Neighbour's house: would this bother you?

Moonraker71

This is a hypothetical question as my flat won't even be on the market until next week. But I'm interested to get some feedback. Would you purchase a property if the house next door looked dodgy? Eg, there's a nice row of little Victorian terraced houses, all very well-kept with neat gardens, freshly painted exteriors, etc. However, one house (directly next door to the one I have my eye on) has dirty net curtains at the window, and a solid metal front door with the letterbox boarded up. Looks kind of abandoned. This concerns me but I can't put my finger on the exact reasons why. If it was 5 or 6 doors away I probably wouldn't give it a second thought. Would it bother you too?

Excited13

Personally yes but I'm a nightmare hence why I ended up looking at so many properties. I went to view one property on an estate with a good reputation (mainly older people living there) but a semi up the road was in a state and as you walked past it stunk it certainly put me off.

Annisele

It wouldn't prevent me from purchasing - but I'd probably offer less than I otherwise would.

If there was a nearby flat at the same price point as yours, and with similar specs, but not next to a 'dodgy' house, I'd buy the other one.

Fire_Fox

It would bother me if long term vacant due to possibly needing party wall consent, any repairs or maintenance issues that affect both properties, risk of squatters. Ditto if the legal owner-occupiers were flat broke or had mental health issues, they might be lovely people but you need cooperation on repairs and maintenance within a terrace, and for them to have insurance.

Moonraker71

Interesting, thanks all. Good point on the maintenance issues Fire Fox, I hadn't considered that. Was thinking along lines of squatters and general run-down look of the place, but could be much more practical issues at stake.

Dukesy

I probably wouldn't be overly happy about buying if I was right next door to somewhere that seemed to be abandoned, but if it was five or six doors down, it probably wouldn't worry me too much. In a town, the squatting issue would worry me. Elsewhere, it's maintenance.

We bought the worst house in our village - the place was an absolute state, and whilst its potential as a pretty little stone cottage is now beginning to shine through, it looked awful. We're semi detached and our neighbours bought their house just before the chap who lived here died. When he did, our place sat empty for quite a long time, and a lot of damp, mould and various wildlife moved in. Given another year or so, I think the fairly major structural problems which we uncovered when we began the renovation would have begun to make themselves very obvious, and some of these would certainly have begun to affect next door.

Aside from this, I suspect that our place would have seriously devalued next door were they to have put their house on the market. Theirs was originally the same as ours - a smallish stone cottage, but in the 1860s someone added various extensions to create a pretty grand looking house. I doubt that many people looking for a place like that, with the sort of money that next door should be worth to spend, would want to spend it on a house with an increasingly structurally unsound eyesore attached to the side and part of the rear of their house.

olias

Assuming it is abandoned/long term empty/dispute over ownership etc...
What happens if their roof leaks and is causing damp to your building? Guttering or downpipes likewise? Overgrown gardens attracting rats, weeds migrating into your garden, vandalism, squatters.......the list goes on and on. I would look elsewhere.

Olias

andy.m_2

personally I wouldnt buy.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

How long's it been like that? There was a decrepit eyesore flat on my road (in leafy, respectable Wimbledon) that was eventually auctioned and has slowly been completely done up- looks lovely now.

Jonesy_McJones

Moonraker71 wrote: »

This is a hypothetical question as my flat won't even be on the market until next week. But I'm interested to get some feedback. Would you purchase a property if the house next door looked dodgy? Eg, there's a nice row of little Victorian terraced houses, all very well-kept with neat gardens, freshly painted exteriors, etc. However, one house (directly next door to the one I have my eye on) has dirty net curtains at the window, and a solid metal front door with the letterbox boarded up. Looks kind of abandoned. This concerns me but I can't put my finger on the exact reasons why. If it was 5 or 6 doors away I probably wouldn't give it a second thought. Would it bother you too?

My house had this when I bought it - it was a repossession and the precious owner had come back and squatted - hence a metal door with no letterbox. If it's something like that, I'd ask the estate agent - maybe the vendor knows what happened, and other potential buyers will probably be asking the same thing. I'd certainly think twice about it if it was me.

olly300

Moonraker71 wrote: »

However, one house (directly next door to the one I have my eye on) has dirty net curtains at the window, and a solid metal front door with the letterbox boarded up. Looks kind of abandoned.

I wouldn't buy your property as it would take me too much time and energy to get the council to chase the owner if there were issues with it's maintenance that have a knock on effect on my property.

I'm surprised personally that you haven't tried to find out who owns it and why it's abandoned.