Pylon in garden

andypa1

Hi everyone,
I'm a first time buyer and having been disappointed with so many properties i've viewed in the last few months I've finally found one that I liked, immaculate inside.

The only thing stopping me from making an offer is the pylon in the garden. postimg.org/image/mdbodiy0l/ (sorry can't post links yet)

Do you think it will be noisy in the wet? from doing a bit of research it seems that it's the wires overhead rather than the pylon itself that cause the potential health problems, is that right?

The house is up for £135k and last sold for £128 in 2013, I really got on well with the vendors so don't want to offend them but what do you think would be a reasonable offer for a house I really liked considering the pylon?

Cheers for any advice you could give me,
Andy

AnotherJoe

IMO the health stuff is rubbish, but what isn't rubbish is that people believe it, so it will definitely put people off buying the place when you come to sell it. So, whilst as I say I think it's rubbish that there is a health risk, I wouldn't buy such a property.

I don't know where this property is, but it doesnt seem to have risen in value much over three years. A couple of percent a year. How does that compare with other properties in the vicinity. Might be worth a check.

andypa1

it seems on track with how others are rising in the same period. As you can see from the streetview photo the lines aren't going over the house but they are about 20meter away I reckon

AnotherJoe

You could go and stand near it when it's raining and listen.
Pictures not as bad as I thought it would be.

Davesnave

If the asking price now is £135k and it last sold at £128k, then it's easily conceivable that the original asking price then was also £135k. i.e. no real increase in value over that period.

OTOH, maybe the vendors have seen something they like and have put the house up at a quick sale price. We can't tell if that might be the case on the info here.

Whether you can live with the pylon is just down to personal preference, just like any other down-side, such as a busy road, railway line or poor school catchment etc.

moneyistooshorttomention

The way that you say you are a first-time buyer implies that you've already decided you will be selling on whatever house you buy at some point - rather than keeping it permanently.

So - you may not have to put up with the health hazards of a pylon yourself for long. However, I'm not sure if research that has been done on the health hazards of living that close to one goes into how long it took to impact on the health and chances are that, even if you only lived there a couple of years, you might end up wondering in 40/50 years time whether an ailment you had was "yours" or had been "provoked" by exposure to that pylon back when you were younger.

There are first-time buyers that end up spending a LOT longer than planned in their first house :wave:. I bought mine to "do me" for a maximum of 5 years. There was certainly no way I was going to stay longer than 7 years at very most. But.....houses rose in price and I could see my salary was going to go down (from low to even lower) and my plans went adrift and I landed up having to keep that house about 25 years longer than I had planned to. I'd been prepared to put up with the health hazards of having a pretty major road not that far away for a few years - but not that many years - and..yep...I'm wondering if its had an effect on my health from having had to live near that road for so long.

All round - it boils down to "keep looking for another house" imo.

Davesnave

How many people can arrange their lives to avoid the various health risks which are proven, let alone those over which there is some doubt?

If we were to reject all the properties in places of higher air pollution, avoid areas of radon concentration and shun any house which might have asbestos in it, I think that would be a very sizeable chunk of the housing stock available.

AnotherJoe

Davesnave wrote: »

How many people can arrange their lives to avoid the various health risks which are proven, let alone those over which there is some doubt?
.

In this case id make a distinction between avoiding what almost certainly is not a health risk in any case, but what is quite likely to be a factor that does put other potential buyers off. Both because of health risk scare, and what is frankly a whacking big eyesore.

Nebulous2

A pylon would definitely put me off - in fact it has twice - both a long time ago.

First time was a site with outline planning permission when I wanted to build. It seemed a good price and I went to see it only to discover it was pretty much underneath a pylon.

Second time was a small farm. The farm received £60 a year in wayleave payments from the electricity company. I was okay with that but again when I went to visit I decided that the pylons were too close to the house for my liking.

There is a difference between risk and perceived risk. Real risk is difficult to define, but perceived risk may cause more damage and many people 'think' pylons are dangerous.

I've never bought any property without half a mind on what would happen if I wanted to / had to sell it.

moneyistooshorttomention

Certainly a whacking great eyesore - unless you fancy a bit of "post-industrial chic":eek:.

If years passed and OP was still living there - I wonder how the "owners" of that monstrosity would take to having climbing plants growing up it to try and disguise it as best possible (well - its in a garden innit?;)).

kinger101

It will be noisy when wet. And it will make the property harder to sell.