New housing estate... Opinions please, please help!

poppysarah

• We're not keen on housing estate where cars are parked on the roads, and this would probably be one of them as a lot of the houses only have 1 parking space (we would use our garage to solve that issue for ourselves)

You probably need to measure the garage in relation to being able to open car doors and get out of the car ....

And bear in mind most newbuilds have so little storage space that the garage will be needed for that.

Your other worries would be best dealt with by not buying a newbuild too.

princeofpounds

- The build quality of new build estates can be very poor. I would be very wary of buying without some clear understanding of this (already part-constructed, or an ultra-tight specification). Paper-thin internal walls and the like...

- Many new build estates end up with awful parking situations as the govt/council put restrictions on which don't match the way people live or the access to alternative transport.. One near me has ended up with nose-to-tail parking on the road, and people abandoning their cars on the pavements and verges.

- As for being next to bad areas, that can depend a great deal. If there is foot/cycle/car traffic from these areas through your area, that's a recipe for petty vandalism, opportunistic thefts etc. If there is no traffic, communities can live side by side without ever really interacting.

I know this from living in London and looking at crime stat maps; vehicle crime and burglary typically much more common on the roads between bad estates and local high streets than roads between bad estates and nowhere.

So the point I'm making is that it depends as much on what is on the other side of your area to the bad neighbourhood as it does on the neighbourhood itself.

- Beware of buying a house in a development that subsequently ends up as mostly social housing. Struggling developers know it's an easy way to fill units.

droiderm

How would you know how much of an estate is Social housing?
And how actually does that work on a new estate?

Thanks

spenceeyftb

I believe that now a certain % of all housing stock on a given estate has to be allocated to housing association.

bex2012

spenceeyftb wrote: »

I believe that now a certain % of all housing stock on a given estate has to be allocated to housing association.

That MAY not be true - it all depends (it certainly did a couple of years ago). When the developement near me was built, there was no social housing included. Instead the developer made a large monetary contribution to the local primary school. When the idea to build more houses on our estate was mooted, part of the 'selling point' by the developers was that they would refurbish and extend the local scout hall. I was under the impression they could either build social housing or fund a social project.

As I said, this may not be the case now though, as things do change.

droiderm

If it is true, are the builders pretty open with that information (i.e. what percentage is social housing)?
Or is it more a case of what we can't sell, gets sold to social housing?

dissy

Is the developement finished ? If not you really need to consider the noise of living on a developement.
We moved into our new build in '08 its a small developement of 41 propertys, we did not get a lie in until 2010 when the developers finished.
Its a really nice house but very little socialising with the neighbours
I really would not worry to much about the social housed people its roughly around 14% of the developement in my experience its the private renters who cause trouble.
The social housed tennants on this estate have always looked after there propertys alot better than anyone else this is because they are checked on alot more than the private renters. And sadly you won't know if someone has bought a BTL.
Parking is always a problem wherever you live and we wouldn't have bought this house without it having a double garage and 2 off road parking spaces.
The other thing you really need to think about is if there is any open space close by, will that be another housing estate in 5 yrs from now that could effect you.

nic_santorini

I would be very careful, even if 20% or so is social housing, if the houses don't sell privately, the developers give more to housing associations and the house you paid a high buck for suddenly becomes a council estate full of those who don't care and respect their homes and the value of yours will plummet. This has happened in our area and people have lost 50,000 of a £250k house they bought 18 months previously. This is mass stereotyping I know, but it is fact here.

Mickygg

My experience wasn't great. I lived in a new build estate for several years.Bad points were parking, kids playing in mass constantly, large social housing, walls made of cardboard and very, very poor finishing involving a snag list taking 2 years to nearly complete them all.


Good points, no big house costs for many years, new boiler etc, very economical on the leccy and gas bills.


For me the bad points outweigh the good, and I moved away to an older property.


With your concerns OP, I wouldn't risk it.

Mobeer

poppysarah wrote: »

You probably need to measure the garage in relation to being able to open car doors and get out of the car ....

And bear in mind most newbuilds have so little storage space that the garage will be needed for that.

Your other worries would be best dealt with by not buying a newbuild too.

But a new build will probably have a bigger garage than a house built in the 70's with a garage sized to fit a big car from that decade - cars have been growing and so have garages.