New build estates - why?

You haven't got much choice about service charges these days for new estates. I looked at one I liked recently and it was only £80/year (for grass cutting basically). That seemed ok but would have to scrutinise the contract in terms of increases in amount.

As the post immediately above says I've looked at existing houses and they need a ton of money spent on them because they've never been updated versus the new house I liked, which could be the way I want from the get go.

This estate wasn't too crammed in and not too big so that was a positive.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Most old houses also still need a huge amount spending on them to bring them up to a good standard for an old house.

Successive owners don’t spend that money because ‘I only plan to live here for 5 years’ and eventually they get to the point they require so much spent on them it becomes prohibitively expensive.

People look at things like solar panels the same way and they never get installed.
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Other things as well. Lead paint (looking back I was very blase about this in my 1890s house which would have been guaranteed to have had it used during its lifetime), asbestos.
Shockingly bad old wiring etc etc etc

Its 100% house dependant which is part of the issue.
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Other things as well. Lead paint (looking back I was very blase about this in my 1890s house which would have been guaranteed to have had it used during its lifetime), asbestos.
Shockingly bad old wiring etc etc etc

Its 100% house dependant which is part of the issue.
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Wiring is one of those things which no one wants to spend any money on and if you are the one holding the can when it finally gives up the ghost, or worse, burns down your house, its not a pleasant experience or cheap to deal with. It's not just the age and lack of safety devices etc, its also quality of life stuff.

A relative of mine lives in a house and I kid you not, there are only 4 single plug sockets on the entire upper floor and unsurprisingly every single one has at least a 4 gang extension lead plugged into it. I've already fixed loads of bodged DIY but re-wiring the place is a bit much of an ask.

Its also a Dorma bungalow and there there is no insulation in the sloped celling and nothing on on any of the external stud walls upstairs. I spent a day topping up all the accessible loft areas to 300mm and but all the ceilings and stud walls need ripping down, insulating and rebuilding. The place is probably full of asbestos anyway given its age so it would be a nightmare to dismantle it all and dispose of properly.

The relative is an OAP and they can't themselves nor can they afford to pay someone to pull down every ceiling and every stud wall upstairs to insulate it all properly. I could do it, I know how and I have the equipment but also work full time and I don't have that kind of time to do a job of that scale in another house, it would take weeks if not months. It would be fine if it was my own house as I could do it in the evenings and weekends over the summer as many have documented on there but its not and they live hours away.
 
Yeah you can't deny how efficient new houses are to run compared to older ones. Unless the old one has been substantially refurbed pretty recently and even then i doubt you'll ever bring them up to the level of a good new build.

I guess one of the problems is there are still a lot of cowboy builders out there who throw things up poorly, you only have to look on youtube or facebook reels for loads of people showing all the issues with some new builds but like anything you've got to remember that's not representative of all of them.

For some people the trade off in outdoor space/being packed in close to neighbours and a small service charge are worth it when it comes to pretty much hassle free housing for at least 10+ years.

Like others have said, being packed in close isn't a new thing, look at any village up north or in Wales and there's loads of tiny terraced houses crammed in with hardly any outdoor space at all.
 
Main reason why i didn't buy a new house is mostly down to the parking availability. Majority of new builds nowadays have 1 parking spot for a 3 bed and only a couple of visitors spots etc.
 
sovietspybob said:
For some people the trade off in outdoor space/being packed in close to neighbours and a small service charge are worth it when it comes to pretty much hassle free housing for at least 10+ years.
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This was our view. Sure we could've got a lot more house for our money had we bought an older property but then we'd just end up spending more money and time getting it up to scratch.

A new build allows us to pick our kitchen and flooring from the get go along with having a blank and clean canvas to start with.

I love the idea and thought of a renovation project and I love watching them but I don't have the patience or skill to do so.
 
sovietspybob said:
Yeah you can't deny how efficient new houses are to run compared to older ones. Unless the old one has been substantially refurbed pretty recently and even then i doubt you'll ever bring them up to the level of a good new build.

I guess one of the problems is there are still a lot of cowboy builders out there who throw things up poorly, you only have to look on youtube or facebook reels for loads of people showing all the issues with some new builds but like anything you've got to remember that's not representative of all of them.

For some people the trade off in outdoor space/being packed in close to neighbours and a small service charge are worth it when it comes to pretty much hassle free housing for at least 10+ years.

Like others have said, being packed in close isn't a new thing, look at any village up north or in Wales and there's loads of tiny terraced houses crammed in with hardly any outdoor space at all.
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Plus, when you need to get a trade in to do work on your old house they are just as likely to do a poor job as with a new build.
At least with a new build you have the 10 year warranty should something be seriously wrong.
 
From my limited experience, the guarantees that you get with a new build are barely worth the paper they are written on. If you have a good developer that builds houses well then you won't need it and if you have one of the cowboys they will have done a **** job and try to wriggle out of it any way they possibly can. Having to chase a third party to get work done on your house can be massively time consuming and stressful.
 
I live amongst a group of houses that all own the land in front of their boundaries. The area has brick paving, and is a sort of community parking area. This land was supposed to be adopted by the council, but the then house owners objected to that, because, of all the things, they didn't want bin lorries running over it, they thought it would wreck the brickwork. If it was private the bin lorries couldn't go on it. So, it wasn't adopted and now what happens is that no one maintains it. There are a number of trees planted in it, that are out of control, but no one wants to pick up the bill. And the council don't care because it's not their land. As it happens, those original owners were wrong because underneath the brickwork is concrete, so it was built to withstand lorries. In other words, it would have been so much better had they allowed it to be adopted or, when they decided not to have it adopted that there was some sort of agreement over sharing costs. Too late now, though, because I don't have a tree on my land so I'm not paying part of the £10,000 to have them felled.
 
fez said:
From my limited experience, the guarantees that you get with a new build are barely worth the paper they are written on. If you have a good developer that builds houses well then you won't need it and if you have one of the cowboys they will have done a **** job and try to wriggle out of it any way they possibly can. Having to chase a third party to get work done on your house can be massively time consuming and stressful.
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Yeah thats why I said seriously as thats what NHBC is useful for.
Minor stuff they wont be much help (unless developer has gone pop completely).
 
Junglist said:
I love the idea and thought of a renovation project and I love watching them but I don't have the patience or skill to do so.
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As someone who's live through their parents doing house renovations and then doing my own in my early 20's i'd thoroughly not recommend it :p

I think if you're either got a trade yourself or are just a very enthusiastic DIY'er it can be ok but make sure you don't inflict it on kids or a wife who doesn't want it as its miserable living for years in an unfinished house.

I know several people who can't remember big chunks of their kids lives as they were too busy doing the house up, then by the time it's finally finished they kids were pretty much ready to leave home!
 
happy_2008 said:
Main reason why i didn't buy a new house is mostly down to the parking availability. Majority of new builds nowadays have 1 parking spot for a 3 bed and only a couple of visitors spots etc.
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continues to be a joke in our area. Councils are trying to push public transport, which I understand, but it should not be their job to reduce the number of cars on the road in a piecemeal approach. Best to have a national policy on taxation and supporting public transport costs. Councils should be approving build schemes that reflect current needs for parking and moderate parking levels downwards in future, provided public transport infrastructure is delivered in a way that reduces private vehicle use.
 
Some of the "communal areas" on these new build estates are just play areas which are vandalised/abused from day 1 by all the local youth. They become ugly open spaces full of teenagers lying about on equipment they are way too old for, vaping away. I would go out of my way to pick new build estates without these areas, if I were to pick a new build estate to live on at all. I don't think they add any value. If anything they devalue any houses in close proximity to them, especially the ones built like a courtyard all around the play area in a square. Imagine paying upkeep on a set of broken swings and a slide with a willy drawn on it on your half a million 2 bed semi.
 
I live in a new build, mainly due to the lack of older homes coming up for sale in my area. I've been here nearly a year now and just had the service charge review and it's actually coming down slightly this coming year. It is frustrating though having to pay the full council tax when they don't maintain the estate. Another annoyance is the lack of broadband choices as I'm limited to suppliers on the OFNL network.
 
Just thought of something I hate about new build estates. Not sure if it's exclusive to mine but the false sense of community really annoys me. When we moved in we got invited to some whatsapp group of the estate and it was just people whining about kids playing outside or seeing a stranger walk by on their ring camera.

I left the group when someone complained about kids putting smiley faces on the pavement with chalk.

I don't understand the desire of some people to be all up in a neighbours business and all pally pally. We just happen to live next to each other, that's not an invitation to be overly friendly and familiar with me :mad:
 
Silent Bob said:
I live in a new build, mainly due to the lack of older homes coming up for sale in my area. I've been here nearly a year now and just had the service charge review and it's actually coming down slightly this coming year. It is frustrating though having to pay the full council tax when they don't maintain the estate. Another annoyance is the lack of broadband choices as I'm limited to suppliers on the OFNL network.
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Ours has also come down year on year, and the same was true of our previous estate
 
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