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Original poster

Ex council house or house on a main road?

26 replies

bronya · 17/01/2015 06:18

That seems to be what we can afford. Which would be better? I am worried about build quality with an ex council property - recently our local council demolished a whole estate and rebuilt as they said it would be cheaper than repairing the leaking roofs and damp walls.

OP posts:
wowfudge · 17/01/2015 06:25

With an ex council house, are the other houses on the street owner occupied or still local authority/housing association houses and is the street tidy, with signs of gardens looked after and so on?

Main road (we live in one) are there traffic issues at peak times, how far back from the road are you, is parking difficult, can the garden be secured to stop children getting out onto the road? Are there businesses on the road and what type of businesses?

Find some likely houses and go and have a look. Visit the streets at different times of day, etc to see if any are workable or a no no and ask the sellers why they are moving and what it's like living there.

wotlarks · 17/01/2015 06:27

I'd check when the estate was constructed. I've never had any issue with build quality on ex local authority properties. The ones I've seen/lived in/visited have been solid with a good amount of living space and large bedrooms (usually no "box room" like there usually is in newer builds). Some people don't like them, but then some don't like main roads either... I'd view as many properties as you can and see which matches up best against your list of requirements.

Turquoisetamborine · 17/01/2015 07:19

When was the ex-council built? Ours was built in 1920 and the brickwork is still fantastic. None of the flaking bricks you see on more modern houses. Older council houses are known for decent sized rooms and large gardens. Is it part of a large council estate or small street?
I couldn't live on a main road again now I have kids and cats but some people don't mind it.

Eltonjohnsflorist · 17/01/2015 07:25

It's not cheaper because they're bad quality, there comes a point when it's cheaper to demolish and rebuild just because it is. Council houses usually well built and maintained to much higher standard than other houses.

However some types are hard to get mortgage on. Personally I'd take main road first but it depends on many factors- noise , ease of using your own drive/ parking, pollution, times of traffic etc

ConcreteElephant · 17/01/2015 07:31

I'm another saying don't discount the ex-council over build quality concerns. I grew up in a council house and my own first home was an ex-council property on a half-owned, half-council estate. It was 70s built and we chose it over several houses we looked at on a newer build estate.

I agree with the posters above, in my experience, Council properties tend to have good living space, larger rooms, solid construction, good gardens, parking etc. Many of our neighbours had been living in their houses for a long time and there was a good community feel. Our elderly neighbour said she couldn't hear the DC when they were babies, and we couldn't hear her TV which was super loud when her sister visited. We only moved as we outgrew the house, we were there for 12 years.

Visit the properties, get a feel for them. I don't think I'd want to live on a main road personally but it would depend on the things the house had in its favour. You need to list and weigh the pros and cons.

NoArmaniNoPunani · 17/01/2015 07:39

I'd take the ex council house. Our house is ex council, it's not the prettiest house but it's solidly built with decent sized rooms

AryaUnderfoot · 17/01/2015 10:21

Our ex-council house (1950s) was much better built than our 1970s 'executive' house. The brickwork could have survived a direct nuclear blast.

Original poster
bronya · 17/01/2015 10:49

So older council houses are better?

OP posts:
specialsubject · 17/01/2015 12:08

in our neck of the woods, yes. Well built, big rooms, space round them, off street parking, etc etc.

shabbycaddy · 17/01/2015 14:02

Currently in an ex council house 1920s and it's bomb proof, off road parking for 4 cars with a front garden still and decent size rear garden, also got the room to extend which we are doing. Some of the houses built after the war were concrete pre fabs which used to be tricky getting mortgages on, apart from that they are generally good homes

ValancyJane · 17/01/2015 14:32

We had a similar choice to make and went for a three bedroom 1930's ex-council house. Our street is nearly or all privately owned now, I will say the 1930's style fronts of the houses don't look attractive to me personally, but that's pretty much the only downside in my opinion. For our budget it was the most space we could get for our money (it's pretty much double the size of a friend's new build house that opens onto a main road), and ours is more solid. Ours has huge rooms, a good sized garden, space for two cars to park at the front (and a bit of a garden too). Walls are incredibly solid as others have said - we can only very occasionally hear our next-door-neighbours. An ex-surveyor friend of PILs couldn't say enough good things about ex-council houses in our area.

When looking we viewed a house that was on a main road and the traffic noise in the front bedroom and lounge was awful - really put us off. I absolutely adore our house, would make the same choice again in a heartbeat!

53Dragon · 17/01/2015 14:37

I work in a council housing dept. Most of our properties are great but there are some built in the late 60's and early 70's that are 'system built' or 'cross wall construction'. These are a nightmare - very expensive to heat and starting to suffer a lot of problems.
Anything 30's or earlier through till about 1960 seems to be good. Then after the mid 70's the standards pick up again.

Mountjoy · 17/01/2015 14:38

Consider the pollution levels of living on a main road. I wouldn't do it.

antimatter · 17/01/2015 14:40

I live in an ex-council house build around 40 years ago. No issues whatsoever. 95% houses are privately owned. We pay small amount a year for upkeep of comunal areas.

53Dragon · 17/01/2015 14:42

Basically what I'm saying is that anything traditional brick construction should be fine - avoid any that are totally pebble-dashed 1970's or the ones with very large windows across the property or with cladding on the front. They're quite easy to spot - if you look behind the curtains you can see that the walls are only about 2" thick. Basically the 'frame' consists of the dividing walls between the houses and concrete floors - imagine a row of HHHH but joined up. They're always terraced houses

53Dragon · 17/01/2015 14:46

Anything that looks a bit like this will be fab - really solid i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00649/news-graphics-2007-_649585a.jpg

IssyStark · 17/01/2015 14:47

Currently live in a 1936 hosing association built house and it is fab. As others have said, well constructed, good size rooms etc. our area is about 50/50 owner occupier and tenant and the HA maintain the communal green for which we pay a small annual charge. Many families have lived here for decades and there is a good cm unity feel. I love it and with kids would pick it over a main road any day.

ToBeeOrNot · 17/01/2015 14:47

Well, we have an ex-council house on a main road!

We're well set back from the road though, with a huge front garden and a huge back garden. 1950s - the golden age of council houses imo Smile

I think there are too many variables, age of council house, how busy the road is, how near to the road etc.

For example our road is a classified road, and it is busy at peak times but we don't have queuing traffic outside at any time. It's also weight limited so no large lorries. So for us that compromise was acceptable, ymmv.

loraflora · 17/01/2015 15:28

I grew up in a council house built in the 60s. It was decent enough in terms of build quality although it had a box room. I have rented in the past on a main road. Never again - although that was a Victorian place with secondary glazing. The windows used to rattle when a lorry went past.

DesperatelySeekingSanity · 17/01/2015 16:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RaphaellaTheSpanishWaterDog · 17/01/2015 18:16

I've never lived in an ex council house although DH did for a while as a teenager I think, but from what I can gather I'd agree with other posters that older ex council properties are often well-built, solid and roomier.

As for main roads - I have lived on two of these and wouldn't recommend it at all!

Our second family home was a very handsome square Victorian house with door in the centre - many people's ideal - on a main road, sited near to a junction with traffic lights, double yellows and a bus stop (I know, what were we thinking?). The noise - we had no double glazing but did have a front garden, albeit a shallow one of about 1.5m - was horrendous 24/7. We had to rent a garage nearby as parking was appalling. Weirdly 17 years after we sold they still haven't fitted DG!

Our last house was on an A-road in a rural location. An extremely pretty three-storey thatched vil?age house built with no foundations in the Georgian era. It fronted directly onto the relatively wide pavement with no front garden or forecourt. Unfortunately with the exception of two extensions - including one added by us - the property was one room deep, so that seven rooms fronted onto the road. Every time a bus or lorry went past too f*cking fast the house shook due to its lack of foundations!

We fitted (hardwood, painted sash) accoustic DG to combat the noise, but it was still audible when you were in the front rooms. Luckily the garden was huge so road noise wasn't an issue out there. Tbh, whilst we no longer have young DC, we do have cats and ours never went near the road and I don't think having young DC in itself would put me off......I just hate road noise with a vengeance and feeling as though you're living in an earthquake zone is not my ideal......

wobblebobblehat · 17/01/2015 20:48

They always rave about ex-local authority houses on Homes Under the Hammer. Large rooms, good layouts and excellent build quality are the main reasons.

I think my preference would be ex-council but I would want to find out a bit about the area and explore it on foot. Some roads/estates have a bit of an image problem (i.e. transit vans parked up on grass verges). Sorry, I'm starting to sound a bit like Margo from The Good Life... Grin

CrapBag · 17/01/2015 21:00

I live in an ex council house and I always wanted one because they always seem to have good sized rooms and gardens. Yes my area is mixed, a lot of council tenants still but where I am seems to be the people who have bought their and look after them.

It is a concrete house which is not ideal but we were limited with our budget and the size of the house I wanted so we went for it. I did speak to a structural engineer before we bought it and he reassured me.

I wouldn't buy on a main road. Our road is fairly busy in the day so I would never let the DCs play out there but I would not want to be on a main road. We looked at one on a main road and I thought it was ok but DH pointed out about noise when you are in the garden. I wasn't bothered until the second viewing when we were in the front room and the window was open and the noise was awful. You wouldn't even have been able to watch tv without it being up very loud.

mrssnodge · 20/01/2015 11:33

Im in an ex council house,50's built brick- ( which we bought with right to buy for 38K!) - fab, quiet cul de sac with parking, large private garden- spent 15k, in kitchen, bathroom, french doors, new patio etc and decorating throughout- its fab & nice area!
House is solid, boiler & windows replaced just before we bought it although some of the radiator pipework needs updating, everything else is spot on!
Sound investment and would urge Op to go with EXcouncil house

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