Buying an ex Local Authority house, what's the catch?

csys

I decided to arrange to see a house (mid-terraced - freehold) and I called the agent, the guy told me that the house is ex LA.

I read a lot about the ex LA flats, but to be honest I could not find what's the issue with the ex LA hosues, legal perhaps , or service fees to be paid ?

thx in advance for any help!

RAS

Check the construction - sometimes non-standard.

And as a mid terrace, if the other housea re still LA, then if they renovate you may find that yours is left undone and looks odd (different roof and wall surfaces to the rest of the terrace).

A few quid checking the Land Registry to see how many are now owner occupied might be worth it.

bouicca21

If it's freehold then the issues are about the neighbours. Given how difficult it is to get a council house nowadays, any neighbours still renting from the council are likely to have multiple problems. The upside is that council houses tended to be well built.

I'd have a chat with the local community support officer, check out whether there is a Tenants/residents association and see what they have to say about the neighbourhood. Maybe scout round the area on Friday and Saturday evenings.

When I was looking for a place I saw several ex council houses. Some were in difficult areas; some were great. You won't know until you look.

csys

I did visit the area a couple of times, but not Fri/Sat evenings, I also did some checks (crimeandjustice.co.uk website) , as I do for all of the houses I am looking, the area looks ok

What, also, I managed to find is that the energy rate on the EPC is not the best (E50) as its solid brick wall, pitched roof without insulation as it says there, but I don't think the cost to put insulation under the roof is too much.

silvercar

If it's freehold then the issues are about the neighbours. Given how difficult it is to get a council house nowadays, any neighbours still renting from the council are likely to have multiple problems.

That is a generalisation, you get areas where the houses are occupied by older people who have happily rented off the council for 30 yrs plus and make for nice neighbours.

Rooms tend to be bigger and the properties solidly built.

There can be problem areas, so read the local paper, check out facebook etc

Trixi

I bought an ex council house on a road which is probably half owner-occupiers now. One neighbour owns, the other rents from the council. We got a lot of house for the money and a big garden - also found that insulation had been taken care of by the council before it was sold. No problems at all here...

csys

I am using too the illustreets.co.uk website, from the 2011 stats I see the home owners are around 90% , 1% social rent, the rest private rent.

Some sites mention that ex LA properties are subject to section 106/157 agreements , is this something that I have to worry?

thx a lot!

theartfullodger

I have 4 ex-LA houses:

2 of my sons have bought ex-LA flats in London: So far so good.

In my experience they are more soundly constructed than many spec-builder rabbit-hutches bunged up to exploit the FTB.. Check deeds, plan/boundaries (one of mine is missing the front garden: Must sort that some time..), any covenants & service charges for "the estate".

The neighbours are usually less snooty & stuck-up than the "executive homes" development...

Cheers!

Senior_Paper_Monitor

Be aware that if the property was transferred to private ownership less than 10 years ago, pre-emption will be in place and it may be difficult to find a lender who will finance the purchase.

csys

theartfullodger wrote: »

...
.... any covenants & service charges for "the estate".
...

oh yes, I am curious about this, can a freehold property have service charges?

Also, now as I am looking the sale history (since '95) (on zoopla, I am not sure how reliable is) for the property's postcode I noticed that the house sold just one time on 2001, then rented (private) on 2009.

theartfullodger

They certainly can in Scotland (I pay about £230/house..)