Reply to: Council\Ex Council

[wendigo100]

But in 1998 Labour did outlaw [sic] selection for schools. Or so Ruth Kelly informed us through the BBC on Tuesday!

[Mordac]

More a question of fact - NewLie didn't introduce right-to-buy, the Tories did. Still, they don't call it the Bliar Broadcasting Corp for nothing.

[Fungus]

Is this the Christmas quiz?

[wendigo100]

Yep, in fact there are two if you count the dodgy apostrophe.

[Rebecca Loos]

yes

[Mordac]

>Previous owner Robert Goodall, who grew up in the house, bought the freehold on the property from Kensington and Chelsea local authority in 2000 after the present government gave homeowners' the right to buy.


Anyone else spot the mistake in the above sentence?

[Alexander Coe]

used to live about 15 mins walk from Roman road and the area has plenty good points, most of which have already been covered - its near the city, there's good night life near by (shoreditch, brick lane are just around the corner, Farringdon and angel are nearby) its relatively cheap, etc...

however, while the are much rougher areas in London, its not nice either... in a year of living there, my flat mates phone got stolen (he was using it on the street, and some guy grabbed it and ran) I witnessed argument over a near car crash out side my flat, turn into an attempted stabbing and the one of the few occasions I actually walked home after 12pm, some guys tried to mug me.

Still think theres a lot going for the area and not trying to put you off - but I suggest going down to Bethnal Green at night and getting a feel for the area before moving there.

[Captain Jack]

I remember reading about a private eye service that would take care of c), d) and e) for you for a fee of £500. They would spend a couple of days in the neighbourhood, checking out the neighbours, seeing who's coming and going, talking to people to find out who the local nutters are and where they live, making sure no one is in the habit of having late night parties or dealing crack, check the local shops and amenities, where the good restaurants are, what local maintenance works are planned, all that sort of thing, then write it all up in a report for you.

Sounded to me like £500 well spent.

[sunnysan]

Interesting...

Interesting cross section of views. From all this I would extrapolate the following and may well take the plunge

a) E2 , Loads of ex-council. Close to the city, regeneration from Olympics and + in value owing to East London Line extension, (Bishopsgate and Dalston I believe)
b) Go for low rise < 5 floors(plenty of that around).
c) You dont have to love, but check out thy neighbours
d) Find out any about any planned maintenance
e) Check % of block owned by council

I suppose like anything else there is a risk attached but keep those opinions coming if you have any

[Fungus]

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.

Maybe. A friend bought in Elephant and Castle, not far from Peckham. Her place is ex-council leasehold. The council charges are very reasonable and they look after the places. Peckham was well dodgy and still might be. But it now looks quite nice, with lots of new build.

As to where to buy, I guess you need to find out which areas are on the up. Elephant and Castle is good due to redevelopment, and proximity to the City. But maybe the improvements are already priced into property values?

Mind you there are negatives. One of her near neighbours is Ann Widecombe. Imagine meeting that on a dark night. And my friend once looked out of her window only to see one person shooting another, and then running away.

My experience of council estates suggests stay well clear unless you are sure they are moving up-market. The bad ones are very bad.

Fungus.

[NoddY]

As a general rule, good areas lose less of their value when the cycle begins to turn. Poor areas fall through the floor. A similar situation is found in housing types, detached housing holds much of it value while studios lose proportionatley more of theirs.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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?