Homeowners: did any of you discover your new place had a surprise feature AFTER moving in?

robatwork

JIL said:

Unfortunately all of this and the stuff on the landing was taken away. 
The first day we got the keys, we found a stuffed toy on the opening of the loft, we actually thought it was a rupert bear, but it turned out to be a rabbit. Photo taken while still in loft, we found the other stuff later.

The Lewis Witch Project

KateBob

Titus_Wadd said:

JIL said:

Bluebell1000 said:

JIL said:

We found loads of stuff in the loft. We got a man to come and take the rubbish away (checked he was registered) I still smile at the sight of the large teddy bear sitting on the Van's front seat with a seatbelt around it as it drove away. 

Did you buy our old house? It wasn't until after my Dad had moved that he said he'd left some bits in the loft, including two large teddies I'd had when I was little. Still a bit gutted about that.

 I found a photo, for you to check.

Is that doll Hamble from 1960s Play School?  The scary ugly TV doll?

Please don't post a photo of its face if it is, she gave me nightmares!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who found Hamble scary!

Ditzy_Mitzy

A defunct, I assume, security camera rigged up over the front door.  It was only small, so easily overlooked by the casual observer.  I only found it after wondering why there was a slender cable run along the walls from the front door to the front room which terminated at a funny looking socket next to the television point.  The other end exited the property through a hole, reappeared and connected to the camera over the door.  I assume it was a camera, it was a small box with a lens anyway.  God knows if it worked and why it was there is a mystery since one could vet any callers by simply looking out of the window!

anotheruser

An area behind the washing machine that had been used as a cat litter tray... for many months.
A stray electric cable behind the oven that was live but not plugged in anywhere.
A shower that required you to pull the shower head to the floor to create a flow, which then enabled the shower to actually work.
A small hole in the floor developed from a leaking pipe.
Very old consumer unit, which had a wire rated for less than the fuse was rated for, which was a potential fire risk.

Probably more but this is all I remember.

ChasingtheWelshdream

NatNat77 said:

Our house was built around 1950 and we are only it's third owners. Our sellers left us several rolled up original plans, including the one below. We are going to get it framed. The flooring in the background is also original and although I don't love the pattern we will most likely get it restored as I think it would be sacrilege to cover it up. Great thread! 

A couple of years after we moved in, a mystery box was left in our porch. A previous owner had kindly sent over some papers he had found in his loft.

 It was an archive of every deed/transfer and piece of paperwork going back to the original purchase of our plot when the road was created in 1908. We managed to piece together a narrative of our house right up until us, including some quite sad personal tales with forced sales and court orders. 

 It was fascinating and we plan to research some of the previous residents via the local museum records and find how best to display the original parchment/velum deeds without damaging them.

NatNat77

ChasingtheWelshdream said: A couple of years after we moved in, a mystery box was left in our porch. A previous owner had kindly sent over some papers he had found in his loft.

 It was an archive of every deed/transfer and piece of paperwork going back to the original purchase of our plot when the road was created in 1908. We managed to piece together a narrative of our house right up until us, including some quite sad personal tales with forced sales and court orders. 

 It was fascinating and we plan to research some of the previous residents via the local museum records and find how best to display the original parchment/velum deeds without damaging them.

Oh wow that's amazing too, and a bit sad. I'm sure you'll do it all justice and the research sounds like it could be interesting! Your post has made me think I should probably at least research how the plan I showed above was drawn too, and on what type of paper, so I don't damage it. It doesn't look hand drawn but I've no idea what equipment could have drawn a plan like that at the time. We do have some other plans that were left but that was the best one 😊 if walls could talk eh! 

ChasingtheWelshdream

It will be very interesting. The saddest but was a letter to an elderly lady from someone she owed money to, having taken out some kind of secured private loan. He knew she was bereaved and in ill health but wanted his money. Theme next sale was a few months later  :-(

The most fascinating thing is that our house appears to be one of the few with its original name. There are mentions of family members living in the street but those houses must be known by new names, so it will be a real detective story!

Without giving our address away, it’s still has the wax stamp. I feel very privileged to be its current custodian 🙂

D700

Previous owners handbag - had to run up the road after her! 

justwhat

attic room boarded up just after the 2nd world war. Most of the items had woodworm.But somethings were sold on for a few pounds.

Another house had a bricked up window under the boxed in stairs.(opened up stairs and made it a storage area)

We have found various items of value left by previous owners. Ranging from 20-100 pound

 

Soot2006

This thread is making me want to pull the manky carpet in the dining room ... but given that the extension was poorly built in the early 80s without any permission or building regulations sign-off at the time, I imagine I won't be finding glorious parquet. I'll probably be finding a massive problem to fix like an open sewer or something charming like that. So, on reflection, the carpet stays down. For now.