Should I buy a house next to a substaion?

Count_Of_Cool

Hi Everyone,

I found a property two months ago which me and my wife loved. Its a two bedroom semi-detached with a garage. I made an offer which was 12k below the asking price and it was accepted. However when the surveyor did the valuation, he mentioned a substaion (SS) which is located after the garden fence.

I saw the SS when we viewed the house from the first floor bedroom window but I wasn't sure of what it was so I did not question it. The valuation report brought my attention to the fact that the SS could affect the value of the house in addition to health issues.

I did some research but I could not find any conclusive evidence to suggest that I should be worried. We are nearing completion now and I am still in two minds as to whether or not I should buy the property.

Should I go ahead? Is 12k below the asking price a fair reflection?

I will appreciate all the help I can get.

Thank you in advance.

Doozergirl

We had a thread just like this a while back and the overwhelming response was that people would avoid substations. I'll buy anything and I would avoid as well if it was literally next door.

FraudBuster

I have an electricity sub-station less than 100 m from me.
It went "pop" last month and the only downside was that I lost electricity for two hours and the roads were blocked by five fire engines.
Its presence did not stop a major supermarket chain buying the site where the SS will be located on the customer entrance road.

g_attrill

For me, if it was very visible or audible from my house or garden I would probably avoid it, mainly because I don't want to hear/see something like that. The secondary point would be that it would put off future buyers, any health issues are a minor point to me, I don't believe there are any long-term effects when living at normal distances from one.

greenface

FraudBuster wrote: »

I have an electricity sub-station less than 100 m from me.
It went "pop" last month and the only downside was that I lost electricity for two hours and the roads were blocked by five fire engines.
Its presence did not stop a major supermarket chain buying the site where the SS will be located on the customer entrance road.

i would rather live next door to a sub station than a big supermarket.
we lived over the rd from a ss main problem was kids climbing onto the roof and throwing sticks at buses as the passed Didnt mind too much if the hit the bus but when they missed they hit my house. Little sh1ts

googler

Noise - go along at night, and see if you can hear it humming. If you can hear it from the street, you'll probably hear it in the house in the dead of night.

Maintenance - the elec supplier may need to do routine and unplanned maintenance on it, possibly at unsocial hours

Setting aside health concerns regarding living in a magnetic field, you'll need to be careful with any metal items dropped in the house - they won't drop to the floor, they'll fly toward, and stick to, the wall that borders the substation......

Don't store your magnetic media (cassette tapes, minidiscs, etc) or anything else that relies on a stable magnetic field on the wall that borders the substation, too!

LisaLou1982

It wouldnt bother me - esp if its over the other side of a fence!

You'll never please everyone when you eventually come to sell the house - there'll always be something that people dont like, whether it be a SS, main road, school, supermarket etc.

theartfullodger

Go and sit by it for some 10's of minutes when things are very-very quiet to see how loud the hum is... (it might become irritating...)

One thing I've always meant to try... (don't do this at home... and don't touch the SS itself or the fence round it...)

There must be significant EM leakage from them and these could be harnessed with the right loops of wire etc.. if you got a smart engineer he might be able to get you free electricity... probably illegal...

Cheers!

Lodger

Sasquatch

We found this amazing six bedroom house in Bournemouth at a great price. Just one problem - a substation on the other side of the garden fence. We viewed the house three times and were really torn, but in the end decided against because of the potential risks to our young daughter. Although opinion is divided as to the health risks of low frequency magnetic fields, we dicided not to take the risk. See below:

"Residential power-frequency magnetic fields (MFs) were labeled as a possible human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer panel. In response to great public concern, the World Health Organization urged that further epidemiologic studies be conducted in high-exposure areas such as Japan.

We conducted a population-based case-control study, which covered areas inhabited by 54% of Japanese children. We analyzed 312 case children (0-15 years old) newly diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) or acute myelocytic leukemia (AML) in 1999-2001 (2.3 years) and 603 controls matched for gender, age and residential area. Weekly mean MF level was determined for the child's bedroom. MF measurements in each set of a case and controls were carried out as closely in time as possible to control for seasonal variation. We evaluated the association using conditional logistic regression models. The odds ratios for children whose bedrooms had MF levels of 0.4 microT or higher compared with the reference category (MF levels below 0.1 microT) was 2.6 (95% CI=0.76-8.6) for AML+ALL and 4.7 (1.15-19.0) for ALL only. Controlling for some possible confounding factors did not alter the results appreciably. Even an analysis in which selection bias was maximized did not fully explain the association. Most of the leukemia cases in the highest exposure category had MF levels far above 0.4 microT.

Our results provided additional evidence that high MF exposure was associated with a higher risk of childhood leukemia, particularly of acute lymphoblastic leukemia."

National Institute for Environmental Studies, Ibaraki, Japan. [EMAIL="kabuto@nies.go.jp"]kabuto@nies.go.jp[/EMAIL]

bungle4x4

hahahahahaha.

all the advertising selling magnetic bands/magentic therapy/magical magnetic everything. and your worried about something as daft as a substation..

the magnetic field is nothing. the buzz of the frequency change is nothing. the only thing that will stop you buying a house you really like is stupid people with way too much time looking on the internet for something that is irrelevant.

Hopejack

My Mum has sold her house and is desperate to find another! She recently (about 6-8 weeks ago) viewed a lovely house and put an offer in as it was very reasonably priced. I and my DH drove by and immediately noticed a substation (of quite a large size (width of 3 garages!)) was attached to the wall of the house's garage - she hadn't noticed it as it was fenced off and somewhere missed it! Told Mum and they deliberated about whether to up their offer (their initial one was refused).

She was told that the owners were emigrating hence why the house was so reasonably priced, but the owner told her she was undecided about renting out or selling - you wouldn't knock down your price if you were unsure would you. Once I realised where it was, I was suspicious that it was the location rather than the emigrating that was dictating the price! In this location, a property of it's size and internal fixtures would normally go under offer within 48 hours - or at least a week. This one is still for sale, I wonder why?? It really is fab inside and a great bargain for the price - only you have to be comfortable with an SS right next to you - clearly others who have viewed are not comfortable either and I'm sure there have been many viewings as decent houses in that estate are in short supply and have high demand.

My point, if others are put off and you are having second thoughts then what would happen if you want to sell in the future. PS - Do you have young children or grandchildren? One of the reasons Mum decided against pursuing was because I have two young children, probably not going to happen but god forbid one contracted leukemia, how would she feel? I for one would always wonder if it was down to the location. I/she couldn't live with that 'risk'....