Property situated near Electrical substation and past mining activity?

Nick_C

jaybeetoo wrote: »

I wouldn’t buy a house next to a substation. It will be surrounded by an electromagnetic field. Do you know where the cables are that go to it?

As had been said, they can make a noise.

If you’re having doubts, think about your buyers when you come to sell. It may put them off.

I also wouldn’t buy a house near overhead cables.

I wouldn't buy a house that has electric wiring. Dangerous stuff.

But I've got an electric substation just the other side of the back fence. The only time I hear the buzzing is when I'm trimming the creeper.

I suppose it might put off some potential butters when I come to sell. But surveyors are so risk adverse, anyone getting a Home Buyers Report could be put off any property! I'm sure I'll find a willing buyer if I ever need one.

Mk123

@kdotdotdotdot, Thank you for taking your time to reply. From most of the replies I'm getting mixed feeling. Some looking at the substation as a big deal amd and some are not. For me the sound is never a problem for a house situated in a much preferable area. The substation looked safe n far enough for me but electric magmatic field is the concern. I'm also with 2 kids is what's making me re think.

Regarding to the mining, i wasn't planning of doing any kind of survey and was relaying on mortgage survey only. I thought house was built in the 80s so it should be fine?

What's bothering me more is the resale value. I don't plan to stay in this house long. Probably max of 8-10 years or less. So the substation could make a difference in the resale value.

Davesnave

Mk123 wrote: »

What's bothering me more is the resale value. I don't plan to stay in this house long. Probably max of 8-10 years or less. So the substation could make a difference in the resale value.

What's attracting you to it?

The chances are, it's somewhat better than other houses you can afford, because compensation for perceived negative of the sub-station is reflected in the asking price.

Houses that stand out for value generally have a down-side of some kind. They might be on a busy road, next to a pub, be ex-council or have a bad appearance. Whether they do offer value is down to the individual purchaser alone.

My daughter bought a properly certificated, underpinned house about 10% cheaper than comparables in the same street. She saw it as a way to buy into an otherwise unaffordable area, but presumably others saw it differently. She fully understands that it will also be worth slightly less than others when she sells, but why not, if she paid less to start with?

ciderboy2009

I spent the first 20 years of my life with a final sub-station next door to our house with zero adverse effects. The World Health Organisation seems to be quite clear that there are no known health problems caused by them - at the end of the day we're all bombarded with EMF every day anyway.

Old mines would also not bother me although I would ask your solicitor to do a full mining search (they're a standard search around here) so you can find out exactly where the shaf is in relation to the house.

jaybeetoo

Not all mine shafts and tunnels are documented.

davidmcn

"Area of past mining activity" will almost certainly apply to a much larger area i.e. the whole neighbourhood/town/county, so it's hardly a reason to discount one particular property. Your solicitor will get a Coal Authority search as standard anyway if it's in a relevant postcode. You can get a rough idea about documented mining history from the Coal Authority website here. Quite rare for it to actually be an issue.

We've lived with substations for generations now, they're only a problem in the minds of the tinfoil hat brigade. Decide for yourself whether it's actually unattractive (or noisy). I had one beside me for years and there were no issues when I came to sell the house.

AnotherJoe

So you have two kids? Do you have a diesel or petrol car? If so the cancerous emissions from that and from others cars every time you take them out in traffic will be literally thousands of times more dangerous than any supposed emf danger from a substation.
And a substation isn't the only emitter of EMF. Got a mobile phone? A hairdryer? Those will have measurable EMF next to someone's head literally thousands of times stronger than the emf from a substation. Most likely the wires in the walls of your house will have stronger emf than a substation measure at your house. Just don't send the kids to play in it.
I would however be bothered by potential noise from it (some can be quite noisy) and trees if they would block satellite tv.
For mining they do surveys so you can check if there's a shaft or tunnels near or under your house.

johnathan45

There was a property near my house which didn't sell for a long time due to a substation which was 20 feet away. When it sold, it sold for £430k when similar houses were selling for £450k-460k mark.

Interestingly, the buyer was a doctor with 2 kids!

ToasterScheme

AnotherJoe wrote: »

And a substation isn't the only emitter of EMF. Got a mobile phone? A hairdryer? Those will have measurable EMF next to someone's head literally thousands of times stronger than the emf from a substation. Most likely the wires in the walls of your house will have stronger emf than a substation measure at your house. Just don't send the kids to play in it.

This^^. Can't be repeated enough. Do you turn the washing machine on with a 3 foot insulated pole so you don't have to approach the nasty electricity?

In a previous life I used to test computers and the like for emissions, the sort of thing where you set up sensitive radio aerials outside in a quiet field. to my amazement, one site I went to there was a super-grid pylon line running right across the end of the field. We could not detect anything coming from it. Dodgy tractor ignitions from three fields away - all the time. Taxi radios 3 miles away - easy. Classic FM - off the scale. [Even considered re-designing my kit to run at 100.1MHz to hide behind that!]

kdotdotdotdot

Mk123 wrote: »

The substation looked safe n far enough for me but electric magmatic field is the concern. I'm also with 2 kids is what's making me re think.

If you've looked into it, then you'll have seen that there's more EMF to worry about from your microwave, hairdryer and mobile phone. Your children are under more threat from air pollution and car accidents than anything the substation can throw at you.

My biggest concerns about a substation by the house are accidents (which don't seem to happen all that often - I guess the electric board are against exploding substations all over the place!); access to the site by maintenance, and whether it's an eyesore.

Mk123 wrote: »

Regarding to the mining, i wasn't planning of doing any kind of survey and was relaying on mortgage survey only.

Gotta say, given how worried you were about non-existent magnetic fields, I find this a bit risk-taking. Your property is getting on for 30 years old - are you sure it doesn't need looking at?

Regarding mining, it's not just a question of subsidence (I'd assume any mine works are shored up and made safe) but what the land was used for before your house was built if it's near an old mine. Are you sure it's not contaminated land from post-mining activities?

Mk123 wrote: »

What's bothering me more is the resale value. I don't plan to stay in this house long. Probably max of 8-10 years or less. So the substation could make a difference in the resale value.

Yes, it could but then you want to buy it, so there will be someone wanting to buy it off you. No one can forecast what house prices and the market will be doing in 10 years' time, so I wouldn't worry about it.