Buying on a council estate

Falafels

Check the crime statistics for the area.

My then partner and I bought an ex-council house in 1988; it was a lovely solid house in a tree-lined road with really good size gardens front and back, backing onto a playing field. Many of the neighbours were the nicest people you could ever wish to meet.

However, over a period of seven years, it was burgled three times, we had the car stolen, car vandalised, garage broken into repeatedly and various bits of petty vandalism which just make your life a misery. And, on this estate, people certainly DID steal from their neighbours.

Whether or not they're privately owned is irrelevant, really. Some of the best kept houses and gardens on the estate were occupied by council tenants. Some very well kept "bought" houses were still occupied by the career petty criminals who had originally been council tenants.

I personally wouldn't touch an ex-council house having had that experience, but this is obviously going to vary from area to area.

ElephantBoy57

FinallyStoppedLurking said:

A council estate is more likely to be an area of deprivation. An area of deprivation is more likely to have higher crime levels, anti-social behavior, drug problems etc.  
Obviously not all council estate are the same and not all people who live on a housing estate are the same.

Thieves will want to steal the expensive cars parked outside private houses, but then again you are likely to have parking issues if a family has numerous cars.

oldbikebloke

rmillsx123 said:

 and make nothing on. What would other people do?

are you buying a home to live in, or an investment to make money from?

If your finances are so stretched that "the best" you can afford is a council house then why not invest in stock market property related shares instead?

strawb_shortcake

I live in an ex council house, it's only one street and 50/50 between social and private occupants. It's a mixed bag but there are no bad neighbours and we don't get any trouble. 
What was considered to be the "posh" estate gets far more visits from the police and antisocial behaviour. 
I also benefit from good sized rooms, a massive garden with a great view and band b council tax. 
The posh bit has, tiny gardens, tiny rooms, no views, inflated council tax and base house price. 

On the other hand would I move to one of the purpose built council estates in Bristol? not a chance. My Husband grew up on one and we lived there for a bit but I'd never want to bring children up there. Some of the people are fantastic but the highs are massively outweighed by the lows

FtbDreaming

I live in a council estate... it was all I could afford and I lived here anyway so made sense to pay mortgage rather than rent. However if I did have money to buy elsewhere then I would.

I bought this house knowing it probably won’t sell on and what we put into it will be for us as there is definitely a ceiling price, having said that the houses have been flying out around here the last 3 months at £30-50k more than the price I agreed in October 2019 so I may be in luck... we’ll find out in 10 years if/ when I decide to sell.

chilswelluk

My friends aunty purchased her council house opposite a university for 12k in the 1980's and it's now worth nearly 700k.  Not bad for someone who was a cleaner all their life.

lady1964

Our first house in a new area that we bought 28 years ago was on a council estate. Our house was situated just as you drove into the estate with a large field with play area practically next door. We bought it for the size of the rooms, the location (close to a good primary school, the field and its position on the estate).
We did what research we could (no internet then) and found that a very high percentage of houses were owner/occupied, the outsides were all well looked after and on viewing found the neighbours friendly.

When we sold it 4 years later, it was to a buyer who had wanted to live on that estate for several years and as far as I know, is still there.

youth_leader

My late husband and I lived in Beech Avenue at the Vale in Acton in a council flat in the 80's and I discovered the mentality on the estate was that if someone wanted what you had, they just took it.  One morning the car wouldn't start - car was locked - someone had nicked my car battery.   I expect it is different now as so many are privately owned, but we used to joke if it wasn't nailed down it would be gone.  

hazyjo

chilswelluk said:

My friends aunty purchased her council house opposite a university for 12k in the 1980's and it's now worth nearly 700k.  Not bad for someone who was a cleaner all their life.

The same story for many. But I bet the surrounding houses not on the estate are going for over a million. Plus the estate is probably all, or nearly all, privately owned now.

As has been suggested, it depends on what the rest of the estate is like. There are many I know of which I'd not touch with a bargepole. I lived very near one and there were sirens heading over there every night. Stayed near another for a while, and nothing out of the ordinary at all.

md258

Did you get any feel for how well the property had been maintained on your viewings? My brother lives in an ex-council house and every piece of work they do on the house (there have been quite a few) seems to take twice as long and cost twice as much as they have to undo (or uncover for later) various bodge fixes. I don't know whether this was the council doing things on the cheap or whether it was subsequent owners but it has made everything they have done far more complicated.

Also, are there any maintenance things that lots of houses have had done but yours hasn't (new roof/windows etc?)? It may mean that they are all getting towards the end of their life and you will need to factor in the cost of replacement.

I'm assuming it is a house, but if a flat, the council freeholder will decide when maintenance is due and will charge you for it. A search on here will turn up multiple stories of people being asked for £10,000s for maintenance with little notice.