Buying a murder house.

[Tiiiaa]

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.

I don’t think it would put me off, but I would expect the price of the property to reflect this and I would talk to my solicitor about whether this should have been disclosed and whether it would therefore need to be if you eventually sell on. Both terrible and wonderful things happen everywhere. How do you feel when you are in the house?

As posters up thread have said I think it depends on when the murder happened.

I live in a very old house and quite frankly probably all sorts have happened here, and if these walls could talk and I found out something I think it would just add to the rich history of the place.

If it was less than 10 years ago I would be a bit more about it but I'd be off doing my own research and not just going off what a neighbour said. Have you any proof that it happened? Like newspaper or court documents??.

UPDATE! from original poster

Thanks all for your responses!

Thought I would come with an update for anyone who stumbles across this and wonders what happened.

A couple key details I missed out on the original post:
The tragic murder occurred a few months before we viewed the house - it had been empty since and had at least one previous sale fall through (which we later found out). We would have been the first owners since it occurred.

We initially decided to go through with the purchase. During covid houses were flying off the shelf and to be fair it was a good property in a good location. However, the longer we waited on the sale the more issues we uncovered. It seems the house was still in dispute between families causing legal issues and preventing a sale. The estate agents were cagey about this for a couple months and we only received this information from sellers solicitors when seemingly there were no other possible excuses for delay. We then decided to cut our losses and move on with our search and found a lovely property.

Looking back, we’re both glad we didn’t get the house, as we found a lovely property without the same concerns. Whilst settling into our new property we heard normal sounds of the house and thought back to how we would feel being in that house alone. Both of us aren’t-really too bothered about the paranormal, but there was a comforting feeling knowing our minds would rationalise the usual house sounds instead of beginning to wonder!

Out of curiosity I recently searched if the house managed to sell, and it appears to be unsold and still empty. Unfortunately i think the longer it stays empty the harder it becomes to market. However it was interesting to see the mix of replies in this thread.

Anyway, thats all, hope you all have a wonderful new year!