House purchase, Just been informed a “notorious” murder took place.

moneysavinghero

https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/news_features/Ombudsman-When-and-what-agents-should-disclose

15. I have a rental property on my books where, sadly, the last tenant was murdered. Should I say this in the marketing? If the owner decides to sell the property, should it be mentioned?

A difficult one given the sensitivity of the matter, but on balance I think it should be disclosed at the earliest opportunity.

So if you were to make a complaint the ombudsman would most likely rule in your favour.

TBagpuss

I am not sure what you are asking.

I personally wouldn't be overly concerned about living in a property where someone has died, even if they were murdered, however, other people may mind so it will mean that the house may potentially be harder to sell , although that should reduce over time .

I think you need to decide whether it is something that makes you feel that you (or your family) can't be comfortable there, in which case you can still pull out just as you would if you'd found something horrible on the survey.

You can revise your view of the value and look to negotiate on price, but you may not get far. Presumably the sellers were not overly bothered of they've been living there?  (You'd likely have a bit more room for maneuver if the house has been standing empty / on the market for a long time) 

The only other thing which I would check is whether there have been any recent new stories - is this something where you may get ghouls coming to stare? 

youth_leader

I'd want to know if the murder was because of a break in? We were all in bed when a burgular tried to break into our house and he nearly killed my Dad by hitting him on the head with a jemmy, I couldn't wait to leave that house. 

jimmy1969

Thanks for all the comments.
For all people viewing houses remember to ask the EA “ Has a horrific murder taken place in this house”
To be honest I am not sure what I wanted to achieve by posting in here, just a few opinions or reality checks.
My main issue is my son, but as have been said it will probably be a 5 minute wonder and his new friends will want a sleep over in the creepy old mansion. 
In hindsight the information was available because when the solicitor informed me a quick goggle search brought up all the details. But who goggles “famous murders in <area>” when buying a house.
I am still peeved that I was not informed as obviously they had the information to send to my solicitor..

AdrianC

freesha said:

You know we need a link to the house, or the story at least? Before we can give proper advice

I'm going to take a wild guess here...

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/78269271#/
Now - £680k
2017 - sold for £510k
https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/house-sadie-hartley-murdered-still-11835534
2016 - on market, reduced to £535k

The murder itself is mentioned in the Wikipedia entry for the village.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmshore
...and there's plenty of photos of it from a google for the name of the victim. So I'm not sure that there's much of an expectation that reasonable due diligence wouldn't uncover it.

Would it put me off? Not necessarily. But I can certainly understand why it might put others off.
The question is what it would be worth without this back story. And at what point in historical distance it changes from being a negative to a positive...

AdrianC

Adsta said:

Gives the place extra character! 
That said I think the MSE guide says you should ask when viewing if there were any murders in the house. Not sure if EA has to declare unless asked? 

Just murders?

Keswick1uk

Blimey, bit of a shock. 

We live in a house where someone died, naturally, and we know the date too as we knew the family who owned it (although we never met her). We find it comforting and raise a glass to her on the anniversaries if we remember.

I might feel a bit more differently about a murder, especially if they were buried or something.

user1977

Just because a fairly well-known murder happened there doesn't necessarily mean the house itself is going to be a future source of fascination for the world at large. It's not clear whether you actually have evidence that the locals view it as being "the murder house" etc.

moneysavinghero

AdrianC said:

freesha said:

You know we need a link to the house, or the story at least? Before we can give proper advice

I'm going to take a wild guess here...

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/78269271#/
Now - £680k
2017 - sold for £510k
https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/house-sadie-hartley-murdered-still-11835534
2016 - on market, reduced to £535k

The murder itself is mentioned in the Wikipedia entry for the village.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmshore
...and there's plenty of photos of it from a google for the name of the victim. So I'm not sure that there's much of an expectation that reasonable due diligence wouldn't uncover it.

Would it put me off? Not necessarily. But I can certainly understand why it might put others off.
The question is what it would be worth without this back story. And at what point in historical distance it changes from being a negative to a positive...

Not marked as sold though.

jazzyja

AdrianC said:

freesha said:

You know we need a link to the house, or the story at least? Before we can give proper advice

I'm going to take a wild guess here...

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/78269271#/
Now - £680k
2017 - sold for £510k
https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/house-sadie-hartley-murdered-still-11835534
2016 - on market, reduced to £535k

The murder itself is mentioned in the Wikipedia entry for the village.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmshore
...and there's plenty of photos of it from a google for the name of the victim. So I'm not sure that there's much of an expectation that reasonable due diligence wouldn't uncover it.

Would it put me off? Not necessarily. But I can certainly understand why it might put others off.
The question is what it would be worth without this back story. And at what point in historical distance it changes from being a negative to a positive...

I knew it was this. Just knew. I live in the neighbouring town. Remember it well. Killed by her husband mistress. 
Now I know the story it wouldn't put me off. I was thinking more like a Fred West sorta murder