Weirdest thing a house seller has got upset about you changing?

[CruCru]

I’ve just been doing some gardening and was thinking about a woman who dropped by our house a few years ago. We were on our way out so didn’t ask her in. She told us some of the history of the house (interesting) but got quite upset when she mentioned some tiles she’d put in and we had no idea what she was talking about. Presumably the people before us had ripped them out.

We didn’t like to mention all the stuff we did to fix the dodgy electrics.

Another friend had some people get very cross when she changed some things in the garden (not concreting it or putting in that plastic grass). Just putting in some different plants.

What about you?

Not my past house but my current home and this has taught me a valuable lesson for our next home

one reason we bought our house was the lovely garden that was not overlooked at all. This was due to both neighbours having many trees and on one side, stunning, large lilac trees. They bloomed for a very long time and had the most wonderful scent.

well, the house with the lilac got sold to a developer who stripped the entire garden. In all the years living here, I’d never seen into all the gardens to that side and behind. As we were not overlooked, never felt the need for curtains at the back of the house ground floor and nothing other than black out curtains in back bedrooms. Clearly if I could see into everyone’s homes, they could see into mind. So off we went for blinds. (Developer also made the bungalow a 3 story home).

house other side sold. Again, stripped the garden of all trees and hedges that used to be meticulously maintained by neighbour (and me what was hanging over on my side from their garden). I now see many gardens away when I open my curtain each morning. Plus hear so much more noise. We can’t wait to move and are now looking for a house where the trees and hedges will be ours.

My Mum had the most beautiful garden full of flowers and plants. She spent hours keeping it up. After she died house got sold. First thing they did was rip up garden and put down nasty slabs. My sister rang me to tell me. I can't go and look. I remember it in full bloom. She unfortunately has to walk past it several times a week. Neither of us would ever dream of saying anything to new owner. They paid for it so it is theirs now. I am glad we took a few cuttings from her Fuchsias though.

I’ve got friends who do this, they go and see friends near their old house and always have a nosey, even looking In the windows when they know the owners are away.

I think some folks find it hard to let go. They perceive because they put it in that everyone must love it, and they feel a sense of ownership to it.

I think for a lot of sellers it's the memories they hold. First house I brought was from an old couple with a neighbour they had "grown up" with - there was a gate in the garden so they could each pop in. I raised an eyebrow and elderly man said he'd get that fenced pre move which he did. However the elderly neighbour seemed to think she and I would have the same relationship and she could pop in and out when she pleased (she even had a key to let herself in which my brother I discovered one afternoon when we were stripping the wallpaper off and she waltz in!) and as per the previous owner I would only use the garden when she was there 😳. Needless to say I didn't abide by the "rules" and she said the neighbours would be devastated by the changes I made (which was a total renovation job) but the house had not been updated in well over 30 years, the electrics were found to be unsafe and the kitchen cupboards were in places blue tacked to the wall 🫣. I often wonder if she would have been so sad had she been told my electrician found the old sellers were connected to her electric and clearly hadn't been paying/using their own for some time 🤔.

We rented a house when we moved countries. We had to take it sight unseen but we were promised it was 'part furnished'. This was perfect as our container of worldly goods and furniture wouldn't arrive for a good 6 months.
'Part furnished' actually meant no beds in any rooms, no sofa or chairs and no dining table but did mean massive sideboards and a lot of peculiar nick knacks in every room (a collection of dusty ceramic frogs holding shells in the bathroom, a wooden bowl with some shiny balls in the lounge, a massive wooden clock with a loud tick, loads of elaborate steel 1990s candelabra ), cupboards bursting with kitchen implements with unknown uses or and a full cupboard of bed linen that looked like it was from the 1960s.
Via the letting agent we asked if it was possible for the landlord to remove some (all) of the nicknackery. Their response we got was 'no, it's their house, this is carefully chosen decorative accents and they have nowhere else to put it and the next renters might want it'! Despite paying the equivalent of well over £2000 a month we sucked it up but carefully packed away their stuff into airtight boxes and put it into the garage.
We stayed there for 6 years! Best tenants they've ever had.
When we left we cleaned from top to bottom and carefully replaced the various stocking fillers around the house. The LLs wife arrived to 'check' the house and caught us in the midst of replacing her bits and she was FURIOUS we hadn't enjoyed her tombola style decor, nylon sheets, stained lumpy pillows and 15 sizes of melon ballers and also insisted on inspecting everything for potential minor damage as we'd 'shoved her beautiful things in the garage'. Everything was pristine, even the fishing frog's tiny fishing rod was unbroken

She totally lost her shit though when she enquired after a horrible cube type thing made out of intertwined twigs (yes!) that they had left in the bathroom as some kind of quirky seat. I lived with the damn thing for about two years but it absolutely HONKED of piss as it was next to the loo and she had 3 teenage sons in the house prior to us ...I threw it out after about 3 years when the twigs started perishing and pinging off around the room and ponging. She also went bananas when she found out I'd thrown away some ancient dusty potpourri from the guest bathroom.
She was so angry we hadn't lived in it exactly as she left it and complained to the agent that we had 'disrespected her decor'

My old house, the former owners popped round after a few weeks to collect post and were horrified to see that we’d ripped up the (apparently expensive) ugly carpet in the lounge, which was also full of dog hair and fleas…

That house was sold again recently and I had a good nose at the photos, whoever had it after us had done a brilliant job remodelling it.

My parents moved into their new build in 1960 and both died in 2020. We sold it in 2021 and we know the new owners are going to completely refurbish it. The house was well maintained but I dare say dated in parts with a small but pretty garden - my Dad's pride and joy. I just intend not to ever drive past it again - I can't think of a reason why I would even though I am less than 30 minutes drive away. It's their house - but I want to remember my childhood home as it was. Fortunately my brother took videos of it before we completed the sale, they are a nice memory.

The woman of the couple we bought our house from refused to meet our neighbours (their old neighbours and long time friends) at the house as it was "too painful". They'd have had to walk or drive past their old house. We have changed things, mainly the awful decor and we've got rid of random ornaments they left, but it's an old character house and we've kept all the original features and are sympathetic to the age of the house when renovating.

My first house was a beautiful Edwardian terrace in west London full of original features. We were particularly proud of the beautiful sash windows and took care to properly maintain them. We passed it recently and were a bit miffed to discover that they had been ripped out and replaced. Their house and choice but still annoying.

We took out the pond in the back garden. I still feel guilt about that as it was so wildlife friendly. But I fully plan to reinstate one once the building work has finished...

the sellers would have been devastated if she'd known as she'd left us a long letter about the pond.

In my previous street, a neighbour had sold their property with a well established garden. The new owners didn't have the time to spend on it and had a company come in and rip it apart and make it lovely, fresh grass, new fence. It looked lovely.

I bumped into the previous owners who ranted away to me about how they'd butchered their beautiful garden they'd spent years making it just the way they liked it.

Previous owners were retired and new owners worked full time and didn't have the or want to spend the time working on it.

I don't understand the old owners reaction, it's not their house or garden anymore.

When we moved into our family home, the previous owners (1960's - 1970's) had ripped out all the original Edwardian features which can be seen, unchanged, in the surrounding houses. Wooden balustrades replaced with metal, orchard trees ripped out the garden and worst of all, the beautiful stained glass window in the porch replaced with a '70's frosted glass monstrosity. My parents have replaced many of the features but it would cost an absolute fortune to replace the stained glass. I kind of hope that the original window was damaged somehow rather than ripped out deliberately.

Unfortunately a lot of the beautifully tended gardens of memory will already be looking unkempt and overgrown by the time a probate or care home sale goes through.

Take your photographs now, in the sunshine. Preserve those memories then let it go.

Not all that strange - we're currently selling a flat we're not living in at the moment, and I've gathered the keys from DS, DD and my sister and thought I had them all. I just found another set of keys in a bag I haven't used for months. If I hadn't happened to use it, it could easily not have been found before the flat was sold.

5 years after buying his house my father discovered a stranger walking around his garden.
The previous owner had sent a photographer to photograph her old garden.
After 5 years my parents had naturally made many changes, such as rebuilding ponds, moving saplings, widening paths, planting a rose garden.
When previous owner found out she raged.

When we drove past our first flat 16 years later, I was amazed to see the curtains in our old bedroom were still there. I mean, they were nice curtains, but nothing terribly special. I wondered if the matching wallpaper was still there too.

One of my old houses was bought by a dentist and turned into a clinic. My mum has been inside and says they've destroyed most of it due to putting in waiting rooms (it's a period house with lots of features) and they took up all the garden to make a car park. I can't bear to even drive past, but I would never say anything!

Nah.
If I own it, it mine to do with as I please.
If I sold it, it's not mine any more and I don't really care as I was paid an acceptable price.

I spotted a former house of ours for sale not long ago and had a nosy on Rightmove. I was somewhat surprised to see it described as tastefully decorated when in fact nothing had changed since we moved out in 1990 and yes, I had tastefully decorated it in the fashion of the time! Even I didn’t like it now 😂and I chose it all!

Re why do people care - some people are just really sentimental.
My husband is. He stays ridiculously attached to every home we've ever had and says if we could afford to, he'd buy them all.

I don't get it at all. Once I move out of a place I couldn't give a shit about the home itself. Yes I remember things that happened there but that doesn't transfer itself into an attachment to the building.

But 🤷 everyone's different.

My aunt sold her house to buy a flat nearer my cousin. Her house had lovely leaded light windows in it. The buyers put UPVC windows in, very sad.

I also had the opposite, a house I lived in when I was small came up for sale, it was the first time our buyers had sold. The details are still on Rightmove and the bathroom was still the same. The kitchen still had the same wallpaper and the lounge the same carpet! We moved away in 1983 and they sold in 2015.

We recently moved house, our new neighbour got quite stroppy that we'd moved some of the plants around in the garden, because 'she'd helped the previous owner choose them'

We bought our house (Victorian mid-terrace) from a couple in their 70s. It wasn’t in particularly good nick and we changed a few things fairly soon - eg removing horrible dark brown plastic wood-effect wall covering on both chimney walls downstairs.
One of their sons was our window cleaner and we heard from our next door neighbour, who was in touch with them, that he reported to his parents what we’d changed and they were furious - they thought we should keep it as they’d left it!
(Luckily he stopped being our window cleaner, because we disagreed on how often they should be cleaned, and he stropped off. They were a strange family anyway)

I thought my DP were bloody odd as they stalked my GP house for years after it sold - by driving past and google maps for garden.

It wasn't a childhood home and it was a long drive - and the whole drama with rest of family selling it after last GP died was nasty for DP.

Endless conversations about how new owners had paved what little front garden was left and removed tree there. It was bought to do-up and sell for more - they did a nice job and must have spent a fair wack - and was back on market about 2 and half years later for a lot more - once it sold again DP did lose interest.

We were warned by solicitor with first house that first thing to do is change the locks as it's not unknown that previous owners to let themselves in. When we bought here we did front door lock and left keys in rest of the locks so couldn't be opened. The neighbours who'd been very friendly with previous owner asked us if we'd done that with this house - so I assume previous owners may have tried to get back in.