House next door is Housing Association/Social Housing. Would you still buy it?

taliwillow

Hello,

I was just wondering on what other people think really. If you found a house that seemed perfect in every way for you and then found out that the house next door was housing association/social housing (apologies but I don't know what the difference is) would you still buy the house? Apparently the lady there is lovely but not having experience of this sort of thing before, I am concerned that this sort of housing may have a quick turnover and therefore you could also end up woth awful neighbours. I'm not saying that everyone in social housing is awful, I'm sure most of them are lovely, but I just wonder if the house next door to you is privately owned then it may be less likely to have the occupiers changing regularly and therefore if you have nice neighbours when you move in hopefully you will have for a long time. I suppose the same thing could apply to privately rented property.

Anyway, enough of my rabbiting. What do you all think?

Taliwillow

pinkshoes

Having lived on a street with many housing association properties, most the tenants were fine, but 2 households ruined it for the entire street, so no, I would never buy next door to a HA property!

You can never guarentee who's going to end up living in the property next door, and I wouldn't take that risk!

evelyn-b_2

I live in a street where about one-third of the houses are owned by a (long-standing) housing association. In fact, the freehold of my house is owned by the HA and I have lived there for many years. The house adjoining mine is owned by the HA and the current tenant (lovely lady) has been there for over 70 years! I have only once had problems with one of the HA houses (tenant running noisy business from home) and it was quickly resolved with a phone call to the HA. I wouldn't hesitate to buy in such a situation, but I should point out that my experience is based on an HA who have a good reputation locally and have been around for a long time.

lynzpower

You can never guarentee who's going to end up living in the property next door, and I wouldn't take that risk!

but can you anywhere

neverdespairgirl

taliwillow wrote: »

Hello,

I was just wondering on what other people think really. If you found a house that seemed perfect in every way for you and then found out that the house next door was housing association/social housing (apologies but I don't know what the difference is) would you still buy the house?

Yes, no problem. I'd be concerned about the area and road as a whole, not just one lot next door.

margaretclare

My daughter and her husband live in a terrace of 4. They've bought theirs and so have the people on the other end, the middle 2 are still council-owned.

I don't know what to say about it! But it can't be so uncommon nowadays.

The main thing about where my daughter lives is that they have a lot of land at the back, a long garden, far more garden than you get in more recently-built private properties. Which is what they like.

Hers and the people at the other end both have a conservatory built on to the back, there's enough garden space to give them that, and allow them enough room for a mini-orchard as well!

Margaret

pinkshoes

lynzpower wrote: »

but can you anywhere

True, but a private tenant is more likely to get evicted if they cause problems, as private landlords prefer peaceful tenants that don't upset the neighbours.

I'm just speaking from experience, and my experience of living in mixed HA/private streets wasn't good!! It was a HUGE factor when buying a property.

dmg24

pinkshoes wrote: »

True, but a private tenant is more likely to get evicted if they cause problems, as private landlords prefer peaceful tenants that don't upset the neighbours.

I'm just speaking from experience, and my experience of living in mixed HA/private streets wasn't good!! It was a HUGE factor when buying a property.

I would disagree with this. A private tenant who does not pay his rent is more likely to be evicted, but a private tenant who pays on time every month but is noisy/ abusive etc is (from personal experience) less likely to get into trouble than the equivalent renting from a HA.

My first property was shared ownership, and the great majority of the neighbours were lovely. In the (social) rented properties on the street, only one family were difficult, and they were dealt with swiftly by the HA (the noise stopped).

I then moved into private rented accommodation, and over time had two noisy neighbours (and in one case, threatening and abusive, all fuelled by drugs). Both tenants had their rent paid by HB and therefore the landlord was not interested.

You really can get any type of tenant in any kind of property.

katieowl_2

Taliwillow....Don't do it! I've lived next to a housing association property for 21 years.

Housing Associations are BAD neighbours. Not the People living there per se but dealing with over any maintenance issues that effect you can be a NIGHTMARE! We've had overgrown gardens (seriously overgrown trees coming up under the fence) They came and said "Definately a tree and went away!) The tennant in the garden flat let my DH in to cut them down in the end.....cos they were cutting her light out too. Their fence bordering one side of our garden blew down (in 1987) and they said they had no funds to replace it - and they never did...we ended up doing it in the end as we had kids and a dog. I've had problems more recently with an Gutter leaking all over the front of our house (timescale 12 months to fix) and a heating overflow leaking all over my porch, it froze too at one point, leaving the path like a skating rink, only a call that reached a senior manager got THAT sorted out, and you can probably guess the time scale wasn't short....I could go on....but I won't!

The people next door to us used to all have mental health issues, usually long term depression, but these days seem to be homing ex offenders. The Depressives were OK. Needy but OK. One became a Good friend in the end, but sadly he died last year. One flat currently has a schitzophrenic drug addict in, who recently threw his girlfriend down a flight of stairs. The girlfriend told the lower flat neighbour his mental health issues - so not hearsay.

The housing association place across the road has a couple of flats let to people with kids. Top floor has three very young kids, and both parents spend all day yelling at them (abuse would be a better word) and flat below has two and likes the telly on to drown them out (but at least she LIKES her kids!) There have been fisticuffs between the two flats over noise levels


You pays your money and you takes your choice IMHO. When I next move I don't want to be able to SEE neighbours in any direction. But I'd definately consider the practicalities of dealing with a HA over maintenace issues if I were you. We can't choose the people who live next to us after all, and I'm sure that swathes of housing association tennants are great responsible people (Possibly see if that association 'specialises' in rehoming a certain kind of client if you want a quiet life?)

Regards

Kate

affordmylife

no - never

raq

I grew up on a council estate for 35 years. . My parents bought there's within the first year. We where surrounded by a lot of council houses and yes a couple of families bought them. No harm never came to us or had awful neighbours but I am talking late 70's. 80's and 90's. Things are so different these days and to be honest I well believe in the way you as a person was also brought up and not dragged up as some might say. Just as we moved they where shuffing anyone into the houses and that was a worry as we thought the value of our house would drop.

I have some fantastic memories and still carry them with me.