Ex-council houses - would you invest?

black-saturn

Agree with above post. I would never buy an ex council house.

dfarry

missk_ensington wrote:

I wouldn't buy ex-council (unless it was going REALLLLLYYY cheap) because you're right, there's a peak what you can get back for them. Potential buyers will always have it in the back of their mind that someone once bought it for a pittance and made a fortune on it. Secondly, you can't guarantee that EVERY house on that street is now privately owned, it only takes one council house, one tentant to make everyone's lives hell!

I'll get shot at for saying this, but I think at least 70% of the time the saying 'birds of a feather all flock together' is appropriate when describing council houses/streets/estates. Make of that what you will, but I wouldn't touch one with a barge pole!

Thats not true where I am... to be honest in my neck of SE London there is complete diversity between those that have...and those that don't. From street to street and house to house, private or otherwise you'll see people from right across the social spectrum.Most of the original tenants near me have either died or moved out long ago, the majority have been bought because they were such a sound investment at the time. The problem now is if you are in need of council housing... it just doesn't exist. Also down my particular street the houses are typically owned by young families or couples that want to be close to London's commuter routes and are making the first step on the property ladder. In that respect I'd say ex-coucil house and the buyers thereof are crucial to the market in general.

lowis

funny - i've lived in a council block for 8 years - great neighbours, really good mix of people, the place is clean, no trouble what so ever.

as for "birds of a feather flocking together" - i think you'll find that council tenants have little say in where they end up, even with a bidding system.

regards 'trouble tenants' - you also get chavvy white-trash types (or whoever you may be referring to) in private roads too. it's is not exclusive to council property.

i think basically if you do decide to buy a council property - do your homework - as with any property. simple really.

missk_ensington - my friend just bought a gorgeous georgian split level flat with front and back garden in islington - ex-council - would you not touch that either?

divadee

My first flat was an ex council flat and i loved it would have no hesitation to buy another one!!

It was massive for a flat 2 massive double bedrooms huge kitchen etc... It had been very well maintained, the ground rent was only £10 a year and the meintenance was at the very most 1 year £300 was normally around £200.

I cant understand the stigma to be honest, i had a cousin who lived in a shoebox new build flat was paying nearly £1000 a year in maintenance and lived in a crummy area, keep telling me that he cant understand why i would want to live ex council !!!!!! is that about. use your head mate i used to say, you live in scum land in a shoebox and spend more money than me on maintenance whos the idiot!!!!

You can get some very good bargains being ex council as there is a big stigma, but all i can say is i would personally buy one again.

Also wanted to add i made a very good profit when i sold it, bought for £50k sold for £115k

lynzpower

Could not agree more with pro- ex LAs

Not all ex-la are flats a mate of a mate flogged her RTB 5 bed towhouse with garden & roof terrace round your way Lowis, EC1 area for a million I think and bought some 7 bed pile in hertfordshire and had shed loads of change. that was a couple of years ago if memory serves me right so I certainly wouldnt say theres a ceiling on Ex-las

Id buy an ex-la, in fact if we do buy again thats solely what we are looking for. In terms of solid construction you really cant go wrong. Problem neighbours will happen wherever you live, what your salary is or your house is worth is obviously no description of your behaviour.

I do think this ex-LA attitude is also rather outmoded, especaily in london as most of the people who buy them ( anecdotally that is) are either RTBers like lowis or professionals trying to get on the so-called ladder. Like anything, there are some roads I wouldnt live on, some estates I wouldnt live on but thats rarely to do with who constructed the property.

speedyjoe

I wouldn't stoop to buy a house on an "estate" whether it was Ex-LA or private - just far too common.


;-) Just kidding.



Seriously I would have no problem buying an ex-LA house, they tend to be very well built with big plots. I would want to be sure though that it was a nice area, there are hotspots for anti-social behaviour all over the UK and sadly they are often associated with particular LA estates.

If I were buying I would just do my homework. I reckon having a drive around the area late on a hot summer evening, like we are having now, could be an eye opener.

irchy_mum

OH and I are in the process of buying our 'council ' house,although it's a 1930's large bay fronted window and mid terrace in a row of four,not your typical LA property - obviously sold to the council many years ago.
We are fortunate as we're getting a large discount,my neighbours are lovely and TBH I think we are very lucky.I
've seen the new build round here and you can't swing a cat in them.Gardens the size of postage stamps:p
We see our house as an investment,we have young children and we're not going anywhere for a least ten years.

Besides not all council tenants are 'chavs' -we're actually quite nice:D

Jo x:A

silvercar

We completed on an ex-council house last Tuesday, have it available with one letting agent. Tenant has been found within 2 days and hopefully moves in this week. Same rent to value ratio as private houses in the area.

black-saturn

I cant help worrying about the moral dilemma in it though. The reason why we have so many homeless people, people in sub standard accommodation and people waiting years for council houses is because the council has sold off it's stock.

lynzpower

I do agree black saturn but once the property is sold off on RTB its ( once released from the contractual obligations) theres nothing anyone can do to bring them back into the Public Sector