DP doesn't want to buy an ex-council flat

[relpee]

There is a council estate near to where we currently live in Central London. It's nice enough and is literally 5 minutes from where we currently rent.

We live on 'posh street' where a one bedroom flat is about £600k.
On the council estate a two bedroom flat is about £550k.

I want to just get on the ladder. In a couple of years time we should be able to afford something more expensive/nicer. But I think if we buy something cheaper that we won't immediately outgrow, it will help 'ground us' so we don't feel beholden to our high stress (and high paying) city jobs.

But DP says he will not buy on a council estate. What will people think of him? He didn't go to Cambridge to only afford an ex-council flat.

I just sold my ex council flat and moved to a house not long ago. I was in the flat for about 10 years and it was lovely. Really well built, really well soundproofed! My neighbors were lovely. I had one woman get grumpy with me once in about 10 years in the communal grounds and she wasn't in my block. My particular block was half privately owned and half council owned but no problems with it at all. Yes there were some expenses like fixing the leaking roof and stuff but we were informed of the costs beforehand and were given the option of payment plans if we needed. We could submit suggestions for builders or specific companies if we wanted.
And the ground rent was fixed at £10 a year which is a pretty great deal! And there was so much storage! It was so good!

I went to private schools and still survived living on an ex council estate. I'm now living in another one 😂 so far still surviving. Your DP is a snob. The important things are looking at the specific estate at different times of day to see how quiet or noisy it is and all the normal stuff that comes with buying a property.

Your first home should provide you with opportunities for growing equity- either through doing improvements or the area going up in value. As others have noted, you might find the opportunities for growth in value limited compared to a privately built property.

But DH probably knows all that, Cambridge and all. 😂

I've lived in a Central London ex-council flat for 20 years now. The pluses: great location, manager on-site to take any issues to, very cheap off road parking space (£24 a month), concierge, nice neighbours (before buying I called the police who said they had no problems in the area and also knocked on doors to ask residents what it was like to live there - 'peaceful' kept being mention with was a good sign), very varied residents (from professionals/academic to those on benefits). The downside - not the most beautiful building to come home to, and major works come round every eight years or so. The council do try and load this onto the leaseholders but we push back and have been quite effective in doing this. Putting aside £1000 a year (more if you can afford it has covered these costs) - and the council do let you pay in instalments. Given that our service charge is low compared to what you might pay in a private leasehold flat, I think it works out about the same financially in the end. That said, we're about to have the lifts replaced (once every 25-30) years which is going to be expensive. It sound like your other half absolutely hates the idea of a council flat and to be honest before I saw mine I would have thought 'no way' but when I actually got inside I realised it was just too good to pass up. My friends (highly educated professionals) who live in houses that I couldn't afford, love my flat, mainly because of the location and the stunning views.

Tell him not to worry. I guarantee people already think a few things about him.

Are you sure you've got that right? The council wouldn't have any say in what goes on inside a flat that they don't own. They can't tell you to rip out your kitchen that you've put in and replace with one of their choosing. That's why someone would buy and not just rent - so you have choices about your fixtures and fittings etc. Any shared areas are totally different - roof, grounds etc, yes, the council has control over all that. But I'm very confused about the notion they can tell you to change everything INSIDE your own flat, down to the number of tiles you have in your kitchen. 😂

Some mortgage companies won't lend on ex-council flats. If the market slows they're statistically in one of the hardest categories to resell and if purchased with a small deposit at a higher risk of negative equity.
Unless of course you're looking at the Barbican. We always made an exception for the properties there.

I've rented off a private landlord who'd bought from the council. Nice area of N London. Mixture of residents. I was wary of who some of the neighbours were. Our next door flat seemed to be empty for a while, till a guy knocked on our door one day when I was on my own and said he'd been away for a while, he didn't elaborate and gave off a strange vibe. He said he was looking forward to meeting everyone and enjoying his flat/new life etc or whatever - words which made me think he'd been in prison or in a mental hospital for a length of time. We weren't there long as decided to buy our own flat elsewhere but I guess if you buy where a lot of flats are still council owned you'd have to be prepared to take the chance that your neighbours could literally be anyone, with problems you're unaware of that may impact you.

You come across all sorts of neighbours unless you live in splendid isolation

No, they can’t do this. It was something raised by friends before I bought mine and is rubbish.
It is most likely managed by a Housing Association anyway , not ‘the council’.
Bit if the DH is opposed then unfortunately it’s. I deal because any problems (ie those associated with owning any property) will be ascribed by him to it being ex-council.

Yes they can and do. Was your advice specific to your situation? Because it’s not correct across the board.

I friend of mine owns an ex council maisonette (2 floors, upstairs is still owned by the council).

Council said the windows needed replacing for the whole house, friend was given a quote far higher than if she had gone and got them done herself. Said she would get hers done herself and was told nope not allowed. Obviously the council was making her pay for both flats.

Another friend lived on an estate that has now been demolished. Some neighbours were owners and quoted a large figure for their share of repairs, not unusual if you own a flat but as owners were a minority they had no right to argue. It was later found that people in the council had been receiving large payouts from contractors.

A few years later the estate of left to ruin (broken plumbing, cockroaches), owners were then offered a pittance under compulsory purchase orders.

If you buy in a block wholly or majority owned you have some bargaining power, otherwise you are at the whim of the council.

This x 1000× times.

Positive. The council's position was 'If you say no, your water and gas supply won't be reconnected. And you'll still have to pay'.

I can understand his feelings but after reading all the comments on here I understand him even more!!!

Ex council house no probs

Ex Clara no way due to extra costs beyond your control

I live in an ex council house - love it. Well built. Large garden and rooms and parking

But flats and service charges etx you don't get a choice

So yes avoid a flat

You can look up online whether the estate still has social housing or not. I decided not to view/offer on a property having undertaken this exercise and walked around the block in what was a pocket of social housing in an otherwise upmarket area. I was concerned about antisocial behaviour/poor upkeep of neighboring properties and ultimately about being a target for crime. We ended up with somewhere far nicer at a lesser price in a different area.

It may be 5 mins from where you live, but have you taken a walk/drive round it at 1am, or at 4pm on a sunny Saturday afternoon in the school summer holidays? 5 minutes away does not mean that it's the same in terms of safety/crime/investment potential/ease of sale, especially in London.

On the off chance this post is serious, you do both have to like the property you are buying and it doesn't sound like he would ever like this flat.

And from a purely financial point of view, ex LA properties tend not to increase in price as much as properties on posh streets partly due to the snob factor. So if you did buy it you would come up against people thinking like him when you came to sell it in a few years.

I don't think it's a sensible move if you think you can move on in a few years. I reckon prices are likely to be stable for a few years. When you factor in stamp duty, moving costs and needing to sell in order to buy the next home it sounds like you wouldn't be making much. What kind of deposit do you have?

The people accusing OP's DH of being a snob, talking of his Cambridge education. My son goes to Cambridge. We are a normal family in a normal house up north. I am so very proud of what he did himself to get there, and what he's doing now he's there. The level of difficulty of the work itself plus the workload is immense and he hopes to be able to earn a good salary because of that. He's prepared to go wherever the jobs are afterwards. That's the pay off. I'm guessing OP's DH finds it a bit galling to put in all that huge effort over a number of years to then only be able to afford the exact same living accommodation as somone who chose to work part time or in some cases not at all, or whose behaviour was anti-social, or who was in and out of the prison system, or who took the piss out of the sick pay system etc. And I know that council housing has many many ordinary hard working and decent families living in them that not everyone has an asbo blah blah, but as people have already posted here there is a risk in some places that you would have to put up with some pretty shitty behaviour. Why shouldn't someone who's pulled themselves up by their boot straps to maybe leave those sort of council estates behind have some sort of choice about where they can live?

People will think he's poor, so he should really get a wiggle on and earn more money.

@CurlyhairedAssassin I think you are still missing the point somewhat. The OP has already mentioned it's to get on the ladder and that it won't be forever. Many council tenants will never have the opportunity to move on. Your shit still smells the same whether you went to Cambridge or sweep the streets for a living (and sweeping the streets will arguably be a lot more valuable to many).