we share a rear boundary with. I think it's as much about the general feel of the area as anything. Our neighbours have well maintained houses and gardens, they send a card at Christmas, put our bins out when we're on holiday etc. I don't worry that we'd get bad neighbours any more than if the private house on the other side was sold.

Thanks, I really appreciate hearing your experience though sorry you had bad neighbours before... Ive always been lucky with my neighbours. I will definately talk to the local police and find out more about the housing association.

Thanks for that, its good to hear of your good experience..easy to focus on the horror stories, but as you say that can happen anywhere.

We own ours, the house on one side is council and on the other is privately owned. Tbh, the privately owned one is the one that's in a state and the council owned one is kept very pristine. Like pp have said, just see how the neighbours are now really to assess it.

We didn't buy a house as a result of it being the only privately built house in a street of council built properties (some still council owned, some not). The reason we didn't buy was that the house was already the largest and most expensive property on the road and we intended to plough a lot of money into extending and refurbishing the house, but we didn't feel that the cost plus cost of improvements could be recouped given the size and types of other properties in the road, it just wouldn't fit the area. The next door house also had a mattress and lager cans on the frontage which were still there a month later - as ILikeBirds says it is more about the feel of the area. I wouldn't have been very pleased if my neighbours kept their house like that, no matter who owned the house or who built the house.

I would be a little wary. As ILike has said the area would give you more of an idea. Having said that you can have NFH in privately owned and social housing. I also just wanted to add. Make sure you ask the vendor if there have been problems in the past, legally they have to declare when asked.

Hi Indigo, I would visit the area at night to see what the noise levels are like etc. most council tenants are going to be lovely normal people (I am one ) in either council or HA properties. However, as I have had the neighbour from hell in another place I can understand the need to be wary.

A visit in the evening for several days might give you more of an idea.

I live in a flat above a parade of shops, next to a large council estate. It's great. The rooms are big, the entrance and hallways are big. It is bigger than non council houses and was about £40k cheaper than the non council flats (and about double the size). I would be reluctant to go non council after living in the solid, big builds that ex council offer

Oh & another thing to look out for?

How long has this property been privately owned ??

I nearly got caught out buying another Ex LA house, lovely area, lovely views etc etc, but my previous experience was of well looked after, solid property which bar the cosmetic making it LOOK derelict was actually a really solid, huge & structurally well maintained property at a bargain price.

Turned out the vendors of this other property, though pushing the fact that it was ex LA & they had bought it from LA etc, had actually owned it for over 30 years & not done any maintenance at all hardly - needed a whole new roof & had asbestos in several areas that needed removing at a cost of £££££££££££ - it also turned out the vendor was barking mad & I was one of a long list of prospective buyers who refused to pay full asking price knowing the problems, but the estate agent kept that very quiet meaning I lost over £1000 in fees - so

ask how long its been privately owned

ask if there has been any other interest - have they had surveys done - what was the outcome etc etc

good luck

Thank you everyone so much...its really helping me get a feel for it all, how to find out more etc and v much appreciated... especially rockinhippy for so much sensible advice. Ive made a list to work thru! I think it is over priced as it does need work done on it but the area seems good... we will do some more 'due diligence' to see if our eyes are deceiving us. Yes estate agents dont give anything away they dont have too, its a learning curve dealing with them!!

No problem :) - good luck