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

Adsta

AdrianC said:

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?

Plenty of other stuff too on the guide: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/house-buying-guide/
Point 14: Squeeze 'em for info
Found it a useful guide. I asked all my viewings if someone was murdered there. Couple of EA's were caught off guard with me asking it lol.

paulj2021

I wouldn’t personally worry about a house where a notorious crime has taken place, except of course if it was a notorious unsolved crime, in which case I might find it difficult to sleep…

Loza2016

We have a lovely house round the corner from us where a horrible murder took place about 20 years ago. It was featured on crime watch & a few crime documentary type programs have run the story. New owners still paid market value for it and to be honest nobody talks about it anymore. 

Wouldn’t bother me unless killer was still at large. In this case killer was caught. 

You should however have been told at the start. 

Tiglet2

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 wouldn't have said that this was a "fabulous victorian house, basically an old mansion" though.....

purplebutterfly

Loza2016 said:

We have a lovely house round the corner from us where a horrible murder took place about 20 years ago. It was featured on crime watch & a few crime documentary type programs have run the story. New owners still paid market value for it and to be honest nobody talks about it anymore. 

Wouldn’t bother me unless killer was still at large. In this case killer was caught. 

You should however have been told at the start. 

Similar story here.
There's a house round the corner from me where someone was falsely accused of being a paedophile and then was brutally murdered in what was described in court as "an orgy of violence" (the killers were all jailed).  Absolutely awful case and one often cited as an argument against vigilantism.

It happened 20 years ago and nobody really remembers the case locally any more.  As terrible as these things are, they do get forgotten over time unless they are truly notorious ie Fred West.

I would talk to your son as he potentially faces the most issues as a result of this.  If he doesn't mind, then go ahead with the purchase.

AdrianC

Tiglet2 said:

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 wouldn't have said that this was a "fabulous victorian house, basically an old mansion" though.....

Nor would I. But I can see how it could be perceived as such.

And, as I said, wild guess...

user1977

jimmy1969 said:

I am not overly concerned for myself and wife but my boy will start high school in September, kids from the school will obviously know about the “murder house” and it won’t be long before he finds out. 

Also, are high school kids really going to be interested in something which was in the news when they were about six years old?

verytired11

but I am peeved that the EA or vendor did not make me aware before I spent money and are nearing completion.
The key question is - does the EA/vendor have an obligation to disclose and if so at what point?  I would say that a murder is relevant and salient event to disclose, since most people don't want to live in a murder house and it can have an impact on value.  I wonder though whether there is any obligation to disclose at viewing, or whether any time before exchange will do.  It's sneaky, and I can understand why you'd be annoyed.  I personally wouldn't want to bring up a child in a murder house, especially one so recent.  I read an interesting case recently where a family bought a house with a swimming pool that was reduced in price because a child had drowned in the pool.  When the new buyers moved in they opened up the pool again (it had been out of use since the drowning) and all the neighbours got very upset and it created a hostile environment on the street because they said she shouldn't have used the pool.

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

I think the point is the ea should have mentioned it.

I saw the questions mse recommend you ask, no way l would ask if anyone had been murdered there...!

I think it depends on the murder. I mean you might get gruesome sightseers. Your sons friends might not want to come over. Could be a benefit lol 

purplebutterfly

• It is a legal requirement under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (or CPR’s), that estate agents and property vendors alike have to disclose any information that could either effect or decrease the value of a property.
• This does include both murder and suicide in the property.

However, I can't find any information about what stage this needs to be declared.  The EA and vendor can't withhold information, if directly asked BUT it seems that it doesn't need to be declared by law until the conveyancing has started. 

https://www.readysteadysell.co.uk/selling-house-guides/selling-house-someone-died-in/