Buying a house backing into allotments

[asks62]

So we're one of those people going crazy with house hunting tendencies during the stamp duty holiday period and the chancellor has just extended the frenzy by a quarter or two.

We are very close to making an offer on a lovely house which backs into allotments that belong to the council. This is in Ruislip, London.

The house has a medium-ish size garden and beyond the fence are lots of allotments on a large plot.

All looks nice & calm now (winter maybe!), but what we were worried about are any long term side effect of this on our property.

The main concern DH has is what if the council one fine summer decides to sell it off to a builder to build flats or for council housing.

It would not just affect our immediate surrounding, but may also have impact on the property's value.

Other than this, we love the house.
Anyone with experience on a similar situation? Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks a lot everyone. Feeling much lighter after reading your posts. It's not such a bad thing after all :)

I grew up next to an allotment. It was great. My dad used to take me there exploring on summer evenings, it was a green lung in a city suburb.
The allotment I have now is quiet (except when people bring on powered rotavotors etc) and no animals or bonfires are allowed except in the winter.
It is also well secured, to keep people out, and the boundary fences with neighbouring houses would be difficult to climb (and also ugly).
I do know that allotment sites in my current home city do get developed by the council for housing, as did my childhood one :(
Future development is a risk, just as it would be if you were next to fields or farmland.

Our allotments are very considerate of the surrounding residents and discourage bonfires although they are allowed, I've never seen anyone have a one. I'd love to back on to our allotments

Just to add all the allotments I've ever seen have high pointy fences and the gates are permanently locked so definitely wouldn't worry about security

@garlictwist

The allotments behind us have got a fucking cockerel on. It's awful. I'd rather have houses tbh!

Might be worth checking this out. Lots of allotments have rules against keeping poultry!

We can keep chickens but not cockerels. If they're council-run there may be a sample tenancy agreement online. It'll be worth checking and complaining if it breaches the tenancy.

I loved living next to allotments.

@asks62

This ones bordering ...

You might wish to edit or remove your comment. There are only three houses that actually back on to those allotments and only one is actually for sale at the moment (it looks very nice by the way).

It's very easy for a person to find out where you live if they wished to.