Buying flat in block - query

G_M

AliceBanned wrote: »

...

So there's no way of actually getting that info formally? I suppose the house price websites are a pretty big clue - there are sold prices for most of them, since 2002, then three of them have no sold price at all, so must have never been sold.

the house price websites get their information from the Land registry.

The Land Registry says:

The price paid data excludes:

• property transactions that have not been lodged at Land Registry
• all property transactions which involve:
  • a corporate body
  • company
  • business
• any residential property sales that may not have been for full market value, for example:
  • sale of part of the property or a share of a property
  • sale of a property at a discount, including right to buy properties
  • sale of repossessed properties
  • sale subject to an existing mortgage
  • transfers following divorce or by way of gift or exchange
  • transfers under Compulsory Purchase Order or by Court Order
  • transfer of more than one property as part of a portfolio
  • leases for 7 years or less.

Mokka

It's not a good sign that a HA is not keeping the building properly maintained. Some of them can be worse than councils. Regarding v. noisy neighbours you can call the police, report to Environmental Health noise officers (council) and HA. Of course it's a drag to have to do this. There is more risk of this sort of thing going on in a HA flat, but you might be lucky. Also earplugs are great for some noise (of course won't work with a proper rave going on, but the police should shut it down when reported).
Re: prejudices against social tenants.
The worst offenders in my council owned block are not council tenants, but people who sublet from buy to let leaseholders- all who seem to have proper jobs! All council tenants are families who go to bed early.

phill99

AliceBanned wrote: »

Hi

if all are shared ownership or fully privately owned, the likelihood of people being in full time work is much greater. I prefer this as there is less likelihood, of people having late night music etc,

Can you actually get any more narrow minded and prejudiced?

davidmcn

Mokka wrote: »

The worst offenders in my council owned block are not council tenants, but people who sublet from buy to let leaseholders- all who seem to have proper jobs! All council tenants are families who go to bed early.

Quite - the Land Registry will tell you which flats are owned by the housing association and which aren't, but not which are private lets, and none of this will really tell you which occupiers are obnoxiously noisy.

moremore

Look out for cost like in the link below also google better homes you will see what council are doing with leaseholders charges....examples of some costs in link below:

Residents will have no choice but use the council's contractors - no such thing as getting 3 quotations for works what the council contractors says that what you will be charged...

http://southendclose.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/update-correspondence-with-camden-re-apollocamden-council-leaseholder-invoices-for-water-works/

TBagpuss

Depending on the housing association, having neighbours who are HA tenants may actually be useful, as if they are noisy or otherwise cause problems the Housing Association will almost certainly have procedures in place to deal with this.
I live in a former HA property - my immediate neighbours rent and when there was an issue with the (previous) tenant I contacted the HA who dealt with it very promptly. The tenant's antisocial behaviour was a breach of their lease. Another neighbour of mine, who had problems with *their* neighbour, who was a home owner, had much more difficulty trying to resolve an issue as the HA could not get involved in a dispute where neither party was a tenant.

which window frames are your talking about? In a shared ownership property maintenance is generally the responsibility of the owner, not the landlord - external window frames on a block of flats *may* be the landlord's responsbility but I would check the lease before assuming it means they don't maintain the building properly.

AliceBanned

phill99 wrote: »

Can you actually get any more narrow minded and prejudiced?

This is something I was advised by a friend who turned down shared ownership for that reason.

I don't think I was narrow minded or prejudiced, but the friend probably was. I went ahead despite all my doubts and it has been ok.

If you had seen the earlier part of my thread you would see that I have valid reasons for my doubts, due to an experience and definitely did not deserve (ie living in a block full of unemployed people, who didn't give a damn about my rights to a night's sleep, and who Shelter eventually took to court on my behalf, as the HA was acting illegally by not protecting its tenant, and was not adhering to the law on environmental health on many counts.

That's what I needed to avoid. That isn't prejudice or narrow mindedness, it is pragmatism.:)

AliceBanned

Mokka wrote: »

It's not a good sign that a HA is not keeping the building properly maintained. Some of them can be worse than councils. Regarding v. noisy neighbours you can call the police, report to Environmental Health noise officers (council) and HA. Of course it's a drag to have to do this. There is more risk of this sort of thing going on in a HA flat, but you might be lucky. Also earplugs are great for some noise (of course won't work with a proper rave going on, but the police should shut it down when reported).
Re: prejudices against social tenants.
The worst offenders in my council owned block are not council tenants, but people who sublet from buy to let leaseholders- all who seem to have proper jobs! All council tenants are families who go to bed early.

I thought I was careful enough to not sound prejudiced against council tenants. I have been one myself, and had some lovely neighbours (some of the best) but unfortunately in a previous place some of the worst, as the council was following its statutory duty to house them, and many had come straight out of prison. That doesn't mean I in any way equate council tenants with prison, just that through painful experience I learnt the facts about housing law in the UK, and why councils nearly have to get blood out of a stone to evict a shorthold tenant, whereas this isn't the case with any other tenancy. Therefore, if a tenant is behaving badly, they often turn a blind eye. I wasn't assuming, that because they are council tenants, they do behave badly, not at all. I'm not someone who would do that, I had a very difficult start in life myself.

moremore

Also council as well as HA tenants pay for service charges as much as private landlords charges, but they do not provide that services, if they did they would be aware of who is responsible for the antisocial behaviour and deal with it accordingly. It is lazy and easier for them to blaming all the tenants as it is in their interest to do so.

AliceBanned

moremore wrote: »

Also council as well as HA tenants pay for service charges as much as private landlords charges, but they do not provide that services, if they did they would be aware of who is responsible for the antisocial behaviour and deal with it accordingly. It is lazy and easier for them to blaming all the tenants as it is in their interest to do so.

I agree. The HA I was with (previously council properties) blamed ALL the tenants. They could not discriminate between the ones who wanted a decent home and the ones who ruined it for everyone else (including vandalism and threats of violence). In fact, they probably could but they didn't care about the distress - anyone who complained was in the wrong and a problem for them - which is why in the end Shelter stepped in and was at the point of taking them to court, before they listened and recognised/admitted there was a serious problem. I paid my rent for two years whilst living like that - raves in the middle of the night..I wasn't in a position to give up my tenancy and rent privately, as I was in a low paid job. Also I refused to accept that living in social housing or any type of housing in such conditions, was acceptable and (maybe stupidly) I did not leave and make it easy for the HA.