Do Council Houses lower the tone?

cashdaddy

I have noticed many really nice houses that just dont sell and in each case, they are either on or near a council estate. Is it the term 'Council House' that is pejorative, or is there a real concern from people buying a private home near one?

BargainHunterCat

Do council houses lower the tone? No

Some council house tenants do however...!:rotfl:

People are snobs though. I used to live in a rented ex-council house. It was huge! Loved it!

cashdaddy

Some council house tenants do however...!:rotfl:

People are snobs though. I used to live in a rented ex-council house. It was huge! Loved it![/QUOTE]


Yes, I suppose there are as many snobs out there as there are dodgy council house tenants! However, buyers given the choice, are going to purchase a home located away from a council estate.

clutton_2

Lenders also discriminate against ex-council property when they offer mortgage products. Rents tend to be cheaper in ex LA houses, so, even if it started as snobbery, it has now become part of the economics of the property business.

barnaby-bear

cashdaddy wrote:

I have noticed many really nice houses that just dont sell and in each case, they are either on or near a council estate. Is it the term 'Council House' that is pejorative, or is there a real concern from people buying a private home near one?

I had the choice buy ex-La or commute 2 hours a day - chose the latter, just couldn't stomach spending 200k+ on a 2/3 bed ex-council knowing I'd be living next to someone paying £60 a week for the same (or not paying via HB) but we're planning to have a baby (hey it's fun trying) and couldn't imagine how to deal with baby-barnaby coming home from school and wanting to go to kayleigh/dwayne's house next door to play - sorry kyle's mom's a slapper with 3 kids by unknown blokes and jordan's dad is lazy dole-scrounger with a side line in nicking car radios... there are plenty of decent hard-working families on low incomes already in LA housing but points mean houses and in our area you have to be REALLY disfunctional, really !!!!less and have loads of kids you've not thought of supporting to qualify and the incoming tenants tend to run riot with hoards of ASBOd kids. We lived on council estate (private rental) and the tenants 10+ we're salt of the earth, better than private estates but the up and coming teenny-bop moms and their drug-riddled baseball capped chaved boyfriends were awful. If it's somewhere like a 1-bed for a young professional to live it doesn't matter but when you're worried about your kid going to school and wanting to be like p-daddy or thinking living off the state is a career. If you have kids you have to integrate into the community it's not somewhere to rest your head.

leannie_2

Well thanks!
I grew up on a council estate, in a council house... my grandparents still live in one. Funnily enough, the school I went to is really highly rated and no matter whether you live on a private or council estate, as far as LEA funded schools are concerned, it doesn't matter as my town only has one, so you go there or you go to a public school!
My parents, 3 of my aunts and various other relatives live in ex-council houses they have bought. In fact where my parents live, none of the houses are now owned by the local authority, and the LA are buying houses in a 'private' housing estate.
It really does depend on the estate, and the area you live in. Down here (Cornwall), the council estates are not loads of grubby high rise flats, or cramped terraces but roads of 2/3/4 bed houses with huge rooms, high ceilings, gardens front and back and often garages. My parents has a private road to it, a garage, plus a parking space, faces on to a green, has 3 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, plus living, room, kitchen, utility and dining room, they have not extended it. Even the smaller ones on that road sell for £170k upwards.
There are plenty of 'undesirable' tenants living in private rented accomodation where the council rents it from the landlord.
Plus if anyone had a reason to be uneducated, out of work and on benefits it would be the people living in council estates in Cornwall, as it is the poorest area in Europe!
Just don't judge a book by its cover, and often you'll find that people who are local and really know an area will buy without the 'posh' prejudices or at least I know I would.

barnaby-bear

leannie wrote:

Well thanks!
I grew up on a council estate, in a council house... my grandparents still live in one. Funnily enough, the school I went to is really highly rated and no matter whether you live on a private or council estate, as far as LEA funded schools are concerned, it doesn't matter as my town only has one, so you go there or you go to a public school!
My parents, 3 of my aunts and various other relatives live in ex-council houses they have bought. In fact where my parents live, none of the houses are now owned by the local authority, and the LA are buying houses in a 'private' housing estate.
It really does depend on the estate, and the area you live in. Down here (Cornwall), the council estates are not loads of grubby high rise flats, or cramped terraces but roads of 2/3/4 bed houses with huge rooms, high ceilings, gardens front and back and often garages. My parents has a private road to it, a garage, plus a parking space, faces on to a green, has 3 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, plus living, room, kitchen, utility and dining room, they have not extended it. Even the smaller ones on that road sell for £170k upwards.
There are plenty of 'undesirable' tenants living in private rented accomodation where the council rents it from the landlord.
Plus if anyone had a reason to be uneducated, out of work and on benefits it would be the people living in council estates in Cornwall, as it is the poorest area in Europe!
Just don't judge a book by its cover, and often you'll find that people who are local and really know an area will buy without the 'posh' prejudices or at least I know I would.

Hey most of my family grew up in council housing but the tenants eligible at the mo. are less than desirable, it's not judging a book, we rented on an LA estate - it was the chavs that ruined it!! I'm not talking high rise nice 1930s semis but at 240k a pop and the neighbours I'm not going there. The 10+ year tenant were wonderful but anyone eligible in the last few years seemed utter waste of space, layabout or just plain disfunctional. You can throw in a few nice, decent families as examples but the prob. is that your AVERAGE new eligible tenant has to have serious problems to get the points.

hobo28

perception is reality. A lot of people perceive council estates to be a bad area because of the tenants. Therefore if you bought a house there then you may find it harder to sell in the future and maybe won't get as much as a similar home further away.

That said, my first home was right next to a council estate and I never had any problems. It is the underdesirables though and most families given the choice won't want to live near them, especially if they have kids.

ginger_nuts

its all about location location location .
I remember going to view a house in a private developement 9 years ago .The woman selling it said "this is the good end off the estate , up at the other end beside the footpath ( 150 metres away ) they are always being broken into " .At the other side of the footpath was 3 council estates .
The house was a dump so needless to say I didnt buy .

My parents bought there council house 23 years ago .They where the last people to move into that row and all the other tennants have bought there houses and still live there .

cashdaddy

I went to look at a really nice house that ticked every box, except behind the house was a council estate. Okay, I thought, nothing wrong with that, i'll just go and have a look at the estate. Right next to the house I was viewing, was a wide alley that lead to the estate, behind. There were beer bottles littered along the path, graffiti and used nappies! The garden of the potential purchase run right next to this alley and I felt it made the house an easy target for opportunist burglars. Neadless to say, the house is still on the market at £575k, 1 year later. At that price, people are going to buy elsewhere.

N9eav

Most of the older council estates in our town are now private estates, as the majority of tennants bought their properties. They are larger homes with huge gardens. Many people have had the room to extend their properties because of the space. I am finding that the newer housing association homes are now the ones with a stigma attached. They tend to be smaller and tiny gardens. There is no where for children to play and so they play in the street. This annoys the older residents and so anti social behaviour seems to commence. Now people seem to be avoiding these areas....