Ash4781 Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 http://www.dudleynews.co.uk/news/local/438...homes_sell_off/ RESIDENTS living in a new Netherton development are angry after part of their private housing estate was sold to a housing association.Families living in The Beck, off Bowling Green Road,claim developer Barratt Homes sold seven homes to Midland Heart Housing Association without informing any of them. Richard Gillard, who has lived with his wife Mandy and eight-yearold son Reece in the development since last April, say the residents only found out about the sale by chance after a neighbour was stopped for directions by a representative from the housing association arriving for a meeting. Residents have now been left concerned that their own homes have decreased in value, with some saying they may not have even purchased a home on the development had they known. The residents have also been left fuming after designated housing association homes in another Barratt Homes development just yards the road from theirs are still half empty. Mr Gillard, 40, said: “We all had the choice about whether we lived here or at the other development and we all chose here because it was all private housing. “We are disgusted at not being informed – how can a developer of their size be that desperate to sell seven houses on this estate when the development up the road has half of its designated housing association homes empty.” He added: “We have nothing against thehousingassociation tenants – it is Barratt Homes we have the problem with. This is supposed to be a private housing estate and it should be kept private.” Adrian Farr,managing director of Barratt West Midlands, said: “It is our policy to be as transparent as possible with all our customers. “When we started the development, we intended it would be for private housing and our statements were consistent with that. “However, long after private sales to our customers were completed, changed market conditions meant we agreed to make some homes available under the new Government- backed scheme which facilitates housing associations buying from developers.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nohpc Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 disgusting behaviour by barretts. They should be ashamed of themselves. Their actions have put me off ever buying a new build ever for the rest of my life. How can you trust these crooks with building your shelter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
live in hope Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 http://www.dudleynews.co.uk/news/local/438...homes_sell_off/ I was under the impression that barret c--p wasnt good enough for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bomberbrown Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 http://www.dudleynews.co.uk/news/local/438...homes_sell_off/ People that take this attitude to Housing Association tenants get all they deserve. NIMBY bigots! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bomberbrown Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I was under the impression that barret c--p wasnt good enough for them. And probably why half on the other estate are still empty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DissipatedYouthIsValuable Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 (edited) I <3 this genre of stories. Edited May 20, 2009 by DissipatedYouthIsValuable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeddyBear Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 all predicted on here long ago, some of the first threads I remember reading were about how new developments would turn into social housing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yokel Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Surely the real scandal is that the govt, via housing associations, is subsidising Barratts by buying houses at above the market value. If it was below the market value, Barratts would have sold them privately instead. Y Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Miyagi Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 People that take this attitude to Housing Association tenants get all they deserve. NIMBY bigots! They have a point, I rent a private house a couple of streets away from some housing assocation homes and some of the occupants are nothing but trouble i.e. load music, the freaking illegal motor bikes and underage drinking etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoWolves Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I live in London and this is happening big-time near me but in typical London fashion is simply causing a feed-back loop. New housing and abandoned repos gets given to association/council who simply fill them with asylum seekers, this causes local home values to go down further and the cycle intensifies. Two years from now it will be a major ghetto judging by the levels of state dependency occurring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sillybear2 Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 (edited) They should be proud, their housing estate meets basic social housing standards set out by the 1930's slum clearance acts, and therefore can be purchased by the HA, most private new build estates fall below this pedigree! "Residents have now been left concerned that their own homes have decreased in value" Of course they have, regardless Edited May 20, 2009 by sillybear2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impatient_mug Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 People that take this attitude to Housing Association tenants get all they deserve. NIMBY bigots! On the one hand they have a point - their insurance premiums will be thru the roof in a few years, they'll have to guarentee everything is locked, and no leaving anything on show in the car or front windows, and that still won't deal with the noise or petty vandalism. Having said that they bought into an empty development in a fresh area? If you want to guarentee living on a private estate then move in to an established one, or at least wait until almost everything has sold. Anything else is madness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fromage Frais Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 They should be proud, their housing estate meets basic social housing standards set out by the 1930's slum clearance acts, and therefore can be purchased by the HA, most private new build estates fall below this pedigree! +1 So very true Or they should be mad with themselves paying so much for somthing that when push comes to shove is correctly allocated as social housing. Better than having empy crack dens next door Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bomberbrown Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 They have a point, I rent a private house a couple of streets away from some housing assocation homes and some of the occupants are nothing but trouble i.e. load music, the freaking illegal motor bikes and underage drinking etc. It's the tarring of 'all' HA tenants with the same brush, that I object to most strongly. We're not all like what you described. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youthoftoday Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 On the one hand they have a point - their insurance premiums will be thru the roof in a few years, they'll have to guarentee everything is locked, and no leaving anything on show in the car or front windows, and that still won't deal with the noise or petty vandalism.Having said that they bought into an empty development in a fresh area? If you want to guarentee living on a private estate then move in to an established one, or at least wait until almost everything has sold. Anything else is madness. Even then the pikeys could move in. That's happened round my way. A formerly fairly prestigious road had a couple of pikey families move in and now there's a rash of 'For Sale' signs springing up. In my street we have a large Victorian villa being converted to bedsits / shared housing. There goes the neighbourhood. I'm looking to get out asap (though with the expanding family I'd be looking anyway). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youthoftoday Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 It's the tarring of 'all' HA tenants with the same brush, that I object to most strongly. We're not all like what you described. No you are not. However a sizeable minority are and they make life hell for everybody. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyMe Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Having said that they bought into an empty development in a fresh area? If you want to guarentee living on a private estate then move in to an established one, or at least wait until almost everything has sold. Anything else is madness. That is no guarantee either, look at the concentration of BTL in some areas. One of the problems of hitching most of a life's future net earnings into a single item - there are going to be some sorely pissed off people. If the sums involved were not so large they could suck it and see, if the effect was really negative then they could take the hit and move, many will not be able to. In a situation like this putting no money down would be a blessed, you just toss the keys back to the lender and take the financial crap for a few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Woodpecker Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 When I first saw this story I assumed the development was somewhere like Solihull, where you expect the residents to be NIMBYs. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw the houses were in Netherton! Now there is nothing wrong with Netherton, but it is a typical Black Country town with a lot of Victorian terraces in poor condition, post-war council housing estates and pockets of new developments on brownfield sites, interspersed with small factories (often metal working), small industrial estates and warehouses. How these new home buyers must have lapped up the advertising from the developers " Contemporary waterside living" - next to the canal, inevitably complete with rats, "Great transport links to Birmingham" - slapbang in the middle of the West Midlands conurbation with miles of gridlock in every direction at 5 o'clock every evening and you can imagine the drawings of beautiful children playing under trees next to the gorgeous houses.(No sign of the major road running straight past though!) They were sold the dream by the developers, by the telly and by the papers. Own your own home and you will suddenly be in this glamorous new world. Then down to earth with a bump, because once you come out of your shiny new front door I am afraid you still live in the same old town with its mixture of people, poor and better off, council tenants and owner occupiers. This is the real world (and always has been) Its not that house prices will drop because of the tenants - it's that you overpaid for a reality that never really existed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sillybear2 Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 On the one hand they have a point - their insurance premiums will be thru the roof in a few years, they'll have to guarentee everything is locked, and no leaving anything on show in the car or front windows, and that still won't deal with the noise or petty vandalism. Putting aside this case of public money being used to bail out private developers and prop up sale prices. All new build junk has to include a social housing element under section 106 when they gain planning, so ~20% of the development will be a mini council estate subsidized by the liar-loan wielding private buyers even at the best of times. If it wasn't for the land monopoly and HPI there would be no real need for HA's aside from a bit of sheltered accommodation for old folks, the market would find its own level. HA's are a way of sucking more public money into the pyramid scam, a way of bringing the 'poor' into the HPI/land scam without breaking the monopoly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DissipatedYouthIsValuable Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 It's the tarring of 'all' HA tenants with the same brush, that I object to most strongly. We're not all like what you described. Oi! Stop nicking my squirrels! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bomberbrown Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 No you are not. However a sizeable minority are and they make life hell for everybody. I agree with you wholeheartedly, but anti-social behaviour is not an exclusive trait only to HA tenants is my point. Anti-social behaviour can come from homeowners alike and even regular renters. Also, what's to stop BTL buying them all up and filling them with DSS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sillybear2 Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 (edited) That is no guarantee either, look at the concentration of BTL in some areas.One of the problems of hitching most of a life's future net earnings into a single item - there are going to be some sorely pissed off people. If the sums involved were not so large they could suck it and see, if the effect was really negative then they could take the hit and move, many will not be able to. In a situation like this putting no money down would be a blessed, you just toss the keys back to the lender and take the financial crap for a few years. Yet the same people will also be wishing for continual HPI and a "healthy market" so the price differential for the next jump up the ladder will increasingly prove impossible and unobtainable, thus freezing them to live out their days in their slave box. That's people for you, f****g stupid. Edited May 20, 2009 by sillybear2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortunate Son Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 This kind of story make me smile inside Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bomberbrown Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Oi! Stop nicking my squirrels! ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DissipatedYouthIsValuable Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 ??? The thing about the antisocial rich is that they usually have a bit more space around them, so no-one notices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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