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Would You Buy A House Next Door To A Potential 'mr Treebus'?


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HOLA441

I've seen a mid-terrace cottage which ticks all the boxes. The only downside is one of the immediate neighbouring houses is in pretty poor condition, ie overgrown garden with junk in it, bits falling off the house, broken unmended window etc. The chap who lives there seemed reasonably normal and polite when I said hello to him - he seems a rather frail elderly gentleman and may not be physically able to do much to the house, but my concern would be things like party wall/chimneystack/drains/trees issues etc. Any thoughts/experience etc?

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HOLA445

Speaking as someone who's not going to win any "best kept house and garden" prizes, I'd say the test should be politeness and reasonableness rather than the height of the lawn.

I backed out of buying somewhere recently (a pretty ideal rural plot with pp and lovely views) because I had a word with a local copper I know. The plot has one neighbour who is well known to them and is a generally unlikeable character. A narrow escape, I think. His garden was pristine.

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HOLA4410

I guess there's always the potential of neighbour disputes with small terraces. Also, the neighbours have access rights through both the front and back gardens of the property, from some sort of covenant (quite common in old terraces apparently) which doesn't thrill me too much.

Neighbours on one side have right of access through a defined route via our garden, and there is public footpath through another part of it. We obviously bought the house - and for nearly 50% less than another house (admittedly enclosed and a little bigger) in the same terrace had sold five years earlier.

The way we rationalised it was thus. Both neighbours (and our predecessor) were there 30-50 years so unlikely to be any ongoing problem. Neighbours turned out to be very friendly and reasonable older couple. We also fenced the garden off from the footpath and now the missus gets a bit more privacy gardening while retaining the ability to chat to passing locals if she wants (useful for getting to know them at least!) The footpath basically goes nowhere so is only used by locals.

Had the price differential been much less than 50% to a comparable house, I might have had more pause for thought. As it is, our house was by far the cheapest in a decent street for more than a decade (and one of the cheapest in the entire village). I appreciate the features described above probably make it vaguely unsellable, but we are not planning to move any time soon.

Edited by StainlessSteelCat
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HOLA4411

Neighbours on one side have right of access through a defined route via our garden, and there is public footpath through another part of it. We obviously bought the house - and for nearly 50% less than another house (admittedly enclosed and a little bigger) in the same terrace had sold five years earlier.

The way we rationalised it was thus. Both neighbours (and our predecessor) were there 30-50 years so unlikely to be any ongoing problem. Neighbours turned out to be very friendly and reasonable older couple. We also fenced the garden off from the footpath and now the missus gets a bit more privacy gardening while retaining the ability to chat to passing locals if she wants (useful for getting to know them at least!) The footpath basically goes nowhere so is only used by locals.

Had the price differential been much less than 50% to a comparable house, I might have had more pause for thought. As it is, our house was by far the cheapest in a decent street for more than a decade (and one of the cheapest in the entire village). I appreciate the features described above probably make it vaguely unsellable, but we are not planning to move any time soon.

Unfortunately with this property the right of way can't be fenced off because it would mean blocking out most of the light from the sitting room. It sounds like you did the right thing but in this case, the house is actually quite overpriced in comparison with similar properties. Asking price is also about 20% in addition to what it sold for three years ago.

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HOLA4412

My older cousin is a Mr Treebus...owns 3 houses all uninhabitable due to being filled floor to ceiling with crap and lives in rented house which he's due to be evicted from as he's also filled it full of crap!

I think his problems all stem from him being a typical feckless, self indulgent boomer really... retired at 55 with more money than he knew what to do with and just allowed his mindless, relentless consuming and hoarding habit to spiral out of control.

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HOLA4413

OK, I'll bite. Whence "treebus"?

I would fear a neighbour who severely pollutes my place, for example with a loud stereo or a wood-burning stove. But not one who merely neglects his own place. Biggest worry there would be his prospective successor, if he's of an age where that's likely to happen anytime soon. If it's sufficiently neglected now, there's a likelihood you'll either get a developer tarting it up, or a DIY enthusiast who'll give you years of exciting projects complete with noise and dust.

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HOLA4415

Just because he is old will that make his house fall down.? I would rather have a tired looking terrace next to mine than a pristine house, and a neighbiour with attitude.

He will either be totally quiet and the perfect neighbour or be a tad deaf and have his telly on full volume every night though...

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HOLA4416

OK, I'll bite. Whence "treebus"?

I would fear a neighbour who severely pollutes my place, for example with a loud stereo or a wood-burning stove. But not one who merely neglects his own place. Biggest worry there would be his prospective successor, if he's of an age where that's likely to happen anytime soon. If it's sufficiently neglected now, there's a likelihood you'll either get a developer tarting it up, or a DIY enthusiast who'll give you years of exciting projects complete with noise and dust.

Sorry, the spelling should be 'Mr Trebus'. Google 'Edmund Trebus' and you'll find out.

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HOLA4417

No don't do it, if it bothers you now it will only get worse when you live there.

No matter how nice you make your house look you will for the foreseeable future, still be living next door to a nightmare and that will grate on your nerves.

As mentioned rats foxes and maybe roaches fleas and all the rest of it, steer clear.

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HOLA4418

Depends on how old he is. If he's likely to pop off in the near future (maybe you could help him along with some extra stress :P), drive the price down hard. When his place comes up for sale, buy that and hay presto, instant extension!

Seriously though, don't! My old boss lived next to a derelict house, but a guy lived there. Garden overgrown, house had no glass in the windows and lots of the roof missing/broken, tree growing out the chimney stack etc. There was an unmade road to the back which was rutted and a mess. Any attempts to fill the holes in and this guy would come running out his falling down house and dig any concrete/hardcore out before it had time to set.

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