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

AdrianC

Continental said:

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

Does nobody bother doing their own research?

Why would the EA mention it? He's been employed to sell the house, and gets paid when it's sold.

Tiglet2

AdrianC said:

Continental said:

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

Does nobody bother doing their own research?

Why would the EA mention it? He's been employed to sell the house, and gets paid when it's sold.

The Code of Conduct for Estate Agents states this:

7i You must by law comply with the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 require you to disclose any information of which you are aware or should be aware of in relation to the property in a clear, intelligible and timely fashion and to take all reasonable steps that all statements that you make about a property, whether oral, pictorial or written, are accurate and are not misleading. All material information (*) must be disclosed and there must be no material omissions which may impact on the average consumer’s (*) transactional decision (*) and where information is given to potential buyers or their representatives, it must be accurate and not misleading.

It might be difficult to prove that the Estate Agent knew about the development unfortunately.

Doozergirl

If other houses only have 20 metre gardens, what is at the end of them? Houses? 

None of us ever have security over what gets built beyond our own land.  Owning 50m of space gives you more control than 20m does.  

The people that worry about house prices are the people that know what was there before.   The truth is that new build houses tend to lift the ceiling prices for a street, so even if there is a devaluation, it's often paid for immediately.   People do buy new builds and people do happily buy houses with existing neighbours.    

There's no way that construction work should take 2-4 years.  I've got the slowest builders next door building 6 houses and they're nearly finished after about 15 months.  When I say slow, they're often not there at all! 

lookstraightahead

I rented an apartment in a beautiful Victorian house. 

The house next door was split into two and one of the semis had building work done. They were there for over a year, every day that it wasn't raining, between 8-4. Their dust etc was all over our stuff and the drilling was a nightmare.

im so glad we were renting.

I would never live so close to known potential building works. 

Irishpearce26

Continental said:

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. 

Im not sure whats worse backing on to another house or backing on to a school. 

AnotherJoe

Ally_E. said:

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.

I doubt its going to take 4 years to build 4 houses?

End of my road, two identical houses are being built in a plot that was cleared after i moved in in Feb it was previously a dilapidated bungalow with a big garden. Maybe March, so, in 3 months both houses are now built including roofs. Still lots of work to do but its all internal but anyway thats the major disruption over ( a few times road was closed while a crane unloaded something) because plasterers and kitchen fitters etc arent going to cause much of an issue for you its not even as if they're in the same road.

As to the loss of view, as others have pointed out, that could have happened after you moved in. It was naive to think that view came with the house forever.If you believe you'll eventually be able to get such a good house with similar aspect at this current price eventually, by all means pull out and rent but from what you've said, you dont.

AnotherJoe

Continental said:

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. 

my last house literally backed on to school fields, it was a good situation. Sure, noisy as break times but that ended on schedle (unlike say a neighbours party),  weekends no neighbours backing on to my garden or overlooking it. Absolutely quiet except on school sports day and the once a year school summer fete. I suspect they will really like it.

Jeepers_Creepers

Hi Ally.

Will this affect its 'value'? In blunt terms, surely the answer is 'yes'. Just compare two identical houses in your head, one of which has a private garden, and the other is overlooked. Whether it would affect the ultimate sum paid for each is a more complex matter - you only have to look at current house prices to see that most 'rules' have gorn out the window - but is one more 'desirable' than the other? Of course it is; for many people it would be a complete deal-breaker.

Is it for you?

You need to be clear in your head - by checking the plans - how you will be affected, and how much this will bother you. As said before, there is no point crossing your fingers and hoping for the best - you need to decide for you.

A 50m garden is great! That also gives the obvious potential to plant some nice screening trees. Is the garden on the Northish side? If so, trees there shouldn't impinge on the sunniness of your garden. If 'South', then more sums are required.

But, to get back to your Q - will it affect its value? In most circumstances, I'd have thought 'yes'. From the simple point that many folk just wouldn't entertain it. I for one.

Can you put a figure on that sum? I guess a good EA should be able to come up with a ballpark.

Are you considering asking for a discount? If so, and even if you get one, the real issue is - will you be happy there if you are overlooked?

user1977

Jeepers_Creepers said:

But, to get back to your Q - will it affect its value? In most circumstances, I'd have thought 'yes'. From the simple point that many folk just wouldn't entertain it. I for one.

But would you have entertained it if it was merely "house next to land eminently suitable for development of something which would overlook it"?

Ally_E.

Yes, we are considering asking for a discount. Also the 2-4 year timeline comes from it being 2 sets of developments, first one already has plans submitted to the council, but the other hasn't yet been submitted, so no way of saying how it will affect the property we would like to buy. If the plans for the next door development are any indication it will be a number of 2 storey houses with 8 meter long gardens. Someone 10 houses down has already sold their half of the garden and a house has been built, it's been on the market for 4 months now and reduced in price. With a tiny 4-5 meter back garden with a wall 4 meters tall (due to the hill). It's a beautiful 5 bed house, but not desirable due to it's lack of garden. 

There are plans for development on this road every 15 houses, another thing to consider our immediate neighbours could be next.