Are these typical ex- council homes ?

[FunPinkSwan]

Hello- is this style of house ex- council and would this be disclosed in the process of buying if so ?

if it is , do they generally use cheaper build material that a surveyor should look out for ?

TIA

@FunPinkSwan never seen a detached council house in my life! they are usually semi or terraced! looks more like a private house.

Looks like my non council 1960s built house

Not completely true…in order to build a large number of houses quickly some local authorities build a lot of prefab or non standard construction homes. Most prefabs have probably gone now, but there are still plenty of council houses around the country built intra-war from things like reinforced concrete which are effectively unmortgageable now.

The issue is also that if sold by the council many years ago, when less was known about the long term effects of some of the construction methods used, these houses are now in private hands, and might have been mortgaged in the past.

nonstandardhouse.com/local-authority-non-traditional-housing-stock-lists/

That will be explained in a survey, what the house is built with.

The house doesn't look ex council to me, but I believe most council houses were built solidly anyway.

Around my way nearly all of the old council houses are detached. Massive plots and massive gardens. They are all so much better than the newer houses as they try to squeeze so many in.

Not that’s not an ex council house.

To answer your other question though, council houses actually tend to be more solidly built than private build houses. Councils knew they had the ongoing responsibility of maintaining them, so they built them really well in the first place.

There's a certain type of ex local authority house, they had none standard construction such as concrete sheets/pre fab etc my Mum had the same issue selling her ex council house.

Your surveyor will easily tell construction type though! Fwiw doesn't look ex LA to me at all and we live in an ex council house

Why do the windows go all the way to the brickwork on the left, but there's a small gap on the right? That would bother me so much to look at every day!

Doesn’t look like any council house I know but your friend OP who mentioned be careful what they are built of is right. There are similar houses I know of to the one in your post that have timber cladding on the top half (yours doesn’t appear to have that) and some mortgage companies are twitchy about any cladding. The surveryor should know the typical houses in your area.

Construction standard / quality of local authority properties, space standards, is very different depending on the age / area in which they are built. Some of the council construction specifications far exceed the building boom of the late 70s / 80s, which really was not great and as for what is being built now, you are not wrong in that much of it verges on the appalling (I worked for a housing association that also developed!). That's a bog standard estate build but easy to trace back the origins of the house, as the selling history is probably included in the details, or you can ask when built and by who.

It's not about it being a council house or not it's about it being built of non-standard construction or not. If it is you might find a mortgage tricky.

Ex-council is generally built to high specifications and have been maintained.
There may be a case of non-standard construction ‐quite a few of these in my area‐ which are still great houses which lots of local tradesmen buy as a matter of preference. The problem with non-standard construction is that there can be issues with mortgage lending as some banks and building societies have clauses which flag this as potentially problematic and require assessment on a case by case basis (such as a comprehensive survey) or preclude from lending altogether.

Doesn’t look it however for future reference I live in a 1920’s ex LA and it is solidly built despite being a ‘between the wars’ house. I’ve been here for almost a decade now but prior to that I moved every 2 years on average and I’ve lived in several countries - it’s the best built house I’ve ever been in. The previous owners didn’t look after it so water pipes, wiring, gas etc were in terrible condition but the bones of the house are excellent.
A surveyor will highlight any issues, they know what they are doing.

Not council, but some council houses around me are concrete block construction which is probably what your colleague is warning of as often they are not mortgagable.

I would also laugh at the idea of a detached council house. That house is a pretty typical 80’s estate build ,pretty much what I grew up in! In my area the typical look of a non standard build/ concrete construction would be something like this so I do get what your colleague is meaning

https://nonstandardhouse.com/various-houses-of-non-traditional-construction/ See third and 4th pics down in the link