Buying on a council estate

rmillsx123

Just wanting abit if advice on a house I’m im the middle of buying. This is a ex council house on a council estate. We have just had the Survey back to say there has been structural damage (movement) in he house in the past but seems to have been repaired and no evidence to show this is on going. Another thing was “future saleability may be affected because of adverse location; a public sector housing estate”

this has worried me and I’m so stuck on what to do. I don’t want to buy a house I will struggle selling and make nothing on. What would other people do?

hazyjo

Depends on what the estate is like - location and reputation.

There are many I would've avoided buying on, or even near, but they would've been grim London ones.

Which area? Anyone here likely to know it? Could check out this map- if it's red and everything else green, I'd prob avoid: https://vis.oobrien.com/booth/ (thanks to whoever first gave the link, I've found it fairly accurate).


PS no guarantee you'll make money on any house. (Crashy, no need to agree, I don't need approval )

[Deleted User]

Personally no I would not buy on a council estate unless 90% ish were now private homes. You are already reducing down your pool of potential buyers as location really does matter. Add now the “movement” could put off more people. 

If you want to post a link there are some very knowledgable people on here who will dig out all sorts of info to help you decide  

RelievedSheff

Our last house was an ex council house on a council estate in Sheffield. Probably about 50% of the houses were owned and 50% were still council houses. We hated living there and would never live on a similar estate again. We had problems with the neighbours, which granted you could have anywhere, but the mentality of some of the residents was beyond belief. 

We were so glad when we could finally move last year. 

tinytiddles

We have just sold our ex-Council house after living there for 14 years. As others have said, it largely depends on where the property is and how the neighbourhood is. 

We part exchanged ours with a developer but when they put it up for sale it was sold STC within 48 hours and we found out it was bought by an investor who has since rented it out. The thing with ex-Council houses is that they are a fairly good punt for buy to letters as they are relatively cheap, reasonably well built and there tends to be high demand for rentals in these areas.

RelievedSheff

tinytiddles said:

We have just sold our ex-Council house after living there for 14 years. As others have said, it largely depends on where the property is and how the neighbourhood is. 

We part exchanged ours with a developer but when they put it up for sale it was sold STC within 48 hours and we found out it was bought by an investor who has since rented it out. The thing with ex-Council houses is that they are a fairly good punt for buy to letters as they are relatively cheap, reasonably well built and there tends to be high demand for rentals in these areas.

Funnily enough we part exchanged ours with a developer as well who put it for sale while we were still living there and that sold within 48 hours as well!!

Ours sold to a young local couple buying their first house together. Doesn't look like the reality of home owner ship has turned out too good for them though as it is back up for sale again 18 months after they bought it.

warby68

I wouldn't buy it, simple as that, if even the valuer is commenting on saleability.
TBH, I probably wouldn't buy it even without a comment. Call me a snob but council estates struggle to shake off certain reputations no matter what the reality. Might be unfair but doesn't make it not so.
Location is pretty much everything.

RelievedSheff

warby68 said:

I wouldn't buy it, simple as that, if even the valuer is commenting on saleability.
TBH, I probably wouldn't buy it even without a comment. Call me a snob but council estates struggle to shake off certain reputations no matter what the reality. Might be unfair but doesn't make it not so.
Location is pretty much everything.

Fully agree with this. Once bitten twice shy in our case.

Silvertabby

The final phase of our estate was rubber stamped just a few months before the law was passed stating that a percentage of houses on new estates must be 'affordable'.

Even now, that is still an unofficial selling point. Although the lady who bought my friend's house 10 years ago came right out with it and  said that she 'wouldn't have spent a quarter of a million pounds to live next door to a council house'.

theartfullodger

I have bought 4 houses on council estates (well, 3 were in Scotland on a "scheme" as they are described).

Well built, decent homes, good investments, lovely neighbours.  But the best bit is the absence of smug middle class people banging on about house prices all the time.

Best wishes to all.

davidmcn

theartfullodger said:

I have bought 4 houses on council estates (well, 3 were in Scotland on a "scheme" as they are described).

Well built, decent homes, good investments, lovely neighbours.

Indeed, I think the OP needs some local knowledge, and hasn't given us any hints about where they're talking about.

One thing to be aware of is that surveyors are often fond of copying and pasting fairly standard caveats into their reports, so you need to figure out whether this is someone who says the same thing about every property in the vicinity of social housing, or whether they actually have concerns about this particular neighbourhood.

Certainly if it's an area where there are few privately-owned properties, that will affect marketability if only because fewer buyers will be considering it as an area with houses to buy.

Historic non-progressing movement is really a non-point, very common to have that as a comment for any buildings of a certain age.