Postby dequacivis » Sun Nov 10, 2019 8:03 pm
Do not let anyone criticise you for covering all aspects of buying a house or flat.
Homeownership for the majority is a huge commitment, and aside from the huge time and financial commitments, there are extreme emotional and personal considerations on lifestyle and family planning.
The question of council or housing association ownership is a very real consideration, and this has nothing to do with snobbery or bigotry.
Any property lacking personal “investment” in ownership, is going to suffer in maintenance.
There is also the question of accountability.
Councils are great at enforcing rules against those deemed able to pay, but very quick at breaking the law at not following their own rules. See them do it, best report it to ... to ..err... the council????
This is no judgement on social status, but Fulham is full of streets, where the private ownership costs huge sums, and the rules are very strict on rubbish, parking etc etc. Then inter dispersed are five or six Council owned properties.. the lady at no12 is very nice, and so are her four children, abandoned by four different dads. Then the boyfriend throws the tv through the front window and it stays there with the abandoned sofa for 18mths. The fifteen year old tries his best, but his drunken older friends think it real fun to throw bricks up and down the street at 3am, scratching many of the private cars in the process, police aware of the “non-adult” status, of the perpetrators, so totally ineffectual!
Will this effect the value of your property...? Who knows, maybe just one of the quirks to expect in Fulham. But can attest to being extremely stressful!
Knowledge of housing association property in familiy street in Wandsworth. No real visible signs from outside (but tired looking) but family of five next door had three year stressful experience, as abusive relationship involved at least four police incidents during the night, with last one involving attempted murder.
Cameron introduced anti-social behaviour requirements on landlords, but just try imposing that on Council tenants!
But this is not limited to council ownership. Wandsworth have been secretly bodging their own rules on HMO’s for decades. Some landlords have built up portfolios valued into the £30m to £50m range.. all with no building control, almost no planning, over 50% of the flats don’t exist, so no tax on rents, and actually planning rules would dictate three flats max, but they actually create five, with a separate extra unit in garden, then actually rent out as single room lets to individual migrant workers or students. Nice people, but no investment in their accommodation. No deposits etc. Imagine the crap in front garden and various come and go patterns of up to twenty different individuals....?? Now imagine all that cash to the landlords!!
But guess what those landlords do pay? Religiously and immediately... Council Tax!
Flat won’t exist in planning records, planning enforcement decidedly absent, but CouncilTax paid on the nail!
Traditionally this only happened in tooting, but expanding into Battersea, Southfields and around the Common.
Oh yes, no planning enforcement on refuse or bycicle storage, and each house entitled to up to 18 parking spaces....
So basically, the question is not just ownership of the property, but also the history and level of conversions in the street and likely growth of it.
Sorry if this confuses, but you should be aware of how the council will sacrifice your home and family, if you get in the way of a new strategy! Just ask Candlemakers near the heliport! That seven story strict limit soon became 30 stories! Don’t worry though, the council and developer expect you to win a lawsuit of right to light exclusion, that’s why they budgeted £4m into contingencies .... not against them or the Billionaire overseas owner... no, taken against the affordable home allowance! Isn’t that cosy? Leader Govindia did get an award from the industry at his services to them, sorry my mistake “homebuilding”
Good luck
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