New build on a new estate and social housing. I expect I’ll get torn to shreds but can I have your experiences please?

[ohwhats]

We are looking at buying the last house on a street that backs on to an area of the new estate that will be 50 plus houses owned by a housing association.
The house will be a real bargain, they are throwing all sorts of incentives in as I’m sure they want it sold asap as it will be ready in about 6 weeks time.
The sales advisor explained that the tenants will all be working and they won’t be misbehaving as they will lose their tenancy if they do.
DH thinks it will be fine and we should take a chance but I’m really not sure. Had anyone bought next to AH on a new build estate?

It really depends on the reputation of the area as a whole. There’s one new build estate near me that backs onto a known area full of trouble makers - the area has its own dedicated police station!

But other areas not very far away you wouldn’t know social housing from private housing.

It is most likely not and never will be an issue. The police and emergency services spend about 80% of their time dealing with about 20% of the population - most people just want a quiet life!

I lived in an area of social housing about 30 years ago and it was grim then and I think it’s worse now. The woman behind me got murdered ( after repeated loud domestic arguments ) The guy in the flat near my house used to steal clothes from my clothes line. The litter was awful. I wouldn’t buy there if I was you.

I lived in an area of social housing about 30 years ago and it was grim then and I think it’s worse now. The woman behind me got murdered ( after repeated loud domestic arguments ) The guy in the flat near my house used to steal clothes from my clothes line. The litter was awful. I wouldn’t buy there if I was you.

Are you my next door neighbour? We’ve had exactly the same on my new build estate. HA sign a 12 month agreement and if any antisocial behaviour in that time they would be out…. That’s all lies. I think the majority of HA pay a decent chunk of wages on their rent and look after their property and treat it like their home. However, there are a few that don’t, get it handed to them in on a plate and they can really ruin it for others- Home owners and HA tenants. If it hasn’t sold there may well be a reason. See if there’s a Facebook group for the area, there is one for my estate, and ask a few questions there. The people who are really fed up of any nonsense going on will give you answers.

I grew up on a council estate. I live in an "ex council estate" all the houses were sold under right to buy years ago. The houses are well built, big gardens and we have zero issues - all the neighbours are lovely, no anti social behaviour, just a nice place to live. There's a mix of buyers and renters, families and adults only, working and unemployed.

My friend bought a new built not too far. Firstly there's no end of issues because the quality is terrible, but as there's a portion that's social housing it's utterly wild! My neighbour is a police officer and says he's pretty much camped in that estate every shift.

I'd swerve it!

“they won’t be misbehaving as they will lose their tenancy if they do”

Do housing association tenancies have stricter laws than private tenancies then? This sounds like cobblers

I bought the the show home on our new build estate, told the usual garbage that all neighbours were professionals etc. Due to circumstances at the time I didn't go back to see what it was really like. Ill caveat I have no qualms with social housing but... I can't enjoy my garden as the occupants of the house at the bottom smoke weed in theirs day and night, as well as the abusive loud phone calls at all hours in the garden. Over their fence is the loudest family ever, during dry days all you hear is the mother screeching at her kids playing (and screaming at eachother) not to mention the people on the edge of the lane with all their crap sat outside their house. If there's already people in the houses I'd visit the estate at various different times, you'll soon get the vibe. I regret not doing that.

How do you think the people working full-time in a HA, also feel about the behaviour of these other tenants? I swear some of you on here are so pig ignorant to the world, floating around wrapped in cotton by Mummy&Daddy.

This kind of behaviour comes from HA's and privately owned. Where as your kind of attitude I usually associate with Reform racists...but maybe I'm generalising and tarnishing all reformists with the same brush, much like you did with your HA people statement. 😉

Honestly, so many of you on here are becoming increasingly precious snowflakes who have no clue as to the real world around them, your heads buried amongst the Naice-Mummy summer railings at M&S.

Jesus wept.

Not being snobbish, but if you can afford to buy a house, don't buy it with people who can't afford a buy a house. They are there because they have no choice, you have.

Is your space bar broken?

Social housing is the new term for Council housing as I'm sure you all know. They are good people living in council houses/social houses. I was brought up on a council estate myself and loved it. But there are numerous tenants who couldn't give a shit because the don't own the property, and don't look after it, because they don't have a moral compass

The first house I owned was an ex-council property on a council estate in London. Most of the houses around were still council owned. They were normal, working class people - a friendly retired postman, an older lady who was a housewife, a kind man who worked in IT, a landscaper with his own business, a driving instructor. They all lived in council-owned houses. The area was clean and there was never any nuisance. Probably not all council estates are like this but it’s definitely not always „the hood”. I wouldn’t live there for the rest of my life, but that house was a bargain for London prices and perfect as a starter home to get on the property ladder.

As a HA tenant I would not buy it. As many others have said, vast majority are respectful and decent neighbours, but we have 2 or 3 properties out of 25 on our new build estate who have regular, loud all night parties and leave trollies and rubbish everywhere and their behaviour is far more impactful. It’s virtually impossible for them to be evicted and even if there is a careful selection process by the HA when homes are originally allocated, this means nothing when people move on or exchange. We are buying soon and I won’t even consider houses near social housing in case of any awful tenants.

No, I didn’t necessarily say they were on the highest priority banding or whatever, I was just saying none of them worked and they all got HA in the end - and this was in London which is obviously a very sought after location.

So her parents had HA for decades so yeah that was ages ago, but she never got it until 2018.

To be clear I’m not saying it was easy for her to get HA, hence my use of the word “eventually”. My point was more that it was possible, whereas for me it was virtually impossible. Until I left London altogether.

And before she got HA she and her unemployed partner were living in a 2 or 3 bed private rent flat which was mostly covered by housing benefit. But yeah as I said lucky for her and all of her family not having to flat share in London - unlike myself and many other working professionals…

I grew up in what is now one of Scotland's most deprived council estates. It was full of great people. These days it is full of druggies, neds and jaikies. Would i hell buy within a mile of it and i certainly would buy on a new build estate.
The town i grew up in had a lovely very posh very expensive neighbour, they built a new estate on the edge of the posh area, x amount of the houses were social housing, the place is just a hot bed of crime these days. You would have to pay me to live there.

Its a difficult process which takes a quite to gain repossession of a house and it needs to be either based on serious anti-social behaviour and crime or lots of incidents building up. They maynot all be working, it depends whose next on the homeseeker system. Not all housing association tennants cause ptoblems but their is a hightened risk. Having said that, you can move into any house rented or owned, and the neighbours from hell can move in next door so this isn't a straightforway question with a yes/no answer. The Community Safety Team may be worth talking to in your local council.

We are mixed housing new build estate (1 million properties at the front, all the way down to 1 bed flats and blocks of terraced social housing).

The only thing really that annoys me is too many work vans parked around when there isn't enough parking space, but that's not the fault of the people who live in the houses and have jobs to do. One guy runs an unregistered business from his home which generates an annoying amount of traffic, but he's a nice guy so I wouldn't ever complain about it. There's one scary looking dog I don't like the look of. It feels quite old school in that kids from that part of the estate play out in the street.

That's it. Honestly, I find the range rovers speeding out of the estate from some of the expensive houses more worrying because I'm worried they'll hit a child one day.

I've rented from housing associations for decades, having taken on a tenancy to have an extra bedroom and continue to be foster carers when I had my birth child. My neighbours are a mix of workers and pensioners. They include teaching assistants and teachers, nurses, shop workers, admin staff, carers, social workers, voluntary sector staff like myself, cleaners, gardeners, caretakers, manual trades, writers, sah mums, occupational therapists and so on. We range in age from people in their 90's to young families. Snobbery is a bizarre thing. How would society function without its low to average paid workers? The picture is my scary lowlife dog.

My area isn't even sought after and if you aren't on band A, you are going to be waiting for years and years.

I do think that more SH should be available.

shes so cute

I am aware it takes years - as I have said twice my friend didn’t get it immediately and I wasn’t claiming that she did. But for some especially working people it is just not possible at all no matter how many years they wait.

I do think that more SH should be available.

yep, I agree with that.

There's some social housing flats at the bottom of my road and houses round the back. It's a majority private estate, there's more at the other end and I haven't heard of any problems at all so far.

Two bedroom flat opposite me has been empty for over two years

Don't do it!!!!

I was the social housing tenant on a gorgeous estate of very posh and expensive houses. I loved it! Overlooking fields and on the outskirts of a lovely town. All in all there were 4 social housing properties. My left hand neighbour was lovely. My right hand neighbour was a nightmare. And the other house had a known drug dealer living in it. It was my dream house when I moved in. After living there just a few weeks I couldn't wait to get away and used to dread coming home. I'm not saying that these problems wouldn't have arisen in any of the privately owned houses but from the time I spent there the only issues were in the social housing properties. I may have struck unlucky but if there are problems it makes life unbearable - well, it did for me anyway 😢