Council\Ex Council

[sunnysan]

Everybody,

Does anybody here who lives in London, live on a council estate? The reason why I am asking is that I am looking at buying a new property in E2 and the only way to get decent amount of space is looking at the council estates.

a) How do you tell the good ones from the bad ones?

b) Are the council actually selling off all the flats in certain blocks and what does the future hold with regards to potential tenants/value of flats?



Sunny "Going to get kitted out at JB Sports" San

[DimPrawn]

a) How do you tell the good ones from the bad ones?

By how many days before your car is nicked and you end up a victim of violent crime.

Oh dear. Having to buy a council house. Is this Blairs prosperous Britain?

[sunnysan]

Have to or want to....

No I dont have to, but whereas I can pay the same price for a three bedder in a council block as a one bedder in a victorian terrace in the same area.

All these flats are being sold off as private, who is buying them?

Scrounging chavs surely cannot afford to. Surely based on price inflation there will be a trend towards "tower block" gentrification? Sure the upwarsds pressure of property value cannot support a premises of roughly the same size being half the price of its non-council counterparts in the same street

So what is happening. Its diffcult to get mortgages for any floor above the third on a tower block so who is buying them?

Is it cash investors who lease them back to DSS?
Or are they rented out privately to young professionals which will ultimately lead to an improvement of standards?

Just wondering

[Rebecca Loos]

ex-council estate is the only way really - surely you don't want to buy in a council estate. If you do, take the DLR to All Saints / Devon Road and see for yourself. But don't take your wallet with you as it will in all likelihood be stolen when you get mugged.

There are lots of half-decent developments from ex-council houses and yes the flats there are spacious and not as expensive as inbrand-new developments


Also you're right, chavs can't afford flats/houses in nice new developments, however a lot of people would buy these flats rent them, and they are being rented to chavs, or in east london, chavskis, which is no better as our Russian friends have got chavs that can compete with the worst that Britain can offer too....

[sasguru]

Here's my tuppence worth - buying ex-council is OK, BUT ONLY IN A SMALL BLOCK (max 20 flats). On no account buy in a tower block (you may have problems getting a mortgage anyway, depending on how high it is).
You have to be very careful though. Meet your neighbours before buying - if they seem dodgy walk away. Pick a block close to the tube and other transport. E2 is not too bad - is that Bethnal Green?

[ratewhore]

theres money in it...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...on/4444731.stm

[sunnysan]

Thick saffer ... me?

OK, maybe I am being thick,

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetai...a_n=2&tr_t=buy

If anybody knows the area, this street is pretty leafy, most Victorian terraced and pretty gentrified, and minutes away from Victoria Park

Now this beauty here is being advertised as EX-council. Will that mean that eventually the whole block will be privately owned?

Surely that would mean that as the block gets more private owners, it will gentrify? I cannot be the only inflation weary London resident who would, taking security into account, buy a big flat rather than a manky one bed , just becuase its not in a tower block?

[sasguru]

Sunny - in my experience those council tenants who had the enterprise to sell have already sold. The ones left are not likely to do so anytime. So check with the Council how many flats they own in the block. My guess is the proportion will stay the same for the forseeable future.

If you are buying ex-council find out who maintains the block etc. etc.

BTW I shouldn't be telling you this, but my current hot tip for London is Forest Hill. 12 minutes from London Bridge by train. Cheap because it doesn't have a tube - but will get one in 5-10 years.

[IR35 Avoider]

One thing to remember is that council blocks carry maintenance/political risk.

Maintenance risk: I think they tend not to have a sinking fund, the council just pays for expenditure out of current revenue. As a private tenant you can be landed with a bill for tens of thousands overnight.

Political: by this I mean you are subject to various crap that would never happen in a private block. One example of this was documented on TV: the government was handing out grants for doing up housing, there was a deadline for applying for and spending the grants. Tower Hamlets council applied and decided to spend the money to give some blocks a new roof. Private tenants had to cough up 20K as their share of roof cost. Surveyor for TV said existing roof had nothing wrong with it and might have lasted another 20 years.

[OwlHoot]

If you are buying ex-council find out who maintains the block etc. etc.

If the council or some housing association maintains the block, you may find they treat leaseholders of ex-council flats as cash cows and extort ridiculous amounts of service charges.