Debates
- Debates
Ex council houses
6/7/08 10:08
6/7/08 07:59
my current house is ex council but not on an estate , theres a couple of houses still council included the one we are joined to in the area but the neighbours are fine!
we lived here 4 yrs and it wasbought from council about 10 yrs ago
our garden is huge, the house is solid built and is very spacious. the only tell tale sign of it being ex coucil is around here they were typically built in red brick so whilst it isnt the most attractive looking house on the outside the inside is my home.
at the end of the day im no nearer to a council estate than the new builds that are going up all around smack bang on the land next to council estates so im happy with my ex council house
5/7/08 23:01
There are some ex-council houses that I wouldn't touch with a barge pole, because they're in an awful area. There are some I wouldn't buy because they look like they'd need too much work doing to them.
However, you can get nice council houses that are in a good area and the fact that they are ex-council does not in reality make a difference to them. Hence IMO anyone who says 'I would never buy ex-council, regardless' is a snob tbh.
5/7/08 22:55
Well let me just say from experience that my house was over valued for a ex-council house, and our budget would have stretched to another house (but in a different area) but we wanted to be here. So we bought it. Alright we have the odd D1ck head every know and again, but most of us keep ourselves to ourselves and thats it.
When I lived on the main road I had to deal with all the traffic, buses and noisey people at 2/3 in the morning coming home form town.
My grandad bought his house form the council and the y over valued it, we argued that they had over valued it then got 10,500 knocked off the price!! Hey it pays to argue
5/7/08 22:49
Jedda - I know that, I'm not stupid - I said that has been MY connotations from having grown up with that experience - and I have already said that yes I could do with getting over that.
I'm still waiting for more con type posts though - would all of the debates girls really buy an ex council or are those that wouldn't just being polite and staying quiet?
5/7/08 22:27
Scarlett you are confusing the two:
Just because you may live in a council house does not mean that your parent claim benefits and you get dinner tokens,
Most of the top half of "our estate is I would say 75% owned" the bottom half probably about 30%. And I would rather live up here than down there.
Either way you can't pick your neighbours; unless you win the euro millions and build a little village, so you could buy ex-council and live next to the neighbours from hell, or you could buy private and live next to the neighbours from hell!
5/7/08 21:36
I live in an ex council house and when we bought our house 8 years ago there was about a 10 thousand pound difference between them and private houses. Now though the majority of the council houses in our area are privately owned and are the same price as the nearby private houses. 25 years ago when I was at school this was not a nice part of the village to live (not terrible but not as nice as some streets) but now there is no difference. Our house does look obviously council though from the outside even though we have new windows and doors and driveway since we moved in.
I personally would say it is the area rather the the house I wouldnt want to live on a rough street by that I mean with common people swearing, rowdy teenagers etc but you could get this anywhere council or not. I would also say to drive around at about 8.30 at night then you will have an idea if they are crowds of teenagers hanging around.
5/7/08 16:00
we live in an ex council house, ok it is ugly on the outside but the area is ok. Rooms are large and an extremely large garden. People do seem to have a bit of a thing about council houses had our house valued and before the estate agent realised its ex council he had an extra £5,000 on what he valued it at when he realised
5/7/08 15:44
We live in a HA house in a lovely little village, I think people can get the wrong idea about council/HA houses
5/7/08 13:23
All of the ex council houses round here are fab - all pretty big by new house standards, not a plaster board wall in site, large gardens & usually somewhere to park.
A thumbs up from me!
5/7/08 13:13
I bought an ex-council house, when I was house hunting I only considered ex-council houses. The estate I live on is nice quiet estate, a lot of the houses are bought, many of the properties which are still local authority are occupied by the original residents (or their offspring), from when the houses were first built shortly after WW2. The street behind me is all council OAP bungalows.
When they built these houses, they were built slowly, with high quality materials. There was a wealth of space, so properties are a good size (each house has at least 2 double bedrooms), with huge back gardens and large front gardens. There is lots of green space and grass verges, and most houses still have a tree in the front garden, which was planted at the time of building. Due to the size of the gardens every house has the space to install a driveway for offroad parking. I bought a 2 bed property, with the intention of extending when the need arises, instead of having to move when a 3rd bedroom becomes neccessary.......... the plans that I have will actually turn my 2 bed home into a 4/5 bed house (4 double bedrooms and 1 possible single bedroom). The space for the extension will be provided by demolishing the old coalhouse and outhouse, so I won't lose any garden. The size of the extension will be similar to the size of a newbuild 2 bedroom house.
I wouldn't have touched the nearby new build private properties with a barge poll. The properties intended for first time buyers are pokey and horrible, with postage stamp gardens if you are lucky. Most are open plan, with the staircase in the living room, with only enough space for a 2 seater sofa under the stairs. The second bedrooms are so small if you want to open or close the bedroom door the single bed has to be pushed out of the way!
5/7/08 10:12
i bought my ex council house 4 years ago for £100k less than its worth now, I find the rooms are a fair size and the gardens are fab. The street that i live in is only 10 houses long and only 2 are still owned by the authorities (they happen to be the 2 on either side of mine ggrrrr) but both have had the same tennants the whole time i have been here.
If i had my time over i think i would still buy here.
The estate has a bad name but its all talk, i havnt had many problems, occational drunken parties on the street and kids bumping my car with the bikes but you get that in the poshest of areas to,
My husband loves where we live, he says we are safer living with the rough people as people dont tend to shít on there own door step.....
when im rich and famous i will buy another house.
5/7/08 09:44
We live in an ex-council house. It is a lower villa (4in the block) but the bottom 2 have their own front doors and the upper villas have their own front doors at the side of the property so you don't have to see anyone if you don't want to. Most of them in our area are privately owned and have been for years. The few that are still council are rented by older people who have probably been there for 50 years ! Neighbours are great and the street is mostly older folk with a few families as well, really friendly. The guy who had the house before us stripped it back to the brickwork so nothing needed done to the inside.
They were built in the 1930's so huge bedrooms, decent living room and a proper dining kitchen. Large walk in cupboard in hall that used to be the coal celler. Back garden is about 70 feet long and 40 feet wide. We got it stripped out and returfed/patio and fence when we moved in so great for the girls, front garden is big enough for a double driveway. A few in our street have built extensions at the back to get a 3rd bedroom.
A more modern 2 bed house is about £30,000 more than we paid for ours, yes it's a proper house but still neighbours either side and the bedrooms are small (2nd fitting a bed and not much else) tiny garden. A 3 bed your talking at least £50,000 more and the 3rd is a box room.
I'd rather have the big rooms with extension potential than a newer house. Our last house was newer but tiny rooms especially the kitchen, tiny garden and after 4 years we hardly knew any neighbours yet been here a year and know the immediate neighbours well, the man above us grows vegetables and gave us some last winter, woman next door offered to get me shopping when i was pregnant etc. (Both in their 60's/70's) and the rest of the street we say morning to etc.
5/7/08 08:54
Ps both my houses have been on roads so not actually 'estates'.
5/7/08 08:53
Both our houses have been ex-council. The first was in a not-so-nice area but the people around us were lovely. We did have a few problems though, on a few occassions there were groups of kids fighting, once they came up our drive and our window got smashed. There was 3 schools and a park near us so there were always lots of kids around.
Now we are another ex-council (1 year today) in a nice area and we have never had any problems and our neighbours are lovely.
I would visit the areas at different times, especially at end of school day, and Friday/Saturday nights to see what the activity is like. Not all council estates are bad but some are.
5/7/08 08:06
we bought an ex council house that is a great size with a huge back garden and its in a really nice area! Dont have any trouble and have never had to call the police!
5/7/08 07:26
Our flat is ex-council, in the block of 8 there are about 3 that are owner-occupied, the rest are private lets and council lets.
It's fine. Not the type of place I grew up, nor the kind of people I grew up around, but people are people. Although I do call the police a LOT.
5/7/08 02:31
oh dunno bout being on an estate thou, i dont really like estates much lol!! xxx
5/7/08 02:30
i would go for a good area and not so nice ex council house and then make it up 2 look 'da bomb'
right now im in a studio flat, dp is saving 2 by a 2bed house/flat (hopefully house lol) but i have made my studio flat very homely and neutral that my friends are even jelouse but then, im great at design, but im 2 selfish 2 give 'em tips
so if i can make a studio flat look great, then a ex council run down house, could look great 2
xxx5/7/08 00:44
spelling sucks....off to bed.
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Where i live - no i wouldnt. You can get houses at cheaper than ex-council house prices, in better areas. They may not be as big, and they may not have gardens, but the area's are 100x better then any council estate in the area. It all depends on what the council estates in the area are like, what the people on the council estates are like etc. I would compramise on size to know we were in a nicer area.