Would you buy on a council estate?

FOURCANDLES_2

Most small council estates in villages have been sold and the ones left are good bets you may find the ex local authority house for sale a little cheaper than a similar private home however the local authority one will be better built. Do not know what estates are like in cities, town ones I assume could be hit and miss depends which town.

dexter_fan

Millie - we had no problems with Asbestos that we were aware of, although we could of had asbestos in the outhouse roof.

We currently have a privately built 1950s house and again it is probably in the outhouse roof. Asbestos is not a problem if it is left untouched - only if it breaks up will it be an issue. Last year we renovated our house, and finally emptied the loft. We threw out a couple of old ironing boards, which afterwards I realised could have contained asbestos. Asbestos is a great fire retardant, so was considered safe and therefore used for ironing boards, firemens outfits and even babys bibs! The fact that the house is ex-council would make it no more prone to asbestos than any other house of this period.

milliebear00001

Thanks so much for all your good advice and reassurance. I am feeling much more positive now. Will wait for the survey to come back early next week and take things from there.

I have just driven right around all the estate streets and locality. All completely dead bar a few teenage boys with a football in the local park. Will keep on doing drive-bys at other times and at the weekends just in case, but I am largely reassured that this house will be a safe short-medium term prospect.

skintchick

Would I? No. I live in a small town and the two estates here, while 'nice' by national standards, are scummy by mine in terms of hoodies hanging on corners, England flags in abundance, etc., and we ruled them out entirely in our search for a house.

However, we are buying an ex-LA house elsewhere, just not on one of the estates. But I would not live on a council estate, no.

It will put lots of people off in future, but there will always be a market for them, just a smaller one.

C_Mababejive

I'm not sure it matters much now becuase in modern broken Britain, thanks to BTL landlords,the council estate can come to you in the nice private housing area.

milliebear00001

skintchick wrote: »

Would I? No. I live in a small town and the two estates here, while 'nice' by national standards, are scummy by mine in terms of hoodies hanging on corners, England flags in abundance, etc., and we ruled them out entirely in our search for a house.

However, we are buying an ex-LA house elsewhere, just not on one of the estates. But I would not live on a council estate, no.

It will put lots of people off in future, but there will always be a market for them, just a smaller one.

Where is yours skintchick? I don't think I've ever come across an LA property that wasn't part of an estate. Is it part of a private development?

milliebear00001

C_Mababejive wrote: »

I'm not sure it matters much now becuase in modern broken Britain, thanks to BTL landlords,the council estate can come to you in the nice private housing area.

That's an interesting point actually. My mum lives in a road full of private houses, but many are now rented, and she's had lots of 'neighbour trouble'! The posh estate I rent on also has several rentals, although we seem to attract a 'better class' of tenant lol!

skintchick

milliebear00001 wrote: »

Where is yours skintchick? I don't think I've ever come across an LA property that wasn't part of an estate. Is it part of a private development?

It's one one of two roads that are LA or ex-LA, surrounded by some of the poshest roads in our town, so you could at a push call it a mini-estate but it is just two roads in a T shape, and all the other roads around there are very expensive houses that are private. It's a bit odd but can't be unique to this town. They were built in the 1930s.

jozbo

Ex-LA or not, it's always down to the locality of that area and the neighbours. I think you can only truly know what you're getting once you move in TBH!

milliebear00001

skintchick wrote: »

It's one one of two roads that are LA or ex-LA, surrounded by some of the poshest roads in our town, so you could at a push call it a mini-estate but it is just two roads in a T shape, and all the other roads around there are very expensive houses that are private. It's a bit odd but can't be unique to this town. They were built in the 1930s.

That doesn't sound dissimilar to mine actually, although mine is more like four or five streets and one of them is quite long! Are they 'obviously' LA? Mine is 1950s and so a bit more attractive than the later council-built stuff.