New build bungalow/house mix
Discussion
After my elderly mother's recent neighbour problems I have started to look at buying her a bungalow. I have found one which is is a perfect location for her on a new small development (just 4 plots): close to the bus routes, doctors, shops etc. and importantly in the area she has spent the last 50 years.
Slight reservation I have is that the development has just 1 x 2 bed bungalow and 3 x 2 bed houses, and I wondered what type of neighbour she is likley to get. Her current problems are around neighbour's dogs making noise and the dogs' owner being a chavtastic foul mouth and it would be a nightmare to end up with the same again at her age. The new development is a cluster of facing dwellings so there is no way out iof she gets another muti dog owning, old wreck car collecting neighbour and no council tenancy agreement to help.
The houses are priced just above ex-council house prices for the area ( £120K when a ex council house fetches about £100k). The bungalow is £150K. My concern is that they go to BTL investors or an housing association who fill them with the sisters and brothers of the current chavtastic loud mouth. I will ask the developers who their target market is but am I right in thinking that whatver they sday, they can and will sell to whoever has the cash in hand?
I am just not sure what checks I could make and what precautions I could take. Being 2 beds my thought is that they will be ideal for couples and single Mums, and they are unlikely to get larger families. I was almost tempted to suggest my nephew (her grandson) buys one and I help him with the deposit so she is assured of at least one good neighbour and some support.
Slight reservation I have is that the development has just 1 x 2 bed bungalow and 3 x 2 bed houses, and I wondered what type of neighbour she is likley to get. Her current problems are around neighbour's dogs making noise and the dogs' owner being a chavtastic foul mouth and it would be a nightmare to end up with the same again at her age. The new development is a cluster of facing dwellings so there is no way out iof she gets another muti dog owning, old wreck car collecting neighbour and no council tenancy agreement to help.
The houses are priced just above ex-council house prices for the area ( £120K when a ex council house fetches about £100k). The bungalow is £150K. My concern is that they go to BTL investors or an housing association who fill them with the sisters and brothers of the current chavtastic loud mouth. I will ask the developers who their target market is but am I right in thinking that whatver they sday, they can and will sell to whoever has the cash in hand?
I am just not sure what checks I could make and what precautions I could take. Being 2 beds my thought is that they will be ideal for couples and single Mums, and they are unlikely to get larger families. I was almost tempted to suggest my nephew (her grandson) buys one and I help him with the deposit so she is assured of at least one good neighbour and some support.
Cogcog said:
...My concern is that they go to BTL investors or an housing association...
Housing Associations tend to buy houses that are specifically designed and built for them on developments: on developments of more than a certain number of houses (the number varies from Authority to Authority), developers have to build a propotion of 'affordable' housing, to specific design standards, and it is this that is sold (at effectively no profit to the developer) to the HA's. The Housing Associations aren't exactly swimming in money at the moment, so are very unlikely to be buying any houses that aren't being delivered in this way.Make enquiries with the developer to ascertain whether the development has any element of 'affordable' housing or shared equity, but if they're all open-market (which I'd expect to be the case on such a small development, unless they are unfortunate enough to fall within one tiniy minority of more rabid authorities, which have very low 'affordable' trigger thresholds), then you'll get the normal open-market buyers you'd expect for 2 bed houses...
...which could, admittedly, be BTL investors, young couples buying their first house, single professionals wanting a pied a terre, divorcees down-sizing after the split, you name it.
There's always going to be an element of pot luck about who you get as a neighbour, unfortunately.
Sam_68 said:
Cogcog said:
...My concern is that they go to BTL investors or an housing association...
Housing Associations tend to buy houses that are specifically designed and built for them on developments: on developments of more than a certain number of houses (the number varies from Authority to Authority), developers have to build a propotion of 'affordable' housing, to specific design standards, and it is this that is sold (at effectively no profit to the developer) to the HA's. The Housing Associations aren't exactly swimming in money at the moment, so are very unlikely to be buying any houses that aren't being delivered in this way.Make enquiries with the developer to ascertain whether the development has any element of 'affordable' housing or shared equity, but if they're all open-market (which I'd expect to be the case on such a small development, unless they are unfortunate enough to fall within one tiniy minority of more rabid authorities, which have very low 'affordable' trigger thresholds), then you'll get the normal open-market buyers you'd expect for 2 bed houses...
...which could, admittedly, be BTL investors, young couples buying their first house, single professionals wanting a pied a terre, divorcees down-sizing after the split, you name it.
There's always going to be an element of pot luck about who you get as a neighbour, unfortunately.
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