Would you buy a home close to an electricity substation???

rachnbri

I bought my first house just over a year ago (hurrah) and I can honestly say that it wouldn't have bothered me in the slightest. However, after a series of disastrous rental experiences and moving house six times in 9 years I was looking for a house me and my family could live in for the rest of our days and was not remotely concerned with re-selling and the effect anything could have on the value of my house. If I had been looking to buy a house with a view to selling 5-7 years on then my priorities may have been different.

MadMonkey

If you have children aged 15 or under or plan to have any whilst in this house then do not buy it.

We were looking at a gorgeous house that had a pylon outside it and after somone mentioning the risk I looked into it. I was totally unconvinced and thought it was all a load of tosh and even reading the reserach was not terribly bothered by it.

Then the same day the governemnt announce that new builds have to be X metres away from pylons and substations - this made me worry a teeny bit more but still totally blaze about it - this house was very cheap and very nice.

Then after further research I contacted a few organizations for more info and they all sent me the same research and opinions of leukemia being higher in children born at an address where EMF output was greater than 0.4.

I was still totally unconvinced so contacted the National Grid expecting them to come back saying what a load of twaddle - electricity is splendid stuff and good for you, Hell we make the stuff !!

NO - they sent me loads of research and information on electricity and EMF and there really is evidence to show that childhood leukemia is more prevalent in homes situated near electricty pylons and subsations - albeit ones emitting more than 0.4 microtasler.

Now I am still not 100% convinced by this BUT as I have 3 kids under 5 I honestly cannot take that risk - if one of my kids were to get leukemia I would never forgive myself - yes they could quite easily get it where we live now but you know what i mean ?

If you do not have kids then it is not a problem - the onnly problems found with adults was increased headaches and depression which i am totally unconvinced of the connection there ! There is an increased risk of suicide apprantly but maybe that is because you have a nice strong pylon to attach the noose to:rotfl: - sorry sick sense of humour but that was my first thought on reading of higher suicide rates in houses next to pylons !!

You can contact your local pylon / substation owner and ask them to come and do an EMF reading for you. If it is less than 0.4 then there are no worries and when you come to re-sell you could include this reading along with the research saying no risk under this amount to bump the price back up.

MadMonkey

00mrmark00 wrote: »

Can't here any hum from it... I would say it's more like 10m away from the rear of the property.

The hum only happens after heavy rainfall apparantly. If it is excessive you can complain and they will try and stop it.

PROFESSIONAL_LANDLORD

blue_haddock wrote: »

i'd rather buy a house close to pylons/sub-station etc than on a flodd plain.

I would prefer " to swim for it " rather than a pilon toppling on to my little bungalow and getting ZAPPED:eek:


Sub station wouldn't bother me! plant some tall trees.

00mrmark00

Also, has anyone any experience of this supposed 20% rule... E.g a reduction of upto 20% of the value by the lender after the lenders valuation identifies something like a pylon or substation close by???

Thanks again...

PasturesNew

£20k under is not enough by my reckoning to buy a property to do up unless you know exactly what you're taking on/are doing the work yourself - you know/want to be in that area/house - you are buying a home, not an investment.

Personally, I wouldn't touch any property near a sub-station - just out of sheer ugliness, worry, etc. They can make a hell of a buzz... especially in the rain - then there are all the other things that other people here will post.

And yes - it IS a big put off to any future potential buyers. So you'd either be stuck with it together (potentially losing the chance to buy a house you want to trade up to) or will have to seriously reduce the asking price just to get out.

If you DO want THIS house - then on the basis of a 20% drop in value because of the sub-station -AND- potentially buying into a falling market.... offer them 30% under the asking price.

But personally, I'd have walked away already and not have even asked the question here.

21castlehill

If the substation is in a fenced area & thats 10M from your garden, then it's already within the equipment safety zone and unlikely to pose a threat to you health. As one previous poster said though you will end up having to replace lightbulbs on a regular basis as the closer you are to the source the higher the voltage is. This happens to me all the time & you would not believe how irratating it is to be changing bulbs every week somewhere in the house. I'd personally have no issue with a substation from a health aspect, I work with such equipment all the time (no I don't work for the national grid). I would have a problem with it if it's unsightly or humming though. I would not touch the place if it was near overhead lines though, I'd walk regardless of price.

MadMonkey

21castlehill wrote: »

I would not touch the place if it was near overhead lines though, I'd walk regardless of price.

Why is that ? Just out of curiosity. We have an estate near here that is literally swarming with overhead lines and pylons and as said in previous post we decided against it but just wondering what your reasons are as someone who works with them ?

Thanks

21castlehill

No real reason other than I don't want my view to be a big ugly power line (it would be like being at work all the time), I do also worry that it could be very hard to sell on in the future. Lots of people are scared by the rumours of health effects from them. I know one family who after 2 years had to rent their house out to a company as they could not sell due to a power line nearby, despite being 4 bed detached, private drive, large garden & a really good price they never got an offer.

MarkyMarkD

We have one adjacent to our back garden. It's about 10 metres from the nearest point of our house.

We don't have any issue with early bulb failure in the slightest, so maybe people who have just buy duff bulbs? 90% of our bulbs are low energy and they last forever.

Up until a few years ago, I would have said that it doesn't worry me. We have a brick wall which is 6 feet high and we can't see the substation from the house at all because of the wall and bushes growing aginst the wall. It's not unsightly.

But more recently, I do believe that it makes a hum - virtually inaudible, but I can sense it when I'm in bed at night and it's really quiet.

And our bedroom is on the other side of the house.

Some internet articles suggest that the hum resonates within your house and is actually louder inside the house than outside. Indeed, I can't hear the noise outside at all.

It's a 50Hz hum so it's almost definitely from the substation.

I've had the noise officer from the local council round to check it out, but his equipment couldn't sense anything.

My wife also struggles to hear it.

So it's obviously quite a subtle noise that only some people hear/sense.


So, in summary, it depends whether saving a bit of money matters. I don't believe we got a discount 10 years ago because of it. I am worried that we might have to give a discount now because of it because people are more sensitive to such issues. But equally well, someone buying the house might not even notice it as the rear of our house backs onto a completely different road and, as I say, the substation's not visible from the house.

I expect that a reasonably competent solicitor would notice it on the land registry documents, however!