Renegotiating Offered price on Home

FataVerde

purplebutterfly, Very wise words, thank you! I am coming to the same conclusion. I live with chronic pain and have problems with sleep so I tend to be more sensitive than others on noise. That's partly why I wanted to hear people's opinions. Surprisingly, I've so far been incredibly lucky in London to not have serious problems. When I first heard the upstairs owner is an elderly gentleman, I was relieved it's not a young family  

eddddy

FataVerde said:

1. Foot traffic. It's one thing to have a neighbour in and out of the building. It's quite another to have people popping in hourly or so depending on his service.

2. This is a residential property: moving things around to accommodate a massage table and such will clearly cause some commotion. I know because I stalked the owner on social media and they have public accounts. So the flat is not arranged as a massage parlour on an ongoing basis.

As I suggested above, it's very unlikely that the flat has planning consent to run a business - and if people are coming and going hourly, the flat doesn't have the character of a dwelling, it has the character of a massage business.

So check the planning class of the flat - and you can report them to planning control, if you want. And the council are likely to serve an enforcement notice on the owner, ordering them to stop using the flat as a business.



Similarly, it's very unlikely that the lease allows a business (with frequent visitors) to be run from the flat. So your seller can probably insist that the freeholder enforces the terms of the lease - and gets the massage business stopped. (Otherwise the freeholder can repossess the flat.)



In theory, you can reduce your offer for any reason you like (or no reason), but saying it's because a neighbour is breaking the law or breaching their lease is a bit difficult to justify.

lookstraightahead

I don't think you should spend your energy renegotiating the price.

I think you should spend your time finding out exactly what it is - look up the company, are they registered, are private's businesses allowed etc.

money off won't change the footfall, moving of tables etc. On the other hand, they might make a lot less noise than someone who plays an instrument.

user1977

eddddy said:

FataVerde said:

1. Foot traffic. It's one thing to have a neighbour in and out of the building. It's quite another to have people popping in hourly or so depending on his service.

2. This is a residential property: moving things around to accommodate a massage table and such will clearly cause some commotion. I know because I stalked the owner on social media and they have public accounts. So the flat is not arranged as a massage parlour on an ongoing basis.

In theory, you can reduce your offer for any reason you like (or no reason), but saying it's because a neighbour is breaking the law or breaching their lease is a bit difficult to justify.

Especially if that activity is likely to end in the short term (or maybe even before the OP completes!).

Justonemorecupoftea

Can you not ask the current owner or even the massage business owner themselves?  (Or both?) 
What are the hours of business (doubtful they'll see people beyond maybe 8pm)

How busy are they generally (I see some old guy for a sports message every now and again and he sees 3 or 4 people a day 4 days a week - it's a small additional income).

Which room is the massage table in in comparison to your bedroom/living room etc

These are all reasonable questions, not everything has to be as combative as people on this board like to make out.

Emmia

We live in a block of flats and a couple on the block have separate street level entrances - a couple of years ago one of these was used to offer  "massages"  where it was clear that they wasn't offering a service solely to ease back pain... 

People (men) came and went at all hours, and after being harassed by one guy too many, I reported it to the police via the non-urgent form.

The occupants moved out,  but the flat has had a revolving door of tenants since (mostly couples) who i think unfortunately suffer from the previous use.

Greymug

Of all the businesses a person can set up and do from their own home, a massage service would be one of those that would bother me the least.

No noise, no loud music, potentially great smells of massage oils in the communal hallway and stairwell, potential to get massages at a discounted rate. What's bad about it?

You got lucky. Would you rather live in the same building as....say....a musician?

FataVerde

lookstraightahead said:

I don't think you should spend your energy renegotiating the price.

I think you should spend your time finding out exactly what it is - look up the company, are they registered, are private's businesses allowed etc.

money off won't change the footfall, moving of tables etc. On the other hand, they might make a lot less noise than someone who plays an instrument.

How can you find out if a business is registered? So I have looked into it and it's a one man 'business'. He has a FB page and the service also comes up on a website when you google the address. Judging by the absence of activity on his FB business page, which is only his messages asking people to book, he does not have a lot of clients. He offers Swedish massage, sports massage and aromatherapy. I feel bad because all this gentleman's social media accounts are public and I hate stalking a stranger The house layout mirrors mine, i.e. living above living, bedroom over bedroom. Unless he sets up the business in the bedroom and starts early, I should be fine.

My sense is he lives alone and does this either as additional income (so not full time) or as a full time business. I will ask the owner via EA if they can pass the questions to the neighbour. It's an area with tons of young families so yes, I think I'd rather have him as a neighbour than young kids, musicians, etc.

If it turns out to be disruptive, I guess I could report it, but it's one of those leased flats where you and your neighbour have to cooperate for repairs, shared garden, etc. 

paulj2021

book yourself in for a massage and see the business from the inside! Might also be a good way to drop innocent questions in such as “oh this seems like a nice neighbourhood/ building what's it like?” from the massage table. As a side benefit it may also help reduce your property search related stress

Crashy_Time

Drop your offer, you will feel better, but if you are having doubts now is there any real point in going ahead with this?