How do I check out the neighbours before buying?

barbiedoll

I work in South East London and I spend a lot of my time on council estates. The state of the front gardens doesn't necessarily indicate that the residents are all scumbags, but sheets pinned up at the windows, scruffy front doors with no bell or door knocker and a blocked up letterbox and rubbish strewn in the front garden can mean potential trouble (possibly a cannabis farm or a house full of illegal tenants etc etc)

Lots of people who are council/HA tenants don't really have the money to spend on doing up their front gardens, it doesn't mean that they will be horrid neighbours. But if the estate is generally run-down, with lots of graffiti, jacked-up cars with flat tyres and broken windows and the dreaded abandoned mattress or fridge in the street, then you'd probably be wise to walk away!

Check out the "facilities" in the immediate vicinity. Is there a pub or youth club nearby? Are you close to a bus shelter on a main road (where kids will hang out late at night)? Are there any communal grounds where you may get groups of youths hanging around at unsocial hours?

And do knock on the neighbours' doors. You will only know what and who you are dealing with when you actually meet them!

DaftyDuck

I chatted to one of the PCSO's in this area before buying this house. Mentioned the house in question, got good reports of the area. Bought it. Before moving in, had the plumbing & electrics redone from scratch. I arrived one snowy morning to find five vast 'leccies & plumbers protesting their innocence to another very petite PCSO who'd learnt the house was empty, and decided these dodgy characters - one of whom was stripping copper from the attic - must be detained at all costs....

She still grins at me each time I see her. PCSO's are, in my experience, often extremely undervalued and enthusiastic about their communities.

When buying a house, whatever you do, do lots. If it helps, think of it as a paid job; however many hours it may take, it'll save you a fortune if you don't make a mistake.

SecretSquirrell

Your prospective neighbours income may be less important than their employment status, so check if many are unemployed or living rent-free in the area. It might also help to see if there are many young children and youths in the area. Also see what kind of crime prevails, is it theft/burglary or is it anti-social behaviour and violent crime?

Have a look on illustreets site which contains a lot of area statistics and house prices.

There is also always a risk that an area that is quiet today, may attract loud residents tomorrow or next year. Check if house prices have been rising in the past year.
Best of luck!

moremore

Is it a block of flats or street properties, however in both cases you should find out who owns the property (it could be an absence LL or council or HA properties) find out who is responsible for the up keep of the estate. If it is council or LA and then check out their website all council's charges for caretaking as well as the upkeep of the grounds as well as community partol. It is possible the council caretaking fault and or perhaps no one in the building is reporting them for not providing a service for the money taken from resident or the tax payer. You will be doing a service for the rest of your neighbours if you check who owns the property next to where you want to buy as tax payers as well as people in the properties should at least be getting a reasonable service for what they pay for. :T

calicocat

Local police station will tell you about the area and if there have been any major problems on the road.

I've asked a couple of times before when thinking of moving, and glad I did once as would have ended up in the middle of crack city without knowing, plus all the local pubs were about to be shut down due to drug problems, you would never have known to look at the area in general.

Road_Hog

paulineb wrote: »

I live in a council estate and I have done for a long time. Ive had problems with drink, fights, partying from my neighbours, but these days, anything starts and I call the police.

I couldn't think of anything worse, than living on a council estate.

I left home at 16 and rented out a room on a West London council estate, it certainly opened my eyes up.

In the very late '80s, I moved in with my girlfriend/wife on what was a HA estate, that the council had some financial involvement in. It was a new build, but the estate very rapidly turned from HA to council tenants.

It was in Acton London. I'll gloss over some of the incidents, like the time that the women in the other block, drove across the road, through our 6' fence across our back garden and smashed into our property, causing the fire brigade to come out and check that the property wasn't going to collapse. No licence, no insurance etc.

Or the neighbour that had an Alsation, that never used to walk it and lifted up one of the flagstones in the back yard and dug a hole to brush the poop into. Or the other neighbour that had a rotting sofa in his back yard.

Or the lovely gentleman from upstairs, that put his foot through the glass (that stuff with the mesh wire in it) communal door. I went to remonstrate with the said person outside, who claimed that he had the right to do it, because he'd had a row with his girlfriend. Said gentleman was of Afro-Carribean origin, the next thing I know, two of his 'bro' from two other flats in the block, we're standing next to him asking why I'm giving him a hard time.

So, all of a sudden it is 3 against 1. Before some twonk replies, I'm a wayciiist, if I saw two people discussing something, I wouldn't immediately walk up and side with the person that was the same colour as me, I'd take it on merit. The next thing I know (couple of days later), the washing on the line out the back is getting flobbed on with big greenies and used baby nappies are getting dropped into our garden.

I've never been so happy to leave that place, 20 years ago now, but I can still remember it to this day. I'd prefer to be homeless rather than live on a council estate. And it wasn't cheap either, one bedroom ground floor flat, and it cost £320 a month back in 1993.

baloooo2

Went round again twice last night and it was silent as the grave (by which I do not mean there were bodies strewn around the pavement, btw). Also noticed an organic veg delivery van, and a woman coming out of one of the houses with Ocado shopping bags. Could it be that it's actually too posh for us....?

Tancred

baloooo2 wrote: »

We've put an offer in on a house that we like but the only hesitation we have is that it's on a south london council estate which is quite run down. It doesn't feel dangerous, but I think about 95% of it is still council owned, and almost all of the gardens are in a pretty poor state (overgrown), the state of the curtains and doors in most houses indicates the people living there are on pretty low income, and I'm starting to feel a bit put off.
To clarify, I don't think being on a low income makes you a bad person. But people who are troubled (addictions, mental health problems, etc) tend to end up on low incomes because they can't hold down employment and subsequently get dumped on undesirable estates by the council, given no support, and can end up being troublesome. The one thing I can't bear is NOISY NEIGHBOURS, and my worst nightmare is living somewhere surrounded by late night parties, drunk fights, etc.
I'm trying to spend time on the estate to suss out what it's like but I can't just stand there like an eejit all night long to check if anybody's being noisy! Is there any way to find out more about the place before we go ahead with the sale? I contacted the council to ask if there was a history of complaints about noise in the area but they were totally unhelpful.
Thanks for any thoughts

I woulldn't touch such a house with a bargepole. What do you want to 'check out'? All council estates in London are pits of hell - enough said!

sfm82

baloooo2 wrote: »

Went round again twice last night and it was silent as the grave (by which I do not mean there were bodies strewn around the pavement, btw). Also noticed an organic veg
delivery van, and a woman coming out of one of the houses with Ocado shopping bags. Could it be that it's actually too posh for us....?

Sounds promising!! the only thing from the local supermarket that made it on my estate were the trolleys!