Should be happy with our lot, but we're not.

RufusFrog_2

teb wrote:

someone suggested we look for a small bit of land and build as you can get really cheap kit houses and it would cost a lot less than an existing house the same size. we dont want to go for any kind of grand design job, just a basic house and land our way is still reasonable and not the daft prices it goes for elsewhere but it doesnt come up very often.

we're wondering if it would be daft to write to all the farmers in the area asking if they would consider selling us a small corner of their land?

Uh, you can't just buy a piece of land and plonk a house on it, and almost never on agricultural land (unless you're a big house developer who's prepared to shell out a huge amount in bribes:rotfl:).

What you should be looking for is waste land, huge side gardens, abandoned workshops etc. (in many areas only 'brownfield' sites and infill is permitted) and approach the owners of those (use land registry to find the owners). It is possible but it will not happen quickly and will take a lot of work.

seven-day-weekend

All of you who want to move because of the neighbours - how do you know you are going to get decent neighbours wherever you are? People move! The neighbours you have now nay not be the same ones you have in two years time - and that also goes for the property you are in now.

I wouldn't saddle myself with a huge mortgage on the offchance the people may be a bit better. (I might consider a sideways move if things were really bad).

My late MIL spent all her life moving 'because of the neighbours'. By the time we got married when he was 22 my husband had been forced to move house 17 times.

Horasio

Don't worry about moaning teb, we have had bad neighbours and lived in so called nice areas. I have lived in small houses in OK areas and they have been fine. We moved to get more space.

We are selling just now and looking for a place with no neighbours or ones a distance away, I used to like the hustle and bustle of towns but now wanting peace.

Bad neighbours and feeling frustrated in your home isn't to be underestimated.

(((Big hugs))) and hope you can find a solution.

teb_2

RufusFrog wrote:

Uh, you can't just buy a piece of land and plonk a house on it

damn. :rotfl:

i didnt expect it would be that simple, lol but i had read about a couple in one of those house building mags that had done just that.

thanks for the practical advice everyone, it all helps. :beer:

btw seven day weekend, (this probably sounds really bad but i cant think of how to word it so it sounds better), like i said, we live in an ex council house, it was lovely when we moved in years ago but the council now seem to use this bit for their problem families. 2 of the houses in particular have been designated for use for charities and they house homeless under 18s in one of them and im not sure about the other but the people are usually rough. i know how snobby that sounds and everyone has to live somewhere but our nice area has nosedived over years and no-one gives a damn, especially not the council.

if we move to an area that is all just bought private housing, we might well end up with a bad neighbour, but im pretty sure we wont have the same level of problems we got here.

seven-day-weekend

Teb, yes I do understand, it's a difficult one, isn't it? As you say, the homeless under-18s have to live somewhere (and one of them could have been my or your son or daughter), but I also understand about the associated problems this can cause to an area.

It's a very difficult decision to make.

It might be better for everyone, including the homeless under-18s, if people with these sort of social needs were spread about a bit and not all concentrated on one area.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

exil

"It might be better for everyone, including the homeless under-18s, if people with these sort of social needs were spread about a bit and not all concentrated on one area."

Sure - but since no-one wants these people as neighbours - how is the council going to do that?

Living in Scotland a few decades ago, all "anti-social tenants" were placed in hard-to-let houses in a particular area of town. Policemen went round in twos! It would be a brave councillor who would suggest dispersing them to better off areas in the town.

Prudent

I symapthise with you. Its no fun living in a bad area. I had a lovely house in an area which started off ok and then just got rougher with different people moving in. We had noisy enighbours and the car was often scratched etc. I was increasingly reluctant to let my dd out to play. When my marriage broke down I had to look for another house. I chose a smaller house in a very run down state, but in a good area. Improving the house has been hard graft and I have to keep de-cluttering. However its a real pleasure to live here. Lovely neighbours, no vandalism, no noisy kids playing outside.I am glad I made that decision.

Bogof_Babe

seven-day-weekend wrote:

As you say, the homeless under-18s have to live somewhere (and one of them could have been my or your son or daughter)

Doubtful that they would end up homeless if they came from a reasonable background. It is upbringing that makes kids into drop-outs, and they need more help than just being dumped into a nice residential area and left to their own devices.

As regards problem neighbours, it deserves a thread of its own as to what we consider to be unacceptable from our neighbours. I'm particularly interested in the post above by someone who is looking to move to where there are no neighbours at all!

It must be awful if your neighbours make noise, bonfires etc. at unsociable hours, or have drug traffickers calling around or worse still working from your block of flats, but as for everyday irritations we do need to keep a sense of perspective.

However it is worrying that so many of our fellow citizens really do not seem to give a damn about anyone else these days, for whatever reason. As each of us generally have two neighbours (except end of terrace ), and assuming we are okay ourselves, if 33% of the population are antisocial, then we will have one living next door to us. Cut the percentage down to what is probably more realistic - say if 1% have some sort of attitude problem - then in any road of more than 50 house numbers, your chances aren't that good.

If they tackled the antisocial behaviour with a bit more gusto, then perhaps people wouldn't be so desperate to move.

loopylass

I have fantastic neighbours and that is why we dont want to move lol

We were going to buy a bigger house but after talking and thinking an awful lot about it we decided not as we wouldnt know what the neighbours were like and we couldnt get anybody better than what we have got

we keep ourselves to ourselves most of the time but have friendly chats over the fence every now and again we look out for each other collecting each others parcels etc and when she had a bit of trouble with a workman and i helped her she came round with some flowers

We live in a small close and we have been there 14 years and its very friendly the only bad thing about it was when some people moved in 2 years ago and are sooo nosey everytime you come back home they are out there looking in your car wanting to know what you have got lol im glad i dont live next door to them so i really do symapthise with all of you that are having problems

But like someone posted earlier you can have problems where ever you go but i can understand how hard it must be to live in an area where you are unhappy

All the best