Would you (or have you) buy an ex-council house?

tbs1983

I bought an ex council house last year, approx 1/2 the houses on my row are owned and 1/2 are still council.
Everything was great, nice happy street, until one couple moved out of a council house 3 doors down from me and a 'rough family' moved in.
The woman is a loud gobsh**e and the bloke smokes weed openly outside and i suspect deals the stuff too as theres always people in and out.
I no longer like living here and am selling up.

Be warned, tenants can change !!!

ShakeItOff

We are first time buyers and our shortlist included an ex-council house. We went to view it once. The rooms were a good size, as was the garden. It was in an area that I remember being quite rough when I was growing up and that did stick in my mind.

That said, I drove around the estate on a couple of later evenings/nights to see if it still had the same kind of reputation but it was really quiet. The house itself needed some TLC but was fine for the price.

The only thing that stopped us seeing it a second time was the EA pulled out on the second viewing as someone had put in an offer that was accepted. It fell through, but by the time we knew that, we had an offer accepted on another house.

I would buy one, but I would do the research first.

TBagpuss

Yes. I would and I did.

There are good and bad streets, and good and bad neighbours wherever you live.

My ex-council house has larger rooms, more outside space and better construction than anything else I could have got for the same price.

I have lovely neighbours. Both sides own their homes - one side are former council tenants who exercised their right to buy, they have lived in the house for 40 years and know everyone - they have been very welcoming and helpful. The other side, like me, had never been tenants but are equally nice. I believe that some of the other properties are still council owned but I don't know which ones.

My previous property was a former housing association property - some of the neighbours there were nice, some weren't. And one of the biggest a*s*h*l*s was an owner occupier. (fortunately he wasn't my immediate neighbour and was far enough down the street that I never had any personal run -ins with him, but I saw how he behaved to other people)

elvenlomadia

We have just bought an ex-council house, there are 4 on the end of an otherwise privately-built street (all houses privately owned). So got the benefit of big rooms/garden, nice area and a good 50-100k less than some of the private houses would sell for! Can't really find a drawback as yet.

chelseablue

If I ring the local council and give them the name of the road are they able to tell me how many are still council owned?

TBagpuss

Just to add - if you end up with difficult neighbours who are council / housing association tenants the the council / HA will normally have procedures for dealing with issues, which is not the case if you move in next to an awkward owner-occupier or private tenant.,

In my last house, I had a problem neighbour. After trying, and failing to resolve it amicably I contacted the HA and they wrote to her and also visited her, and the issue was resolved.

chelseablue

Just phoned the council and they said that there are no council houses anymore in the whole town - they were all sold to a Housing Association about 7 years ago.


Is this a good or bad thing?

kathrynha

Our house is an ex-council house.


2 bed semi, front and back garden, driveway for the same price as a 2 up 2 down back to back a couple of streets away. It was a no-brainer.


Our estate is about 90% privately owned, although a number of those are BTLs.
Of our direct neighbours, the council tenant is lovely, friendly and quiet. The other side are a private let, and they are loud and rude, but as you find private rentals everywhere avoiding ex-councils won't save you from bad neighbours

Piggywiggy

I'm happy to consider ex authority when I go house hunting, what will matter to me is how many of them there are, more than 20 and I will probably be put off because I want to live in a rural area but from what I can see he gardens and bedrooms are huge compared to the equivalent 'private' estates.

piglet25

I pity the council tenants that end up with some of you narrow minded people for neighbours when your bubbles burst