Is this an ex-council house?

[DogLover20]

I don't know how to identify them? Just came across it on RM, within budget (expensive!), I dislike the look of it outside but it's gorgeous inside, very spacious, newly refurbished, a lot of light. Am I just being a snob or is this not a desirable looking house? I am not from the UK and am quite set on a Victorian terraced with bay-windows as my "dream home" (first time buyer), however I came across a few of these and they seem much more beautiful inside.

@ArdeteiMasazxu

Unlikely to be illegal. Every house in the terrace has the same attic room (and floorplan) so likely was built with it originally.

@DogLover20 I would say built in the 70s. The street next to mine has houses in this style. These were built a bit earlier than ours, and ours was built 1985.

I live in ex council ( lived in it when it was council too). I can understand why you'd be worried. Sometimes on a full moon you can still hear the sounds of poor people rubbing 2 pennies together.

No I don't think that's a council house. A standard build for a 70s house on a "nice" estate IMO.

There are houses that style near where my dad lives, they're not ex-council. for one thing, that's original 60s/70s parquet flooring in the livingroom, council houses were not built with parquet flooring.

No I don't think it is. Not very keen on that style of house tbh.

No idea why so many of you are so sure it’s not ex council. My house looks very similar to that and it was council until 3 owners ago.
I also used to live in an ex council flat but you’d never have known that was either. Council houses come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Two things - firstly that photo must have been taken last summer (cue: plants in garden) so it must have been on the market a while, secondly it looks as though it won't be very well insulated, with that huge window at the front and non-standard construction of the front wall. Since it isn't brick then it is likely that it isn't insulated inbetween that and the inner wall. Our house is similar at the front although we have tiles.

Not usually ex council but often very light inside and good houses if very well maintained -

It’s a 60s house I think. Most ex-council houses where I live are 50s and all red brick, so not like that. These 60s houses are often far bigger inside than they look on the outside.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to own a house you’re proud of. I don’t think it’s snobby at all. I’m from the USA originally and found British houses shockingly unattractive for many years.

I don’t know where council houses get the reputation of being better built than privately built. A lot locally (and in the UK in general) are non-standard construction and are essentially, unmortgageable. There are specialist lenders but they are few and far between and expensive because these houses carry a lot more structural risks.

Not with the roof line and stepped back to seem almost detached, it isn't.

Probably a suburban commuter mini estate from the 70s. Often, the names, width of roads and the size of gardens/mature trees can give it away as always having been private.

Some council estates were built to look similar from the outside, but they'd have straight rooflines and several houses with a shared loftspace, less glass and poorer quality surroundings.

Yes they were. I owned a 60s built ex council house and the lounge diner had a beautiful original parquet.

I don't think this is ex council, but back then even houses for poor people were built with care. That was our first house and we've never had one since that was better built, had a more practical layout, more built in storage or better proportioned rooms.

Those prices seem obscene to me. Here’s what you can get for £100k less where I live Found this on PropertyPal https://www.propertypal.com/792974

There is an estate of ‘stepped’ roofline terraced houses like that on a council estate in Wales. It has always been LA owned.

Looks like a 'Jelson' house. (If it's near Leicester) loads similar to that near my parents.

Late 70's. My parents bought theirs off plan in 1977.

That's not strictly true.

I know people in London who live in council and ex-council houses and flats that are Victorian not Edwardian. There are also some council and ex-council housing that are in Georgian buildings that part or all rebuilt after the war.

Lots of London councils put these homes up for auction once the resident dies and there is no-one else that the tenancy can be passed on to as they don't want the maintenance.

BTW These are single homes e.g. the council owns the entire building but doesn't own the neighbouring ones.

I don't think this is ex council.

People might want to call me a snob but I recommend you don't buy ex council.
We live in one now (in a very nice area in london) You do get a bigger, cheaper property and although the majority down our road are now private you can sure as hell tell which ones are housing association.

Jeez - someone's making a killing! When council houses were sold off, I wish there had been a clause insisting council bought them back at, for example, +20% when people moved on. At least we'd still have a good wedge of social housing available.

This, I'm pretty surprised by all the people who think it's about the HOUSE being the problem, not the area.

An ex council house by itself isn't the problem. The fact it's still probably on a largely council estate might be. I'm sure some council estates are fine, but I live in the North West and some up here are definitely awful. People do not work, they're loud and disorderly, it's awful and I wouldn't live on one.

That's not to say all council estates are like that, but where I live, there's some bloody rough areas, where no one works and spend their time in other unsavoury ways. I wouldn't by an ex council house there.

My house is ex council. It’s well built, the previous owners purchased it from the council. It’s solid, bright and airy, decent sized rooms with huge amounts of storage upstairs, big outside space and an outside loo. Loads of the homes on my row have done an extension so the outside loo is now an inside utility.

We bought a house built in the same year on another estate that wasn’t ex council and moved because the house was honestly falling down around us. They’d used carrier bags as roof insulation and the wiring was dangerous, every single pipe leaked and was ridiculously inaccessible.

The only problem we had in this house was that there weren’t enough plug sockets, but an electrician we know added 7 more sets for £140 so that was a cheap and easy fix. More or less the whole estate is privately owned now.

Lots of ex council houses are in very sought after areas. It totally depends when and where the house was built. A few estates here would have been built in the 1920s or 30s and I seriously doubt if the council even own any of those houses anymore. My house is similarish to the house in the photo and mine is early 1980s and not council but mine is distinctly lacking in kerb appeal but I honestly don't care

Lovely but Enniskillen is in the arse-end of nowhere - can't really be compared with Walton on Thames.

If you were on the outskirts of a commutable city that house would be a lot more expensive.

There are some council estates to avoid here, but the 60s/70s built ones are largely all privately owned now and the demographic isn't really any different to a privately built estate of "starter" homes (but the houses and gardens are much bigger and the locations more central for transport, schools etc), where many will be rented and/or social housing.