I am buying a propery in Woking, Surrey. The street on which we intend to buy is part-Council and part-private. What are the pitfalls of such a location. Do council houses have a time limit before they become private?
2006-10-23 05:46:25 · 9 answers · asked by Dilbert 1 in Home & Garden ➔ Other - Home & Garden
sorry what i meant was, i am assuming that the current council props will become private some day. Is there a timeframe when a certain house become private - trying to see when the houses on my street become private
2006-10-23 05:53:47 · update #1
You should look at the area as a whole. Council housing can lower house prices in areas but if it is a well established area where people value their homes and crime is low it need not be the case. There are websites where you can check out schools, crime figures and facilities etc. Walk around the area and get a feel for the place. Council houses or housing association houses only become private when their tenants buy them.
2006-10-23 06:00:27 · answer #1 · answered by Cheryl M 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is no 'time limit' within which Council Houses could become privately owned. Some of the houses may never be bought by the people living in them - if they dont want to or cant buy, they can stay council till the end of time. As for pitfalls, i guess there is more likelyhood of gardens etc not being utilised to their best - if people dont own it, why spend a fortune making it pretty. If the 'part private' area is actually contract build and not bought 'council houses' then the 'private' ones could have a lower purchase and resale value. On the otherhand, if the greater % of Council houses eventually end up bought and people do their own individual things to upgrade them, it can over time increase the value of the 'private' houses. Oh and just because a house is 'private' it does not make them good neighbours. I rented a £175,000 house for a short while in a 'private' estate and I had the neighbours from hell. I ended buying ex-council in a mainly council bought area and have brilliant neighbours. An even bigger plus is that my ex-council house has doubled in value over the last 3 years.
2006-10-23 06:11:03 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your assumption is flawed in that not all council housing will become private. In fact, the reason the rules on the "Right to Buy" have changed recently is to try to stop the erosion of council stock by people buying council properties. The fact is, that there is a housing crisis in this country and family homes are needed by homeless families. Therefore, it is unlikely that many more of the houses in your road will become private.
Council properties do have an effect on value due to the stigma attached to such properties and because you can never be sure who will move into the area next. I would say if you're looking to invest in property, much as this property may be a bargain, you are likely to hit a ceiling of value quite quickly due to the Council properties and are therefore better off looking at a private estate.
The other issue with council properties is that there are often restrictive covenants preventing you from making certain alterations and there are sometimes covenants that to buy the property you have to have lived/ worked in the area for at least 3 years. I would suggest your best source of information is the council/ housing association who manage the properties in that road.
2006-10-23 06:04:17 · answer #3 · answered by H 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It varies. A few council houses won't matter, a 4,000 house sink estate on your doorstep will.
I think they recently slowed down the right to buy scheme so you may find those houses stay in council or housing assocation hands for the foreseeable future.
It is a slightly less "stable" environment as more people will change houses more often than owned houses.
We have 20 council houses in our village, unfortunatly all the trouble comes from there. Shame as that seems just like the steroetypical view, in our case it seems to be true.
2006-10-23 06:59:11 · answer #4 · answered by Michael H 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is no time limit - people choose to buy them or not, if the option is there. As already mentioned unfortunately the nature of council housing attracts the odd stubborn undesirable and not to mention it is the first thing a lot of immigrants do is get their name on the council list so personally I would stay away unless you can get 'in there' and find out more.
2006-10-23 06:00:47 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not sure what you mean. But if people buy their houses they need to keep for a set time before sellling it to avoid repaying back some of the discount. Ex-Council can be good value but be aware the council could house the family from hell next to you.
2006-10-23 05:49:08 · answer #6 · answered by E15 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I work in central Woking, but live in a village 900 yards from it. Woking is absolutely great - you will enjoy your time there. I think you are buying in North Woking, Horsell to be precise. Horsell is a suburb full of rented accomodation, all I can say to you is that you live in one of the best places in County Surrey.
2014-07-27 22:56:04 · answer #7 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it will lower the value often as the point is the council but bought and rented together to intergrate people,
2006-10-23 05:48:53 · answer #8 · answered by orfeo_fp 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Quite a bit in our area
2006-10-23 06:04:56 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋