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Original poster

Selling/buying a house that somebody died in

52 replies

40somethingJBJ · 19/01/2021 12:59

The “body in the rose garden” thread got me thinking - would it bother you buying a house where someone died? Would you want to know? I’m talking nice, peaceful death, not anything gruesome.

Asking really because my dad passed away at home in his sleep 8 weeks ago, and I’m going to have to sell his house at some point - do I need to mention he died at home? I don’t think it would bother me, but would it bother other people?

OP posts:
Keratinsmooth · 19/01/2021 13:37

Ivv be think previous owner died here, no issue with it tbh, I think that she was happy and elderly

LonelyBlueBauble · 19/01/2021 13:37

My Grandma died in our house when I was 10. It was expected. She actually died on our sofa. Still kept the sofa for another 10 years (built to last) it never bothered me at all. My Grandma was very much loved.

Now having someone buried in the garden is another matter. I wouldn't want to buy a house with a grave in it. Death is one thing, a body is another.

Crayfishforyou · 19/01/2021 13:37

The family house I grew up in had had 300 years of my family living and dying in it, I found it comforting.
I think it would depend on the circumstances. I don’t think I’d want a famous ‘murder house’, mainly because of the dark tourists. I’d be more scared of them than anything in the house.

My current house is 100 years old, I’d be surprised if someone hadn’t died in it at some point.
I’ve looked round houses that have had oxygen cylinders next to beds in the sitting room. It didn’t bother me at all, anyone who lives does at some point.

gladyspipette · 19/01/2021 13:45

@1990s are you sure that's not the Estate Agent equivalent of "he's gone to live on a farm in the countryside"?

bigbluebus · 19/01/2021 13:46

My dad died suddenly at home, in the dining room. When DM died 2 years later in hospital the house was sold. It never even crossed my mind to mention that DF had died in the house. People die at home all the time - oc natural causes and in other not so pleasant ways. The house can't just lie empty.

Suzi888 · 19/01/2021 13:49

My friend went to look at a house and then EA said they had to disclose that the previous occupier sadly took their own life.
I think if the house old, then it’s reasonable to assume someone has passed away in it (though I too would rather not know).

Dowser · 19/01/2021 13:50

My df died in his house, mum lived another 20 years
Never said anything when I sold it
I would expect half the houses had someone die there

SlopesOff · 19/01/2021 13:57

I remember passing a house where someone I knew had been murdered. There was a child screaming relentlessly, I could hear it clearly as the window was open.

I doubt the tenants had any idea, but do wonder if the child had sensed something. It was a particularly gruesome death. That would put me off for sure, but unless you research it a letting agent or landlord is unlikely to mention it.

Places I have lived have had deaths, natural ones. It is something that is likely to have happened and not anything I would think about unless their ghost came up and told me, or a neighbour mentioned it which is probably more likely.

2bazookas · 19/01/2021 14:03

There was no NHS before 1947; so most people of modest means were born and died at home. So any UK home built before WW2 has almost certainly had people die in it.

As have many homes built post WW2, of course. Many people even now prefer and choose to die at home, rather than in a hospital ward among strangers..

myusernamewastakenbyme · 19/01/2021 14:09

My cottage is 220 years old...i would love to know who has lived and died here in the past...i find it fascinating.

twobrews · 19/01/2021 14:10

I've lived in two houses where the previous occupant died in the house. The first one we moved to when I was 11 and I went to school with the child whose grandparent it was, she told me that she'd tell them to haunt me. I was terrified!
The second one didn't bother me at all.

Our previous house it was being sold due to divorce. After we'd moved in I learned from neighbours that the Husband had been really abusive. DH felt a bit weird about it but I saw it as a positive in that the wife and children had left and were safe. Us buying the house was hopefully a good thing for them.

greenlynx · 19/01/2021 14:20

I wouldn’t want to know. When we were house hunting we actually saw a lot of houses where the owner passed away, it just meant for me that not all questions about the house could be answered but there’s no chain. It never occurred to me to ask about details of the deaths and I wouldn’t want the EA or relatives to volunteer them, only info about when the boiler was serviced last time and similar.

Bobbiepin · 19/01/2021 14:24

Having someone die in the house and their body being buried in the garden are different things though!!

sausagepastapot · 19/01/2021 14:29

I wouldn't care at all.

CeibaTree · 19/01/2021 14:30

My mum died at home in 2011 and we only sold the house last year. We didn't even think to mention it to the new buyers. Most houses above a certain age will have had someone die in them at some point I'm sure.

AlwaysLatte · 19/01/2021 14:30

Sorry for your loss 💐 I wouldn't mention it, the only connection now is yours with your memories and knowledge, totally unconnected to anyone else.
My house is 400 years old so I'm pretty sure lots of people have been born but also died here.

AlwaysLatte · 19/01/2021 14:33

There is a house near me where the father murdered his wife and children about 150 years ago. I must admit, I do view that house rather differently when I drive past it, ever since I found out- not sure I'd want to live in that one but it's very different to someone drifting away due to natural causes.

MrsDThomas · 19/01/2021 14:34

People have died in homes for centuries. If no one bought a house where a person died, well there’d be a lot of empty homes.

Odd question.

MyGodImSoYoung · 19/01/2021 14:34

I'm a Probate Lawyer... we sell a hell of a lot of houses... a lot of people have died in them!

It isn't something that people would have reason to know. I expect far more people have lived in a house a person has died in than they know.

Nohomeschoolingtoday · 19/01/2021 14:35

My Mum seems to always buys a house that someone has died in it - she likes the idea of a closed book and feels like a fresh start for the home....she would draw the line at body in the garden.
Back when we lived in a council house (35 years ago) desperate to move she found out someone had passed away in a perfect council house for us - she contacted the council immediately and said she would love it regardless of the state it was in!! And we moved in! But I swear it was a haunted...very strange feeling in that house! & I don’t usually believe in things like that but a very odd house with odd things happened when we lived there!!

DinosaurDiana · 19/01/2021 14:36

There’s a house that I pass every day where a woman made a very sad decision, I won’t say what on here, but I think of them every day.
Her DH moved on with his new friend.

DontGoIntoTheLongGrass · 19/01/2021 14:37

Our house now the previous owner died in it. He died in his armchair. When we viewed it first time the armchair was in the backroom. It was also the only thing they did not remove before we moved in. DH is scared shitless of ghosts and things. We put the armchair outside in the back garden until we could dispose of it. I was tempted during the night to keep moving it closer to the house 😂

Roselilly36 · 19/01/2021 14:52

So sorry for your loss OP Flowers

Most estate agents will advertise the with no ongoing chain etc. I am assuming that you are the executor, and probate has already been applied for, hopefully if things are straight forward, it won’t take too long for probate to be granted, you can market the property, but the sale can’t actually go through till probate is granted.

We are moving at the moment, they property we are buying the previous elderly owner died in, it doesn’t worry us in the least, it was clearly a much loved home, and will be well looked after by us when we move in.

You won’t be able to keep it quiet from your buyer, just to let you know incase you don’t already, a copy of the death certificate was included in our purchase docs. I think this is usual practice for an executor sale.

Good luck OP, I am sure it won’t put off the right buyer.

CorpusCallosum · 19/01/2021 14:53

Sorry to hear about your dad OP Thanks

I wouldn't mention it, and would if anything disguise it. When we were house hunting for my mum a few years ago we looked at a bungalow which was still clearly set up for a single occupant and a live in carer on a put you up bed in what was the living room. The house was lovely but mum couldn't get past that 'window to the future' set up.

FAQs · 19/01/2021 15:00

It wouldn’t potentially put me off but having been on one house where a man died whilst watching porn and you can guess whilst in his front room and lay undiscovered for three months, the smell and body fluids was horrendous I can’t imagine that smell ever leaving the house, although I’m sure it did, poor man and another where a elderly lady died and her body slumped onto her electric fire, again awful.

I think I’d want to know the circumstances.