Buyer is concerned about the garden…

Bendy_House

donutandbeer said:

Phil4432 said:

donutandbeer said:

Thanks for everyone that replied and sorry that it’s a bit difficult to respond to every comment on phone. 
 
It would be very difficult for us to remove all plants, garden is not small (160 m2), and to be honest it hurts me to have to dig them up myself and destroy perfectly good plants… We got lovely giant rosemary bush and sage bush, lots of things we grew from seeds and lots of plants we bought from garden centre (definitely not cheap but we enjoyed them). I don’t care what the next owner wants to do with the garden, but I can’t bring myself to destroy it. I had hoped that we can find a buyer that wants to keep all the plants and have the energy to maintain it, but all the offers we got were from FTBs with young kids looking to start a family and probably have a lawn so their kids can play. 

I certainly will miss the garden, we are looking to buy something with a smaller garden but I would never want a lawn. 
 
As if today is not stressful enough, the light switch for the downstair bathroom just broke down. I ran to wilko when they opened at 8:30 and managed to buy a light switch. Just replaced it and it works now. I know it’s a small and simple task but I’ve never changed a light switch before. It’s not like any reasonable person will be put off by a broken light switch but I really don’t want to spook the buyer. 

I'm presuming you have a well kept 'wilderness,' garden, free of thrash and anything that might be considered dangerous.  If there is a rat problem, trash everywhere, eg something that could come to the attention of the police or council, they'd have a right to ask that the problem is dealt with.

If there isn't a hazard or something illegal,  the buyer is doing the equivalent of asking you to change the wallpaper before they arrive because they don't like it.

The answer I would give would be a firm no.  The garden will look like it was, they day they viewed it.

Depending on your definition of “well kept” 😂 But no definitely not rats & trash everywhere. When I replied to them saying we’ll clear our tools & trash I just meant anything that’s not plants. 
  
Even for a bramble-coverd garden that might be a health hazard in some way, I don’t think buyers would normally ask the vendors to clear the weed - buyers offer what they think the property is worth with the consideration of the garden and that should be it. 
 
 
 

For people wanting to see photos: 
 
Here’s a photo I fished out. It’s a screenshot of something I sent to my family so it got some names of the plants on it. This is one of the corners, I was standing on a path, under a small gage tree.

Labels from left to right (and top to bottom) are Japanese wineberries, marjoram, rhubarb, sage, fennel, pear tree tied on the fence, tarragon, wild strawberries and asparagus. Pretty sure there are some other plants among these that I failed to label at the time.



You can see we don’t have a “neat” wild garden. But we also did some gardening before exchange to keep it roughly like what it was in March. I will say it’s difficult to maintain (for us) even when it’s this wild, the idea was to create a foresty garden that will take care of itself 😂 For the new owner I imagine it would be the easiest to just have someone landscape the whole garden and put down a lawn, but that should be something that they knew & have thought about before making an offer. 

Blimey, nothing unacceptable about that! 

Most folk will probably want a lawned area, but once they've planned their new layout, they'll have a large stick of mature shrubs and bushes to hand!

If they are smart, they could even sell the plants they don't want - buyer digs...

Soot2006

Nice garden - very bee and bird friendly

A few years ago, my buyers asked me to fill in the pond. A 2m long narrow but deep fully landscaped pond with a bridge over it as part of a side path. Errrrrr no. They can break my heart when I'm not watching, but I'm not helping. I responded that we had crested newts and in any case there was no chance of fitting the pond. At the time I remember thinking I'd rather they pulled out and we find more pond-loving buyers ....

Well done on your exchange - it's so stressful, isn't it!

Skiddaw1

But that's lovely!!! I'd be delighted to be buying a house with a garden like that...

Does put me in mind of a house we viewed once, where the vendors had literally concreted over the whole of the back garden (wasn't paving or gravel- just plain concrete). They kept referring to it as a selling point. They'd also ripped out all the original cornicing on the basis that it attracted dust and was 'unhygenic'. We didn't make an offer.

CasaCroft8

Garden looks great. I'd be happy with that

HampshireH

I was expecting a mini jungle 

Nothing wrong with that photo

goldfinches

Congratulations on finally exchanging and I hope things go well from now on.

Your garden looks enviably lovely to me and I'd be thrilled to inherit those plants from you especially the asparagus shoots which taste delicious raw.

Woolsery

A really interesting garden I'd be happy to take on. However, experience with Rightmove suggests many people wouldn't value or know what to do with it, especially if they're looking for children's playing space. That's fine; I'm sure most of us buy properties where the kitchen or bathroom fittings wouldn't have been our choice either.

Drawingaline

I probably wouldn't keep the garden like that, I dislike shrubs and bushes. But I wouldn't have expected you to remove them. I paid a local handyman to clear the bushes out of our new garden when we moved in last year. I would never have asked the vendors to do anything. 

UnderOffer

Lovely garden. 

SugarDatesAndPistachios

The plants growing in your garden are so wonderful, was a nice surprise to see the labelled photo! I hope wherever you go next you make a twice as wondrous garden!  Thankyou for sharing 🌱