New Builds - Affordable Social Housing

PasturesNew

Somebody I know bought a new build, overlooking "social housing flats" and alongside shared ownership.

5 years on, the reality is they are adjoined to a shared ownership semi, valued at £400k and bought by two Doctors; the other shared ownership terraceds are nice/decent people ... and the social housing flats (surely the worst of the worst?) somehow ended up in the hands of one owner who decorated them to a very high standard and only rents them to super-decent people.

It's a bit of a flagship development.... so you need to dig around and look at the area in general and who is likely to live there. Sometimes the Housing Associations have a "promise" to not put problem families in places, especially if they're considered "nicer parts"

andyuk01

I live in a mixed block with some shared communal space but separate key coded areas for owners / social

You can probably guess which areas are generally well maintained and which areas are full of rubbish and not looked after

The fire brigade have attended 8 times in the last year, all due to alarms from the social areas, down to people smoking in stairwells / flats (despite a very nice 4th floor terrace open to all)

The police have attended the social side several times for domestic issues and at least 2 sets of social tenants were evicted last year after multiple visits

If it wasn't for the fact i can park underground and have a separate lift to the floors covering the owned properties i wouldn't live here

PixelPound

Don't forget there are a range of social housing schemes employed in new build developments. One I looked at were going down the subsidised rent route - you had to be low paid, but not eligible for housing benefit to apply.

I would have thought new build developments to be largely anti-social free. In my experience there is more trouble from tenants of private landlords than housing associations etc, since if you complain about anti-social behaviour to such as LA or HA they will act, where as private LL who are operating arms-length approach will only intervene if their property is being damaged.

Dan-Dan

Personally (as someone who spent all their childhood shifted between council estates) i look for an established residential area , rather than a new build , then i research the area , thoroughly , including staking it out various times of the day (and night) , thats the best bet to move to the right area for you , too many variables in new build developments , never mind `undesirables` , of more concern would be developers cutting corners with promised amenities , green space , and never ending new phases

On top of that , any house anywhere is a gamble neighbour wise , unless your lucky enough to live in the middle of your own large field

DRP

Dan-Dan wrote: »

Personally (as someone who spent all their childhood shifted between council estates) i look for an established residential area , rather than a new build , then i research the area , thoroughly , including staking it out various times of the day (and night) , thats the best bet to move to the right area for you , too many variables in new build developments , never mind `undesirables` , of more concern would be developers cutting corners with promised amenities , green space , and never ending new phases

On top of that , any house anywhere is a gamble neighbour wise , unless your lucky enough to live in the middle of your own large field

Agree.

Don't buy a new build if you;re worried about social housing.

AnnieO1234

First of all, our new build (2012) has risen in value.

Second of all, on our development they built an apartment block that are on a rent to buy scheme which classed as the social housing portion. The only slightly problem neighbour is unfortunately very much an owner.

Third and lastly, all developers we spoke to were happy to point out where the social housing was and there seemed to be an engineering of the estates so that the premium homes were away from the social housing portions.

Xxx

davidmcn

DRP wrote: »

Agree.

Don't buy a new build if you;re worried about social housing.

I think that's overstating it - although the OP refers to "affordable social housing", we're really talking about affordable housing - of which housing owned by a social landlord is just one variety, there could be shared ownership, discounted houses sold to key workers, etc.

Also, in many cases the developer doesn't actually put any affordable housing in their development, but instead pays a contribution to the local authority so they can provide affordable housing elsewhere.

As I said above, the answer for any development is going to be in the planning consent.

BlueIsTheColour

Not sure you can predict anything. We bought a new build, small development, less than 50 houses with no social housing. The 106 stipulated that if so many houses were built within a certain time then they wouldn't state that social housing must be included.

However that being said, a house near us which cost £250k is owned by the most terrible family, noisy, inconsiderate, never mow the lawn, rubbish everywhere etc etc, so owner status is no indicator of behaviour.

As has been said, if this is a real concern, maybe a new build isn't the right purchase for you. At least with an older house you can research the neighbourhood a lot better.

Cash-Cows

At least with social housing they CAN be evicted. I would be more worried about living next to a 5 / 6 bedroom houses. These days they make no financial sense as single homes and developers pack them with young professionals who party the night away.

love2learn

davidmcn wrote: »

If you want a general answer then the planning authority will probably have a policy about it, and if you want to know what's been required for a particular development then it will form part of the planning consent - so the answer is probably on the council's website.

Thanks I will look today.