Help ! housing association suddenly appeared

alienbb

I have bought a house in a new housing development consisted of 23 private dwellings. I was told when we bought the house that there is no housing association building in the development. We are due to move in before christmas. The developer now informed us that they have now sold 12 of the houses to housing association. My question are. what sort of effect does it have on the house? what can I do?

dmg24

Do you have it in writing that no properties would be sold to a HA?

alienbb

yes, but it is not in contract, it's kind of like an additional notes saying there is no HA in this development, and now they have sent us an update saying there is 12 house sold to HA...

robwend

oooh blimey this is bad, i used to be one of the HA occupiers that moved into a new estate mixed with mortgage owners, bad mix let me tell you. i was a good tenant whos normal, not all are!! let me tell you. it devalued the houses down the road by30% minimum. the crime level was so bad , kids everywhere , police nameed it alcatraz. if theres anyway you can get out of this do. it will be high turnover of tenants and trouble.

fc123

I'm treading carefully here as affordable housing is vital BUT you SHOULD have been told.
POINT 1; Years back, a housing association estate was built next to our house, very pretty, 4 bed family homes, disabled houses etc. We moved before it was completed. 28 units were let out but included 2 "families from hell" (according to our ex-neighbours) and then all the ordinary, trouble free families then wanted to be transferred out as there was always trouble.

POINT 2; My sister in Law got dead lucky with a swishy new HA 3 bed on a private estate....the HA properties were in a Cul de Sac at the bottom.
After 2 yrs, the differences between the HA bit and the rest were quite stark.

I'm not going to comment further unless you want more info and I'm off to bed so I won't have to face a barrage of posts accusing me of slating ALL HA tenants...which I am TOTALLY not! I'm just posting personal experience which is what these forums are about.

dmg24

In that case I would go back to them and renegotiate on price (assuming you have not yet exchanged), or ask for some kind of compensation.

I am not against social housing (I used to have a SO property), but you have paid a premium for a house on a development exclusively made up of private dwellings.

How did the developer advise you of this? Did they offer any kind of recourse? You really need to speak to them about it, and if they are not willing to give you something, ask your solicitor to speak to them on your behalf x

jebervic

Yep-not good, I certainly wouldn't want to be living in the middle of a council estate. As Robwend says, there are some real horror stories on these estates.

Doubt you can do very much, perhaps see if the HA would like to buy yours?, oh and get a burglar alarm and some secure locks for the windows and doors.

jebervic

fc123 wrote: »

I'm treading carefully here as affordable housing is vital BUT you SHOULD have been told.
POINT 1; Years back, a housing association estate was built next to our house, very pretty, 4 bed family homes, disabled houses etc. We moved before it was completed. 28 units were let out but included 2 "families from hell" (according to our ex-neighbours) and then all the ordinary, trouble free families then wanted to be transferred out as there was always trouble.

POINT 2; My sister in Law got dead lucky with a swishy new HA 3 bed on a private estate....the HA properties were in a Cul de Sac at the bottom.
After 2 yrs, the differences between the HA bit and the rest were quite stark.

I'm not going to comment further unless you want more info and I'm off to bed so I won't have to face a barrage of posts accusing me of slating ALL HA tenants...which I am TOTALLY not! I'm just posting personal experience which is what these forums are about.

Stop being a wimp, tell us all the stories in the morning.

dmg24

Just to add, although it is not in the contract itself, the fact that you have it in writing would imply that it is a representation that was condusive to you buying the property.

jebervic

dmg24 wrote: »

Just to add, although it is not in the contract itself, the fact that you have it in writing would imply that it is a representation that was condusive to you buying the property.

Yes but we all know it won't wash, why give false hope?

dmg24

jebervic wrote: »

Yes but we all know it won't wash, why give false hope?

Absolute rubbish.

If the OP did not have anything in writing, I would agree that he would not get any redress. However, the OP has it in writing, and can therefore prove that he relied on this information in buying the property.

If you do not have relevant legal knowledge, then your comments are not particularly helpful.