House value fallen ?

philb120

I'm not too sure if this is the right place to post or even if anyone will be able to help. At the moment my wife is extremely upset as this was our dreamhouse.

We bought our house in Apr 2002 and was told that a bridge at the bottom of our estate would be removed (the builders had assured the previous owners this). This had been used to link to roads together and was used by the builders when building other houses. A year ago the council bought the land around the bridge under a compulsory purchase order and made the brige permanent. Despite may objections and petitions from the people living on the estate it was decided that the local bus company could use the bridge to save time. Initially we were told they would be using all of the estate but it is now just our road- up and down.

The buses have now started coming. Since Monday, every 10 minutes, a bus drives past our house. This was a quiet estate- many children used to play on the road and there are narrow parts of the road to stop speeding cars. Unfortunately one of the narrow bits is just outside our house and the buses have been stopping there to chat/ swap drivers. They also tend to speed up when going through as it is on a slight hill. As it is a modern house we are very close to the road anyway.

I am worried the next thing that will happen is that they will paint yellow lines outside on the road to stop people parking outside their houses to let the buses through. We only have one car so we can use the driveway but when we have visitors we park on the road and they use the driveway- (my parents live over 4 hours away:( )

As I said- this was my wifes dream house. We now want to move but I think this will have an effect on what our property is worth.

Questions-
1) Is there anyone that has been in a similar position- what happened?
2) Is there anyway of getting compensation to make up the likely shortfall from either the council or bus company ?

My wife will be going to the Citizens Advice Bureau tomorrow to see what she can find out but I thought I'd ask here as well. Pleae can someone help ?

claz

i think the best idea in this situation would be to get a few valuations done on the property first and then you will be able to see if you have lost any money here and then approach a solicitor to help you

if you look at suing the bus company then you will have to have legal representation, remember that they will have insurers whop will try their hardest to not pay you any money

also look and see if you home insurance covers legal costs ours does and it is nice to know if we need legal representation then the option is there and we don't have to worry about paying loads of money out.

Doozergirl

I don't think a bus going past every 10 minutes is going to affect the sale of your property if it is an otherwise quiet road. It could almost be a plus point for a family that wanted to use the bus to commute to work or school. When people view, they spend little time at the property and they also wouldn't notice the difference from the way it was before as they haven't experienced living in your house!

Also, I don't think the fact that you can park on the road outside adds any value to the property, therefore you wouldn't lose value. It's possible it would affect how quickly it sells but the fact that you have off-road parking is your salvation.

You're talking hypothetically about yellow lines too - having lived in two properties with yellow lines outside, you'll find they usually only make one side yellow and the other side parking. The two roads I lived on were a main road in London and a small village street, so they needed them. I doubt one bus would warrant yellow lines on your street and I'm sure they would need a consultation period, in which case, you should be speaking to your elected councillor if and when the time comes.

suki1964

We have a bus come down our road no with no effect to the property prices. In fact we are one of the more popular roads now because of the bus

exil

Frankly - if that's all you have to worry about.....

however -

You could have a word with the bus company about buses stopping for no reason - or if you can demonstrate they are actually speeding. They might not even be aware their drivers are doing it.

philb120

Thanks for your replies. Funnily enough it's not all I have to worry about but as my wife is so upset I thought I'd see what ideas other people have. The rest I'm dealing with okay.

All along the road are drop off points. A neighbour phoned up as she was quite interested in using the service. She was told you can not actually join the bus using them and that the bus stops were not for our benefit! To actually get on the bus you would have to walk to a stop 10 minutes away !

Also the old people's home the road behind ours has now lost their service stop (which was outside the home)and will also have to walk 10 minutes away to catch a bus. I'm feeling a little gloomy about this

I take your point about the yellow lines but frankly I don't trust the council or the bus company. They put planning notices up re the change of use of the bridge just at the beginning of the summer holiday so alot of pepole missed the chance to complain as there was a very short period for objections. I wouldn't mind if our road was a road that was designed for this traffic but it was a quiet, narrow, residential road.

Thanks for all your thoughts anyway.

[Deleted User]

So when you did the local searches prior to buying the house nothing came up? What did they say about the bridge, who owned it back then? Maybe your solicitor might be able to shed some light onthis and advise you on the way forward. Best of luck!