Does anyone live in a high crime area?

[Dottyvodkashots]

I have the opportunity to rent a lovely big house within our budget, however the downside is that it’s on a road with high crime levels according to police records.
The crimes involve violence, ASBOs, theft and drugs.
Our current house is far too small for our needs and we have terrible neighbours either side. I am desperate to get out as I am due a baby shortly and would prefer to be settled before his arrival.
I am concerned about accepting the new house due to the risk of more awful neighbours and the fear of crime around us. It’s a cul de sac so completely unavoidable.
Are these crime maps really reliable? Are they a reliable way of determining if an area is safe?
I grew up in London in a part that was known for being dangerous, however we never had issues ourselves nor witnessed any crime.
I think my judgement is slightly clouded due to being heavily pregnant and wanting to move either now or waiting until the baby is several months old, but I also don’t want to make a mistake and regret the move. We can’t afford to buy or move further away.
DH thinks we should go for it, family think we shouldn’t move so close to the birth.
WWYD?

Have you been round at different times to see what it is like?
What sort of crime?

I do. Lots of burglary as it's a student/HMO area and drugs. To be honest I don't really mind. My neighbours are really nice and I never really notice it much. There was random police tape at the end of my street this morning as it happens but doesn't really impact my life!

I would pick location over house.

Hard to say. If the crimes are very close and there have been a lot in a short time period, and not all from the same house, I might be wary. But some of these crime map things are more than a bit off. One headline recently screamed that my town was the second worst in the county for crime. I know that no way was that at all likely. And indeed, elsewhere on the same website it gave the top three towns for crime in the county. None of them mine. Several crimes may all be down to one household at the far end of the road from you, and the culprits may even have moved or even been evicted since. I'd ask about a bit locally if you can, and find out what's really going on.

As I understand it these crime maps show incidents that are 'on or near' the address - and 'near' can actually be some distance away.

Crime stats for our last address looked horrific at first glance - but they were skewed for a while by one house where the couple had a troubled relationship that involved a number of 999 calls, and the ASBO stats were most likely related to the high street a quarter of a mile away.

Apparently 🤷‍♀️ London

Lived here six years, never seen a crime, the only crime I've experienced is someone took the catalytic converters off the cars in the streets around here

However I don't go out at night really and I'm not a black teenager (the people who experience most of the crime). And I don't really commit much crime apart from the occasional driving offence.

So I'm pretty unlikely to experience it directly

I lived a high crime area and never again. It was hell

Me 2

I would not worry too much about it. I live in a very affluent area and trust it's targeted and daily reports of burglaries and people have started stealing hanging baskets and pots from front of the house. House prices are mad here . Since then i don't believe in good or bad area

I live in a "high crime" area

My neighbours are lovely, and I've lived happily here for a decade.

It's a bustling area so I think part of it is concentration of people and a busy main road with a lot of shops and businesses. There is anti social behaviour and gang related incidents but I'm not in a gang or anti social so apart from seeing it in the news and so on it doesn't affect me at all.

I'd choose location any day of the week. I used to live in a high crime area but now live in a very nice safe area.

Now I can see how much better life is not living like that.if it was a choice I'd never have chosen the dodgy area and hope never to live in such a place again!! Would rather live somewhere smaller personally.

Thanks everyone, it’s a tough choice to make. If we accept then we are tied to a contract. We will be driving around there at different times of the day this week to hopefully get a better picture of the local community.
On a separate note, has anyone lived next door to families with several children and haven’t encountered any excessive noise etc?
We have always been lucky enough to live next door to lone adults or elderly who were completely silent, but this house has children either side. No idea if the soundproofing is good enough to hide the usual children noises! It will take some getting used to that's for sure.

Yes I live in a high crime area. You take precautions as appropriate but it is what it is. Lots of drug issues, lots of violence, lots of thefts, lots of muggings. You stay alert at all times and avoid obvious problem areas and moderate your behaviour e.g. there are a lot of muggings of pedestrians by teenagers on electric bikes/scooters so you don't walk on the part of the pavement near the cycle path and you don't casually wander anywhere with an expensive mobile in your hand.

As for neighbours, where I live the noise is mainly families with kids and then drunken idiots coming home late and deciding to have a party. Don't worry. Your baby will probably disturb your neighbours far more than you're disturbed by them. Our hearts sank when another couple moved in and the woman was pregnant.

Well said @redmarkerpen, living on a high crime area becomes a part of your reality. just those feelings of dread, anxiety and suspicion, it's more expensive (toll on mental health) than safer areas.

I did it, worst thing I ever did, it's just nice to relax and trust people nearby.

I have. It's stressful especially when you have kids. You don't want that kind of crap going on outside your kids' bedroom windows. Definitely get a feel for what it's like at different times of day but location is important in terms of comfort and security

When the crime map thing came out I checked my street and my brother's. One of us lives in leafy stockbroker belt Surrey and the other in the crappy end of a run down northern town. The Surrey street had a lot more recorded incidents - all theft & burglary - and I don't live there. I get balaclavad morons on electric motorcycles and scooters, screaming domestics at 2am and flytipping. He got a good burglar alarm.....