Anyone live/own an ex-council or high-rise flat in London?

Have you thought about shared ownership? www.sharetobuy.com

Have you heard of being a "guardian"? For people without children who are wiling to have almost no security of tenure in exchange for occupying a part of a building and keeping it heated and in good order for just a fraction of the normal rent? I think you can be given just 2 weeks notice to leave but it is apparently quite a popular solution for some people as the accommodation is often of a fairly high standard. It might be worth doing a search for more info.

I believe even fairly grim council flats in central London are very expensive.

We have lived very happily in a house on a Council estate in SW London for many years (by choice, we also own a house elsewhere). We bought this house because it is very spacious and it was comparatively cheap and the commuter links are excellent. We have lovely neighbours all of whom own their properties, some have lived here since this place was built in the 1970s.

It is true that ex-Council properties are expensive in London now, our house has doubled in value ( we have made improvements).

I would suggest that you look for a flat in some of the as yet not "gentrified" postcodes in travel zone 4.

BTW ours is purposebuilt but we still had soundproof plasterboard installed on the inside walls (we're in a semi-detached house). So, there are ways to overcome noise problems.

I am wondering what constitutes "cheap end of the market" for you and how "central" you are hoping for as I believe the first ex-council flat to fetch over £1m was sold recently

[http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/would-you-pay-1million-this-6211533]

[www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/would-you-pay-1million-this-6211533]

An aunt of mine rented a one bedroom council flat in W1. I hated it because I felt that one radio or TV would suffice to be shared between many flats. I found the noise to be horrendous- my aunt did not as she was very deaf.

Service charges can be horrendous as many of these flats were poorly constructed in the 70's so service charges can be very high.

I live in zone 5, NW London and if the tubes are running properly I can get into central London in 25 minutes.

My son lives on the top ( 16th) floor of a new build block of flats in SELondon. He loves it . It's very quiet - no noise from neighbours - and has great views. It was quite expensive though and the maintenance charges are high.

Rather than paying rent you can part buy part rent? Some great locations all over london here - propertybooking.co.uk