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Original poster

Buying a murder house.

153 replies

Tiiiaa · 18/02/2022 19:16

My boyfriend and I are buying our first house together.

HOWEVER…. recently we came across information that we feel should have been disclosed by vendor/estate agents.

The house was the site of a tragic and violent murder, in which the husband killed the wife (in the living room). We have previously asked the estate agents why the house was for sale, if there was anything wrong, and why exactly the sellers wanted to sell. On each occasion this information was not disclosed to us. Typically they would just mention that they had been instructed by solicitors to sell the property, and even that it was meant to be redone as an investment but they decided not to.

My question to mumsnet is….would you continue with the purchase on the house? And why?

Please note we have already spent 1k and mortgage offer received.

OP posts:

Graphista · 19/02/2022 01:31

Unless you're buying a new build chances are someone has died in your home and even that there's been domestic violence (very common) and possibly even murder or suicide. Murder isn't particularly rare sadly

Wouldn't bother me in the least but then I've lived in old vicarage's, ex prisons, an ex mental health hospital and even on the site of an old graveyard (and yes I've seen poltergeist)

Move in and make your own happy memories there

Titsoot · 19/02/2022 01:36

I wouldn't no , I know some people don't believe in woo ,but I'm 1 of those people who gets a bad vibe from certain places . When someone I knew from work had me in their house I felt really uneasy all night could not describe why and when I was talking to that person a long time after she mentioned a man had killed his wife in the living room a few years earlier . There's also a bridge near where I live that I hated walking over as a child I just felt overwhelming sadness and would get upset when I crossed it and could never explain why it was only years later that my dad told me that a lady walked Infront of a train under that bridge .

NewbieDivergent · 19/02/2022 02:13

This has come up before on mumsnet and I replied then as well.I moved into a flat with my young daughter where the previous owner was tortured then murdered by a gang of boys.
I knew the gentleman who was murdered and he was a gentle soul who wouldn't harm anyone whilst alive or dead.

PrettyBluebells · 19/02/2022 02:25

It wouldn't put me off. I'd redecorate snd be gone with it.

Migrainesbythedozen · 19/02/2022 02:55

I wouldn't. And I am surprised it isn't illegal to not disclose that information. In Australia, America, NZ and Canada something of that magnitude must be disclosed by the Real Estate agent. Otherwise the purchasers can sue the agent/sellers. It's disgraceful if it isn't the law in the UK, if it isn't it should be, and if it is I would report the agent for a lack of full disclosure of property.

If it's not going to be your forever home, I wouldn't risk buying it. I really wouldn't. Plenty of other houses you can invest in without the resale baggage.

lobeydosser · 19/02/2022 03:36

When my daughter and her pals were looking for student accommodation for their second year, they were delighted to find a newly decorated, reasonably priced, well located house.

Less delighted when they googled and discovered that a previous (non-student) tenant had murdered the landlord just a couple of years earlier.

She was even less delighted when she discovered that it took place in her room...
Luckily for her the programme aired after she'd moved out.
She's very practical but says she would have found it hard to relax knowing what had happened in the room she was sleeping in.

You should definitely have been told as I'm sure that would have affected how much you offered.

I'm sure their landlord got a bargain when he added that property to his portfolio....

Nat6999 · 19/02/2022 03:39

The house my brother bought the previous owner had hung himself on the stairs, ther were still marks on the top rails from where the rope was.

Grasping · 19/02/2022 05:36

Bad things happen in many houses

Is it any different to sleeping in a room where a child has been abused? We just don’t know

Pinksweets · 19/02/2022 06:58

I don’t understand why many people here say they wouldn’t be bothered. There’s a HUGE difference between an elderly woman dying of natural causes back in 1874 and a violent murder that occurred a few months ago. How could you relax in the front room knowing that a murder took place there??

SnakeLinguine · 19/02/2022 07:24

@Pinksweets

Because it’s happened, it’s not still happening. You can feel empathy for the victim but not let a past crime overwhelm you purely because it took place in your living room, surely. Murders and untimely deaths all take place somewhere, and not only on streets.

And besides, crimes ‘fade’ over time. Our house had a historic murder I’ve mentioned before on here, that took place on the landing outside my son’s bedroom. I also lived for almost a year in a house that had been inherited by a student friend whose parents had killed themselves there in a suicide pact.

drpet49 · 19/02/2022 07:24

Wouldn’t put me off at all

ivykaty44 · 19/02/2022 07:27

It’s bricks and mortar
Ask for a discount

You could buy another house where people have been abused, died, suffered and never know

GeneLovesJezebel · 19/02/2022 07:29

I wouldn’t personally, but if the house is what you want then there’s no reason not to. Someone will buy it.

DearZoom · 19/02/2022 07:56

BennieAndBert
Dennis Nielsen’s flat is near us. It turns up on the market every so often, always very cheap and with a note saying that purchasers should ask for details of the history.
One of his flats was for sale whilst we were looking in exactly that area. It had a note on Rightmove saying that the estate agents strongly advised potential buyers to research the house before considering it. It wasn’t the size property we were after so, but had it been I don’t think I’d have gone ahead. Partially for resale purposes and partly because I didn’t like the idea of body parts having been stored in the house for so long (and presumably the same plumbing/sewage system!).
That’s obviously a very high profile and nasty case though. I think in general I would be ok with a murder the more time that had past. And it wouldn’t be the fact that a murder had happened there that would be the problem, more I’d be worried that every time I say in my front room relaxing I’d start to picture what had happened.

lborgia · 19/02/2022 08:09

Interesting. Here in Oz, you are legally required to reveal info like this. An extremely successful/ high profile estate agent near us nearly went under because they sold a real house of horrors without this coming up. Can't remember if they knew, or if the owner kept it secret.

It was a multi million pound house, and they had to cover the difference between the amount paid, and a new independent valuation which came in a LOT lower.

Anyway, I think if you have spent time there already, and fell in love with the place, you'd probably be ok.

I'd consider asking for a reduction though

YouWereGr8InLittleMenstruators · 19/02/2022 08:11

A child died very tragically in my neighbour's house a few years before they moved in. It was let for a while, then sold to someone who moved on quite quickly for work. Our current neighbours have no idea, and despite the nature of the death, there is nothing online which links it to the house. Whenever we visit, especially when walking through the space where it happened, I feel the sadness of it. Last year, we attended a celebration which coincided with the anniversary of the child's death, which felt very mixed. But I'd never tell my lovely neighbours who adore their home and have made it such a warm, happy place.
I sometimes wonder whether the child's remaining family members ever pass by.

moanyhole · 19/02/2022 08:19

The only thing that would bother me is reselling. The OP has said it's not likely to be her forever home. Why then take the risk of struggling more when moving on? If it was likely to be my forever home I'd buy it, if I was wanting to sell again in a few years I'd think twice.

catwomando · 19/02/2022 08:29

@PermanentTemporary

The previous owner died in our house. We knew when we bought. I still talk to him occasionally. He'd done loads of DIY and I used to complement him on his workmanship as I stripped off the wallpaper. He's a part of the history of the house now, as we will be too. It's an old house so I'm sure there will have been more deaths here too.

We looked at a house recently though that fitted all our criteria but felt horrible. My kids felt it too and the agents said people had pulled out of buying for the same reason. Other identical houses in that street have sold but not that one. We've nicknamed it the spooky house. No idea what went on there but it feels so sad, cold and unhappy and makes me shudder, especially one corner in the lounge. Weird !

OP I'd go for it if it feels right, and only you can know that. If it were me and it felt OK I'd definitely be talking to the woman who died and tell her how sorry you are for what happened and that you promise to bring love and happiness back to the the house, in honour of her. Sounds bonkers but that's what I'd do. her life was not all about her death and that goes for the house too.

seven201 · 19/02/2022 08:49

It would put me off. I'm not woo. I just don't want be sitting on my sofa and then remember a woman lost her life there at the hands of a man. Natural death wouldn't be an issue for me, suicide I'm not sure, but murder, absolutely not.

It's quite the split on here.

seven201 · 19/02/2022 08:51

If you do buy it I think it should be factored into what you pay for it. The fact it's been on the market a while (in this current crazy house buying time) could be a bit of a clue. Although as time goes on it will be less talked about/known.

FunnyGoingsOn · 19/02/2022 08:51

I'd try for a big discount and see what happens. I think I'd be ok about it but sure.

Knockmealdowns · 19/02/2022 08:56

I’d be concerned that my kid might be bullied at school over it.. gossip etc..

LadyFlumpalot · 19/02/2022 09:01

My mum bought a house for £71k back in 1996 - big, 1930's, bay window, original features jobby. She got it so cheap because the last owner had died there, nothing violent but apparently she had died in the bath and it had been a while before she was found. The house was on the market for years because people were getting put off by it. It had turned into a bit of an urban legend.

She bought it, restored it to glory and sold it in 2002 for nearly £300,000. Whilst we lived there it was fine, no one came by to be ghoulish, it felt friendly etc.

So, if the house is going cheap because no one wants it due to its past and you decide you can live with it... go for it.

ChoiceMummy · 19/02/2022 09:03

Historically, homes had had people die in them. Though most by natural means, there will have been those that have been passed off as so.
I get that this is slightly different, but we don't get the history of homes with regards whether there has been domestic abuse etc and that's what this scenario was dv that went way too far. It's not lovely. But that's what it was. A horrific situation that had dire consequences.
If this happened in the pandemic and you haven't found anything then in 5 or 10 years time when you sell there will be even less to find.

NoWordForFluffy · 19/02/2022 09:06

I think I'd do as PP have said, and if the house felt OK during the viewing, then I wouldn't mind. I've bought previous houses partly based on the feel, so that's a normal part of the process.

There's a house round the corner from us where there was an awful husband / wife murder / suicide last year. If it came up on the market in our price bracket, I'd consider it as an option.

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