ex-council houses to buy - any issues to consider?

[CatAndHisKit]

I'm looking to buy atm and had to settle on lowish offer for my house so now have to downgrade my budget.
In budget, it's between a 2-bed nice Victorian ones or 3-bed ex-council, the one I'd consider is 60s-70s built, a terrace but in a good area.

Just not sure if there ar hidden issues with these - are they built lerss solidly? Tiny shower room, would I need any permissions from council to enlarge the bathroom (even though they don't own the house, I assume they own the patch).

Also are any searches to be done are more comlicated than with a usual private ;andord owning the land?
TIA

Only if it's leasehold surely. ....

Anyway I am a council tenant and don't have' hundreds of kids' or mess thank you.

Here, we had a really ugly 1980s built council estate, which has a lot of regeneration money spent on it to improve it cosmetically. The owners were given the opportunity to contribute and have the same work done but many didn't, so we have a situation now where the run down shabby looking houses are the privately owned ones. So no, you wouldn't be forced to pay but it might leave you house looking a bit weird if you don't.

Repairing the roof would be done in the same way as any other terrace, you just deal with your bit, but as with any other terrace, if your lack of maintenance is deemed to have damaged the neighbours you'll be liable.

Also, depending on the areas, some council estates that became almost genteel as they became predominantly privately owned have almost turned back into council estates as they're now seen as good buy to lets and rented to the peope who would have once occupied them as council tenants. Now, I know most council tennants are perfectly lovely but it only takes one, which you could find anywhere, but it does increase the chances.

That said, we loved the ex council house we bought in 1992 and never had any issues at all, but every single one of the 12 houses in our row was privately owned and owner occupied. Many, at that time, were the original council tenants who had exercised their right to buy.

Potentially - depends on the lease you have.

What lease? There will be no lease. It’s not a flat in a block. You can do what you like with your house, bearing in mind normal rules. You won’t need to contribute to major works or have your roof replaced. I live in a terraced house and the roofs are all different.

I live in a solid 60's ex council house. It's probably bombproof.

My friend bought one a couple years ago, it restricted her mortgage options slightly but not by a huge amount.

Ask if there are any service charges you will be expected to pay. Even if you are an owner there are sometimes costs for car park tidying, communal gardening, shrub maintenance , street lighting etc.
You can also check on the land registry site who owns surrounding properties. Its not expensive.

Search on land registry for the adjoining properties to see if they have ever been sold. Private ownership of the adjoining properties is a good thing generally. It does just depend on your neighbours.

Our area (in London) is going through a period of the old working class right to buy generation essentially dying of old age, and the houses being bought by families with young children who earn over 3 figure salaries. Quite a shift of demographic.

We are ex council, 50's built and a lot of previous comments are spot on. Ours was a doer-upper because the right to buy previous owner didn't maintain it. House is pretty solid with generally decent sized rooms. All dimensions are imperial to align with brick sizes - once you see how they designed it around brick sizes for ease of build you realise that there was a lot of thought went into these houses!

Some things to check:
That boundaries are clear. Shared access at front and even rear may not be on the deeds - they were often built for communal living. Also is the party wall straight - some 1920s ones in our area have rooms interlocking or over shared passages so have flying freehold.
Shared utilities. Water, drains, gas, phonelines may come across next door. usually meters are in each property but utility locations may affect extension or landscaping plans.
Check door sizes - especially on the separate loo and shower room. They could be narrow (we have 2 foot, 2 foot 3 and the std 2 foot 6inch / 760mm door sizes). May not be an issue if you look at knocking though into one.
Quality of any work done since build will probably be low due to council tendering to the lowest bidder. Our double glazing was rubbish and badly fitted. Bathrooms and kitchens may have been replaced too.
Check for floor issues - mangled floorboards creaking and / or issues where water leaks have been left by careless previous inhabitants.
Electrics might be due a re-wire. Check the fuse board to see if is a residual circuit breaker one. If not budget to get that fitted.
Any wallpaper is probably hiding walls that need re-plastering.

If yours is 60s-70s look out for an non-brick parts of the walls. That era had a habit of doing external timber or plastic cladding over timber structures without any insulation. Also flat roofs need work constantly.

Do pay attention to the neighbours though, a house in our area sold for nearly a million, and they are next door to the local gang. The noise and language is horrendous.
Current tenants may move out and be replaced with one that will get maximum use of the space. The council here have even extended some houses to get extra rooms in the loft and at the rear to use the living room as another bed. So a 3 bed becomes a 5 or even 6 bed. That is a lot of people / potential noise / potential parking issue.

Finally check out the local plan for the area. Some council estates are earmarked for complete regeneration - including compulsory purchase of private homes. Elephant and Castle area has done this (but I think all flats rather than houses).

I'm hoping the very nice new council houses in my area will be on the market in a few years. They are lovely, and I envy any one lucky enough to get one as a tenant!

We have a '50's end terrace, it's been a great first home. For what we could afford at the time, it was the largest, best garden, most solid, lovely view! Our neighbours have lived there for years, and are all nice.

The only downside is that there is a ceiling price - as the whole estate is ex-council, the house will only ever be worth xxx. Many people near us have extended to make 5 bed, 2 bath, have a drive way, reasonable garden, but unless you know you'll be there forever (we won't) there's no return on the investment. And their houses are worth as much (or less) than our 3-bed.

We live in a semi ex-council and are freehold. Like others god size rooms on a decent size plot. Our attached neighbour is still a council tenant and they have had a new roof installed like the rest of the others that are still council. The rendered houses have had insulation installed to the outside of the houses and rendered. All the council neighbouring houses do look very smart and the owned properties are looking rather shabby in comparison. If they re-roof your terrace and I think they force you to do yours at the same time. It will, however, make your roof look rather tired.

Just check if privately or council owned nearby.

I had a flat in an ex council block. 5/6 were privately owned and very quiet. So proportion of private ownership matters as does size of development. If on a huge estate there's more likely to be trouble than a small terrace or 2 amongst private housing.

All terraced houses have joint walls and roofs that join. They don't have deals for fixing each others and are responsible for their own.

Ex council will always command a slightly lower price. It will be more the case if a big estate or if lots are still council owned. If you are next door to council owned, the tenant could change for the better or worse......that is always the case with any house in terms of neighbours, but the risk of anti-social is unfortunately greater in social housing and can put buyers off.

If you're in an expensive area, there will usually be a strong market for ex-council just as its a bit more affordable. Lots of areas are almost or fully privately owned now, each area is different, do your due diligence.

I would assume the you would have to get your roof done at the same time if the council decide to do theirs. Without looking too dodgy, the attached is a photo is our neighbours opposite which shows the new roof and insulated walls (council) attached to a privately own house.

Thank you all for all the replies! didn't expect to get that much response - sorry I can't reply to everyone but I read every post carefully,

The roof is exactly like in the picture by NotYet - though a terrace - the walls are exposed brick so not as pretty but the one I'm considering looks neat (light-coloured brick).

Very interesting to read that the council does their bits but can't force the private owners. With this terrace, it looks VERY uniform, roof, windows and walls. There is a very slight variation in window design but visually they look the dane age and same (white plastic) material - doors a bit more varied. I know from looking at sold perices that a couple of houses in ghe terrace have sold within last 10yrs but not all.

Maybe the coucil is so reasonable with pricing that private owners agreed to join in re roof - it does look well-maintain and not shabby at all.

The block of flats that's parallel to the terraces at the back, is mainly council from what I could see - it's only 3 storey high so not huge/ Some flats (and terraces) are rented out for sure, so I assume privately owned - seen a couple of students (women) chattering which sort of adds to my impression that the estate is quite safe.

It's a good area that's why I'm considering. Close to University but most students rent the conversions on the other side of the main road, I think the estate is quiet and they feel they won't be able to be as loud as they want to be haha. But I haven;t been there in the evening.

The ris with neighbours is high anywhere unfortunately. You can even check when buying but those people can move or rent it out etc. I was looking at a house also where next door is for sale too - I don't feel like risking it. This house has een rented out but by the looks of it, neat tenants - it just needs sprucing up a bit.

Rollelcoaster wow what a thorough list of things to check! Ther problen is, they allow only 15min now but I will try to pay attention to all these. I don't think there is large overhang of the roof as someone mentioned.

user sounds like a great location - lucky with the views! Not the case here really - just overlooks the parallel terraces and the small block behind, BUT it's a short walk from a very beautiful country-style park! the main draw for me. I wonder how much did it cost roughly to knock the wall between the shower room and sep loo?

Yep I know there is a ceiling. The owner bought 5 yrs ago and it was on for 20K more originally (last year) but now he's gone down 10K and I would want to offer less. But I'm selling a very nice Edwardianm semi in the same town, and guess what, I haven;t managed to make any money on it afetr 5 yrs either! I could have waited and got there - but what with brexit and then covid delays, I just can't wait any longer.
I did pay t top level for my street whe nI bought though.

But on the estate, what he paid 5yrs ago is now the average price (no smart interior added or anything, shower needs changing) so I'll try offering the same - stating that I'm in the same position as an seller.
That's when I actually view - and presumably no one offers before Monday (they couldn;t arrange my viewing before then).

As someone said, someone must be maintaining the grounds - there is no garden - but some lighting and looks clean - so I do wonder if there is a small service charge (not that I woul mind).
Is the owner obliged to tell me what major works are planned / been done, if I decide to buy - or could I hope that he gives the ibfo before getting onvolved? As I need to do some work internally I really would rather not spend on external stuff at all anytrime soon.

Roller how do I tell if the board is the type you mention?

*well-maintained

I meant there's no communal garden, but the grounds are paved so still need some maintenance.

my first flat was an ex council flat. It was not the most attractive from the outside but really good sized rooms as PP have said and good storage. They upgraded the block which we did have to pay part for (I think at least 4 or possibly 5 out of 6 flats were privately owned anyway) but worked really well for us as meant the block looked nicer when we wanted to sell later that year.

We've just sold our 30s ex council terrace. Few covenants mostly relating to sale to the council before it was built, technically not supposed to alter externally but easily covered with indemnities.

We were in a mixed row of council/private with a mix on the estate. They replaced all the council roofs this winter, looked like a really good job done. They offered to quote on ours, and were really grateful about us allowing access (even though right to pass and repass on foot was included for next door) and tidied up a few of our slipped tiles and repointed our chimney for us.

In our new location you can spot all the council properties as they're the ones with the freshly painted render and new tiles!

Of course the council can’t force you to purchase a new house on a freehold property. I do t know why anyone would think otherwise. You are overthinking this op. It’s no different than buying any other freehold property.

My second home was ex council, it had lovely room sizes, it was solid. The loft size was amazing.
One thing to consider for the future, it can be hard to make money on them.
Depending on the area and how in demand property is, ex council houses do tend to have a ceiling price.
There will always be people that look at them with snobbery.

Tooth yes I wasnt sure what the poster meant about that, and she gave an example in Elephant &C - how can they force people to buy if they can't afford it? But that wasn't my question, it's about maintenance and any service charges for the ground upkeep etc that I was wondering.

I ssume it'd be fine to use the loft but not to convert it into a room (haven't seen any such on this estate).

Ok sorry op, I think I misunderstood who had the roof issue! In answer to your question about maintenance/service charges there would be done in a freehold property as you will own the land in addition to the house.
A loft conversion doesn’t usually require planning permission but it would need to meet building regulations.

random so did yo ugo ahead with their quote?or not and they just repaied small bits for free?

strawberry ha I've just mentioned lofts - did you board it? Hope again you don't meed pernisiion even though the roofs are adjoing to possibly a council tenant.

Tooth, I think I'd be happy with boarding the loft - always a bit scary to look the first time as who knows what state is it in!
Just viewed a house where they had squirrels destryong the loft!! they had to replace the roof.