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Teddington Ex-Council Flat Borland Rd


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HOLA441

Hi all, my housing odyssey is continuing, I've now abandoned Isleworth (well, for the moment anyway) and I'm looking at Teddington flats (because of the schools). I would very much like a 2-br. Problem is, my budget is not as Teddington-friendly so I might have to get to a 1-br.

However, today I visited a 2-br flat in Borland rd, Teddington. 250K listing price, previously sold for 235K in 2007. Area is excellent, the flat is good shape, fairly good size etc. Ground floor, not the best view ever but manageable. (and there's another one listed at 235k, first floor, same layout but needs a lot of work). The building is not the prettiest looking but not bad shape either.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-21848580.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-32846719.html

The problem is, I found out today that those are ex-council flats... Catchment school is outstanding.

Does anyone know the area very well? Is it safe to live in that particular development? Does is have a bad reputation?

Many thanks!!

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HOLA442

Hi all, my housing odyssey is continuing, I've now abandoned Isleworth (well, for the moment anyway) and I'm looking at Teddington flats (because of the schools). I would very much like a 2-br. Problem is, my budget is not as Teddington-friendly so I might have to get to a 1-br.

However, today I visited a 2-br flat in Borland rd, Teddington. 250K listing price, previously sold for 235K in 2007. Area is excellent, the flat is good shape, fairly good size etc. Ground floor, not the best view ever but manageable. (and there's another one listed at 235k, first floor, same layout but needs a lot of work). The building is not the prettiest looking but not bad shape either.

http://www.rightmove...y-21848580.html

http://www.rightmove...y-32846719.html

The problem is, I found out today that those are ex-council flats... Catchment school is outstanding.

Does anyone know the area very well? Is it safe to live in that particular development? Does is have a bad reputation?

Many thanks!!

we used to live in teddington for a few years before moving to hampton. my husband had rented a flat in harrowdene gardens which is sort of near borland road. it is a decent locality. i dont see many problems there as such. then he bought an ex council flat ( he did not know there was some sort of stigma associated with ex council - he is from europe) because it was just 2 mins to walk to his work from there.

the locality is good. what are you planning to offer considering that it sold for 235k at the peak?

regarding it being ex council - it is very likely that you have a mix of council tenants , owner occupiers and btl flats. the management of these council block was very reasonable when richmond council managed them. but they sold all of it to a non profit organisation called richmond housing partnership (rhp). since then we saw a drip drip increase in charges. by the time we sold we managed to avoid any major refurbishment expenses although rhp kept wanting to paint the block, metal work , doors etc. they had promised all the council tenants new kitchens , caretaker etc to get the gig. as expected they were useless and the standard of work was poor too. day to day maintenance in our block was deteriorating as well in comparison to when richmond council were managing. also if you have a majority of council and btl flats in your block, they wont care when you complain about the cleanliness, the council tenants dont care about high charges for replacing light bulbs etc. so there is potential for a lot of aggravation. please investigate the charges.

also, when were selling it in the beginning of 2007, we got a lot of interest and lot of inflated valuations (especially from snellers). we chose a middle valuation and it was still proving difficult to sell because some people were sniffy about it being ex council despite the fact that the layout, size of rooms etc was very good. we kept our nerve and sold in august 2007 for near asking price after it being 5 months on the market. so i am surprised that they are marketing it at 250k when it was sold for 235k in 2007. you need to get it for a lot less.

i think you should think of buying a freehold flat if possible. RHP were a major source of aggravation for us. my husband used to get irritated whenever he saw the MEARS (company which does the maintenance) van just zipping around in the borough. RHP were basically looking for every opportunity to overcharge, come up with flimsy excuses to do unwanted repairs and have a poor quality of work overall. i expect charges have gone up a lot too.

good luck

what price are you planning to offer.

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HOLA443

i think you should think of buying a freehold flat if possible. RHP were a major source of aggravation for us. my husband used to get irritated whenever he saw the MEARS (company which does the maintenance) van just zipping around in the borough. RHP were basically looking for every opportunity to overcharge, come up with flimsy excuses to do unwanted repairs and have a poor quality of work overall. i expect charges have gone up a lot too.

You mean "share of freehold". This way, with the flat you get a share in the freeholding company, and therefore get a vote in decisions that the freeholder needs to make. This is the best type of flat to buy.

You do, very rarely get "freehold" flats. These are a legal mine-field, as essentially, these are properties that have been converted into flats, with no legal agreement as to who or how the communal areas, and overall building fabric are managed. Without a pre-existing legal agreement, you are potentially taking on unknown and unlimited liabilities, as well as considerable legal problems. If a flat genuinely falls into this category, is will almost certainly be unmortgageable, and possibly uninsurable.

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HOLA444

Thank you very much finallysold and chumpus rex.

I'm still considering it, because it's a really good area, excellent school, big flat, low maintenance charges. Not sure how much stigma there is associated with it, hoping to be able to talk to some locals. .

How do I find out the percentage of owner-occupiers in there? From what I understand the mortgage lender would be looking at that information and if the % is high they might not award it altogether.

@finally sold: if I decide to put an offer, it would be probably 220-225K and wouldn't go more than 235K, but I do have to research a bit more, find out if the council manages it or a private firm. And I have to visit the estate at different times of the day to see what kind of people live there. I only saw one lady when I visited.

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HOLA445
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HOLA446

so i am surprised that they are marketing it at 250k when it was sold for 235k in 2007. you need to get it for a lot less.

I am not sure why you are surprised about this. I live in Surbiton and nothing is being marketed at 2007 prices anymore. People on this site refer to 2007 as being the peak, but in this area 2011 was actually the peak. Prices dropped from 2007 to 2008, but then started increasing again and had reached the 2007 peak again by 2010. Teddington seems slightly more expensive/sought after, so I would be surprised if it is any different.

The EAs are happy to help this along with increasingly inflated asking prices, but the worrying thing is that a lot of people seem to actually be paying close to them. :rolleyes:

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HOLA447

Thank you very much finallysold and chumpus rex.

I'm still considering it, because it's a really good area, excellent school, big flat, low maintenance charges. Not sure how much stigma there is associated with it, hoping to be able to talk to some locals. .

How do I find out the percentage of owner-occupiers in there? From what I understand the mortgage lender would be looking at that information and if the % is high they might not award it altogether.

@finally sold: if I decide to put an offer, it would be probably 220-225K and wouldn't go more than 235K, but I do have to research a bit more, find out if the council manages it or a private firm. And I have to visit the estate at different times of the day to see what kind of people live there. I only saw one lady when I visited.

There is still a bit of a stigma attached to it, but I'd say this is a good location in Teddington where you would have to pay a lot more to live in an equivalent flat that isn't ex-council. You can walk easily to the town centre, station and Bushy Park, even to Kingston at a push.

It might be worth having a look at the sold prices on Zoopla. Their data goes back to 1995, so you will get an idea of how many flats have sold during that time. This will give you a minimum number that have been bought from the council. Be warned that this can be a frightening experience, though, as you will be exposed to the prices that these would have been sold for in the 90's - probably no more than £50k!

I think your starting offer sounds ok, although I might be tempted to test it a bit lower first. Definitely visit at different times of the day/ night. I don't think that there will be that much trouble there, but it only takes one or two troublemakers to disrupt the lives of others, especially if they are close neighbours.

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HOLA448

I am not sure why you are surprised about this. I live in Surbiton and nothing is being marketed at 2007 prices anymore. People on this site refer to 2007 as being the peak, but in this area 2011 was actually the peak. Prices dropped from 2007 to 2008, but then started increasing again and had reached the 2007 peak again by 2010. Teddington seems slightly more expensive/sought after, so I would be surprised if it is any different.

The EAs are happy to help this along with increasingly inflated asking prices, but the worrying thing is that a lot of people seem to actually be paying close to them. :rolleyes:

This is absolutely the case in this area of West London. Having spent the last couple of months looking around Richmond Kingston etc I can see that nothing is selling at 2007 prices or below. Perhaps the rubbish is but anything half decent is now selling for a fair bit more.

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HOLA449

There is still a bit of a stigma attached to it, but I'd say this is a good location in Teddington where you would have to pay a lot more to live in an equivalent flat that isn't ex-council. You can walk easily to the town centre, station and Bushy Park, even to Kingston at a push.

It might be worth having a look at the sold prices on Zoopla. Their data goes back to 1995, so you will get an idea of how many flats have sold during that time. This will give you a minimum number that have been bought from the council. Be warned that this can be a frightening experience, though, as you will be exposed to the prices that these would have been sold for in the 90's - probably no more than £50k!

I think your starting offer sounds ok, although I might be tempted to test it a bit lower first. Definitely visit at different times of the day/ night. I don't think that there will be that much trouble there, but it only takes one or two troublemakers to disrupt the lives of others, especially if they are close neighbours.

Thank you worried1, meanwhile I managed to find out that these flats are also managed by RHP.

Also, I spoke with a nice lady who actually lives around the corner from Borland Rd and she thinks it's really safe and not your typical ex-council site. She takes her kids to the playground located inside the development in fact.

I've already looked at prices on zoopla. Borland rd is a mix of freehold terraced houses and flats, and not many flats were sold. Only one seems to have been sold in 2011, two in 2007, one in 2006, and before that some sales in 2003, so on. This, if Zoopla lists them all. So not sure what's happening there... probably many housing benefits renters still? How would I find out what the % is?

The one I'm looking at is the only flat in Borland rd that sold over 200K in fact (in 2007, 235k).

ps. The terraced freeholds sold on average at 280K in 2010-2011. Those are 3-br.

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HOLA4410

Thank you worried1, meanwhile I managed to find out that these flats are also managed by RHP.

Also, I spoke with a nice lady who actually lives around the corner from Borland Rd and she thinks it's really safe and not your typical ex-council site. She takes her kids to the playground located inside the development in fact.

I've already looked at prices on zoopla. Borland rd is a mix of freehold terraced houses and flats, and not many flats were sold. Only one seems to have been sold in 2011, two in 2007, one in 2006, and before that some sales in 2003, so on. This, if Zoopla lists them all. So not sure what's happening there... probably many housing benefits renters still? How would I find out what the % is?

The one I'm looking at is the only flat in Borland rd that sold over 200K in fact (in 2007, 235k).

ps. The terraced freeholds sold on average at 280K in 2010-2011. Those are 3-br.

Well Zoopla relies on the Land Registry figures, so it doesn't include everything because people can ask for their sale to be removed if they like.

It is strange that so few have been sold since and this would indicate that there is likely to a high % of council tenants in there. Of course, a high % might have bought their flats as soon as the right to buy scheme was announced in the 1980's and so would not appear on these figures. Usually you would expect some of these to be resold again in the future though.

I'd be interested in why the flat you are looking at sold for £235k when two others sold in 2006/7 for under £200k. That is a big difference and could indicate that under £200k was more the real 'going rate' at the time.

It is hard for me to estimate a fair price as I don't know the direct area that well. Certainly, £235k would be quite cheap for a 2 bed ex-council flat in the centre of Surbiton and I always see Teddington as being a little more expensive. The only difference is that the ex-council blocks are normally smattered in the middle of private residential blocks in central Surbiton rather than on an estate.

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HOLA4411

Well Zoopla relies on the Land Registry figures, so it doesn't include everything because people can ask for their sale to be removed if they like.

It is strange that so few have been sold since and this would indicate that there is likely to a high % of council tenants in there. Of course, a high % might have bought their flats as soon as the right to buy scheme was announced in the 1980's and so would not appear on these figures. Usually you would expect some of these to be resold again in the future though.

I'd be interested in why the flat you are looking at sold for £235k when two others sold in 2006/7 for under £200k. That is a big difference and could indicate that under £200k was more the real 'going rate' at the time.

It is hard for me to estimate a fair price as I don't know the direct area that well. Certainly, £235k would be quite cheap for a 2 bed ex-council flat in the centre of Surbiton and I always see Teddington as being a little more expensive. The only difference is that the ex-council blocks are normally smattered in the middle of private residential blocks in central Surbiton rather than on an estate.

Hey thanks. These are all low rise buildings (3 levels including ground), not sure how many of them, probably 50-60 flats in total and about 20-30 terraced houses. All ex-council.

On zoopla there is no info about the number of bedrooms for the flats, so it might be a mix of 1-br and 2-br? No idea.

The terraced houses are all 3-beds it looks like.

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HOLA4412

p.s. there are two flats listed (see my first posting), one at 235K and one at 250K, the 250k is the ground floor one I saw, and it's good shape with kitchen and bathroom in great shape, nice tile etc. Pretty similar layout but from the photos, the one listed at 235K needs more work. I'll go see the 235K in the next couple of days (I happen to know this one is also listed on a rental site, not sure how long it was on the market).

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  • 2 weeks later...
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HOLA4413

while i was on vacation 50 borland rd went under offer, it wasn't meant to be :)

i'm dying to know how much it actually sold for, there is no way to find out soon, is it? the agent didn't want to share any info, tried to get a sense of it...

how soon does land registry get updated after completion date?

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  • 2 months later...
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HOLA4414

while i was on vacation 50 borland rd went under offer, it wasn't meant to be :)

i'm dying to know how much it actually sold for, there is no way to find out soon, is it? the agent didn't want to share any info, tried to get a sense of it...

how soon does land registry get updated after completion date?

Three months is usual

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HOLA4415

This is not what I have found, same properties sold in 2007 are selling for 5 to 10 % less now - Land Registry figures. All are 300k plus so considered half decent. Others on at 2007 prices are not moving. Many asking prices are 2007 plus 10 or 30 % eg, initial asking 450k, then 425k, 350k, 325k over last 8 months, still not sold.

I guess it depends where you are looking. The nicer bits of Kingston/Surbiton by the river seem to be selling at these horrific asking prices, as do houses between Kingston and Teddington. Berrylands or Fulwell houses are sticking on the market even if they are priced below 2007.

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HOLA4416

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