Development of 5 4-bed houses behind the property we're buying

Ally_E.

Hello, the TA6 form from our vendors came back which pointed to neighbours at the back of the property we made an offer on have sold half of their gardens and now that area is being developed to become 5 or 6 4-bed detached houses. 4 properties, one of which backs onto the garden of the house we're buying and another one that is next to it have sold half of their back gardens to a developer. The house we're buying is at the bottom of a hill, so the house that backs to the garden is much higher and has perfect view of the garden and the house windows, which was fine with us as there was enough distance for privacy. Now with another couple of house backing onto the garden and much closer - we are not so sure anymore. Does this reduce the value of the house we're buying? We are currently paying a higher than fair amount, it's been on the market since December, so it hasn't had any offers as high as ours in that time.

hippocrates1

Definitely reduces the value compared to what you thought you were buying. Depends on whether you think the house is now worth what you offered.

user1977

I doubt it "reduces the value" in any objective sense. It might make it less attractive to you, because you'll know what it was like before, and you'd have the disruption of having a building site for a while.

AdrianC

You can see it. We can't.
You know the property and area. We don't.
You know what else is on the market locally. We don't.

Do YOU think it reduces the value?

Bear in mind the application could have been publicised the day after you exchanged contracts...

paulj2021

I’ve seen a couple of posts on here about developers thinking they own slices of peoples gardens so it’s probably worth double checking that they haven’t done anything like moving the fence line of your potential garden in their favour…

Ally_E.

We see the potential in the house, with an extension we can add value and get a nicer house. It's one of the smallest houses on that street as everyone else has already extended. This area has huge 50m long gardens, which was very attractive to us. We know we probably won't be able to find something similar else where and would have to settle for a 20m garden. It's a huge luxury in London to have such a big garden. 

We knew about the 3 houses on the diagonal from the corner of the garden as we looked it up on the local planning portal, but the development of 2 or 3 houses right behind the property is news to us. The application hasn't been submitted to the council yet. 

We are ready to break the chain and go into rented to make sure we don't lose the sale of our house, but it took so long to get this house and there isn't much coming on the market at the moment. Dilemmas dilemmas. Also the worry of construction noise for the next 2-4 years is a worry, we both work from home.

Continental

My in-laws were in the process of buying a detached house with beautiful fields at the end of the garden (in Dorset). The TA6 form came back and they discovered that 200 houses are going to be built on those fields.

They were annoyed with the estate agent who didn’t let on about it as it had been reported in the local media before the house went on the market . The agent knew that my in-laws were moving from another county. They pulled out of the purchase as they didn’t fancy having a house with a small rear garden being so close to the one they were planning to buy. They’re now buying a house almost opposite - which has a school behind it. 

If I were you I would contact a RICS Chartered Surveyor to get their opinion (in writing) on how or if the new houses would affect the purchase price of the property and then decide if you want to proceed or try and re-negotiate with the vendor. 

Gavin83

We’ve turned down houses due to how overlooked they are from neighbouring properties so it will definitely reduce your potential market and therefore likely also the value. 

Also having lived next door to a building site for 6 months there’s no way in a million years I’d do it again if I could avoid it. It caused untold amounts of stress, made me ill and frankly put pressure on my relationship. Honestly it was probably the worst 6 months of my life. Getting woken up every morning by hammering and drilling got tiring very quickly.

It’s your choice though. If you think it’s reduced the value of the house then reduce your offer or pull out. However the vendor is under no obligation to accept a reduced offer.

Ally_E.

We are yet to instruct a RICS surveyor to survey the house, due to lack of clarity about the chain, we were only in position to order that late last week. Will ask them to analyse this if we decide to proceed. Thank you.

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Tiglet2

If having houses backing onto your garden with a potential of loss of privacy is a dealbreaker, you would be better looking for something else, otherwise this will spoil your enjoyment of the property and become a niggle that gets bigger and bigger.

If not a dealbreaker, then go ahead.  It doesn't necessarily mean that the house will lose value.  Sometimes it can raise the value if the houses built are very nice and the area becomes sought after.

Bear in mind though, that any house overlooking fields is at risk from development, if not now in the future.