Housing development behind house we're buying!

[SpeechieE]

We are in the process of buying a house in a beautiful rural town, but have just found out that the land behind the garden has had planning permission granted for four bungalows, one of which is pretty much right behind our garden and would potentially overlook us, especially as they're set slightly higher than our garden. It's a fairly small bit of land, and these bungalows will be squeezed in, and their gardens will back right onto our boundary. These bungalows mean that we would have neighbours on all four sides, and would affect the privacy of our garden.

I think this is a deal-breaker for me, I don't want to live by a building site, and then when it's done there will be more neighbours to deal with, and the outlook is no longer a pretty wildflower meadow and trees, but four crappy red-brick bungalows. But my husband still thinks we should go for it... he makes the point that we are already getting it for a good price for the area, and it's rare to get a lovely, detached character property with off-street parking and a good sized garden in this town, most houses are ugly new build bungalows. He is right, I've been watching Rightmove for years, and with the price increases there isn't much in our price range. He also makes the point that because the garden is long and thin, and their boundary is next to our off-street parking, they wouldn't really overlook us anyway. But these bungalows will spoil our view out to the Welsh mountains.

Would you walk away? Or give it a try, seeing as it's such a small development. Could we try to renegotiate on price? We do love the house and the location is perfect, and over the last few years there's only been a handful of character, detached houses in this town that have come on the market within our price range. It's only a small development, but might still be 12 months of disruption, then a lifetime of dealing with potentially bothersome neighbours and decreased re-sale value. So frustrating!

[SpeechieE]

I should also add that the house itself needs a fair bit of renovation, so hopefully the value would go up once we've modernised it, and it is a good price for the area, i.e. most semi-detached houses with a garden going for >£275k, we're getting a 3 bed detached character property for £200k.

[Chowtime]

I'd walk away. It's probably why the sellers are selling.

[HolyFire]

Yep walk away. If they’re not even built yet there is too much unknown.

[darkmodeon]

I'd ask for a reduction

[CorpusChristi]

It depends on whether you are getting an enormous discount and if so, whether the building disruption and subsequent overlooking are worth it to you. It sounds like normally you wouldn’t be able to afford this sort of house. Personally, I wouldn’t compromise on this no matter what the discount, but if it doesn’t bother you too much it could be a great deal for you.

[SpeechieE]

@Chowtime

I'd walk away. It's probably why the sellers are selling.

Possibly, but I'm not sure as it's a probate property, the vendors are the children of the previous owners and aren't local so not even sure they know about the planning being approved.

[SpeechieE]

@CorpusChristi

It depends on whether you are getting an enormous discount and if so, whether the building disruption and subsequent overlooking are worth it to you. It sounds like normally you wouldn’t be able to afford this sort of house. Personally, I wouldn’t compromise on this no matter what the discount, but if it doesn’t bother you too much it could be a great deal for you.

Every now and again these sorts of houses do come up in our price range, but with the mortgage interest rates set to continue going up while house prices are high, it's a world of unknown. We also went for this one because it was well priced for the amount of work it needs, and has loads of potential, but probably needs about £50k+ work to bring it up to scratch. I worry if we might hit the ceiling price if these bungalows devalue the price of our property too.

It's such a tricky decision because I still think we could make the house great, but it's just the development is such an unknown quantity, it could be fine and not cause that much disruption or affect the view, or it could be really badly done, block our light, then crappy neighbours move in. I feel like there are too many unknowns!

[LadyVictoriaSponge]

How likely are you to find a detached character property with a view of the Welsh mountains that you can absolutely 100% guarantee that the view can never be obscured by development? If it is highly unlikely then personally I would go for the house, unless it’s only the view that sold the property to me in the first place.

[WallaceinAnderland]

I'd walk away

[LoobyDop]

I always think that’s the risk with houses that back onto open land outside a national park- sooner or later, someone is going to want to build on it and spoil the lovely view that attracted you in the first place. But honestly, as these situations go, it sounds like yours might be the least bad scenario? There’s a limit to how imposing a bungalow can be, and once they’re there, they’re there- nobody is going to build a block of flats. And you’re getting the house for a good price, and you’d struggle to get somewhere else as nice in your budget. I think I’d be inclined to go ahead. Yes, it’s annoying and disappointing, but it doesn’t sound to me as though all the plus points of the house have been wiped out.

[Whatames]

Sounds like our house. There is planning permission for 16 houses on the field behind. Thing is we realised that if the houses had been there when we looked we wouldn’t have discounted the house, it’s just hard as we like having fields behind. Ours is also a bungalow on our boundary and actually we realised it didn’t matter that much. The house we have bought is still a really good deal and to be fair thr open field behind although nice really doesn’t make any difference to the price. It depends how much you need to move and how long you’ll be waiting for something else that works

[SleepyHedgehog]

I would walk. Had a similar situation arise just after we bought. The new neighbours brought with them a German shepherd that barked at deafening volumes from 5.30am every morning until 11am, and snarled under the fence trying to get at you if you were in the garden. If you make a noise complaint you then have to declare it if you want to sell up.

[Roselilly36]

It would be a deal breaker for me tbh.

[BanditsOnTheHorizon]

Sounds like the reason it's a good price is because it's likely to be overlooked and won't have the view out the back that it has now.

It's up to you if you want that or not. We walked away from a house because of this exact reason, I wanted a lovely view out the back of the house and didn't want to be overlooked.

[frozendaisy]

You want a private garden, with a view on a relatively small budget OP. You are asking a lot to be fair.

And is this a home or an investment you seem so concerned about value going up?

If it's just an investment it sounds ok

If it's a home then you should park the finances and think if you will be happy there long term. If you don't want neighbours then wait for something else.

[Redlorryyellowlorryblue]

I’d walk away and I’d let the venders know why.

[SpeechieE]

@frozendaisy

You want a private garden, with a view on a relatively small budget OP. You are asking a lot to be fair.

And is this a home or an investment you seem so concerned about value going up?

If it's just an investment it sounds ok

If it's a home then you should park the finances and think if you will be happy there long term. If you don't want neighbours then wait for something else.

We have a pretty healthy budget for the area (Mid-Wales), but this particular town is quite desirable so the prices are higher than if we went a bit further out, but we have personal reasons for wanting to be in this town. Also prices have skyrocketed in the last year, a similar house around the corner was sold in 2018 for £100,000, which would likely go for £275k now, so it is a bit bonkers. We also will have to put aside a fair bit to renovate this property, as it's not been updated for a very long time, so we do need to think about investment as we are investing our money into the property. It's not going to be our forever home as it won't be big enough, but we were hoping if we did it up then in a few years time we would be able to afford something bigger (as that's what we've done before!) so forward investment is important to us, as this is a stepping stone property.

We already have neighbours in this property, we're not looking for something completely without neighbours, but currently we are surrounded by our neighbours' gardens so it was fairly private, and with this additional development is the most overlooking of all of them, and we would be surrounded on all four sides, which makes it feel like we're being hemmed in!

[Clymene]

The reason the house is cheap for the area is because they know that there is pp for the bungalows.

[whoruntheworldgirls]

I'd walk away. I lived next to a building site, thankfully in a rental, was a nightmare, noise and dust, builders having the radio on loud, lorries/diggers etc.
Plus I wouldn't like the idea of being overlooked. Shame about the loss of the field ☹️

[honeyandfizz]

That is a real dilemma and I can see why you are stuck on what to do. What is the likelihood of another affordable detached house with views coming onto the market? It sounds like you are pretty struck on this town which will obviously limit your choices and it sounds like and very good price. I would look into the who the developer is for a start and have a look at their previous developments to get a feel of what they are like. Have you been able to access the planning application to work out where they will be situated?

I lived opposite an old church yard that was sold off to build retirement flats and it was a pain in the ass with lorries and noise for a long time, we had an usually long drive though and trees screened the development so in the end it wasn't too intrusive to look at. If you can bear to sacrifice the view would planting trees for screening help (although it won't mitigate the noise)?

[LIZS]

Better bungalows than high density housing. If the outlook was important then pull out but at least you know what is being built and price reflects that. You will have time to design your garden to minimise the overlooking and disruption.

[RedBonnet]

What if you'd bought the house years ago and then found out they were building on the pretty view? Would you want to sell?

Yes - then don't buy it
No - then you're OK to buy

Any view can be built on at any time, and good neighbours can be replaced with bad. Location is the best way to judge a house I think. Location can't be changed without selling. (By Location I mean a house with a nice view might not always have that view

[JaneyGee]

Oh god, it's so depressing isn't it. I live in rural Essex, and no matter how many ghastly new estates they build, it's never enough. Sometimes, I think the south east is going to end up as one giant housing estate. If only the reverse was happening. How wonderful it would be to watch a horrible estate knocked down and replaced with a peaceful meadow or beautiful garden.

If there is one word that makes me furious, it's 'NIMBY'. My sister has worked (very, very hard) for the NHS all her life, and saved enough to buy a little house in the country. Two years later developers bought the land behind her and stuck up a horrible great estate. When she complained, her friend called her a NIMBY. I mean, what do people expect!? You work hard all your life, and all you ask in return is a bit of peace and quiet.

[SpeechieE]

@Clymene

The reason the house is cheap for the area is because they know that there is pp for the bungalows.

I honestly don't think it's because of the planning, if they knew about it they have witheld that information from the estate agent and us. The house we're buying is quite pokey, in need of complete renovation and is a probate property, hence the low price. We asked the estate agents if they knew of any plans for the land when we looked around and he didn't know of anything, so either they didn't know or he was lying to make a sale. The previous owner's children are selling the property and they are not local, so I don't think they know about it. The standard 2 bed bungalow that is directly opposite the proposed development site has just been sold for £300k, which I'd say is average to above average for the area. Although I noticed it back on the market this week, I wonder if they've found out about the planning too!

[SpeechieE]

@whoruntheworldgirls

I'd walk away. I lived next to a building site, thankfully in a rental, was a nightmare, noise and dust, builders having the radio on loud, lorries/diggers etc.
Plus I wouldn't like the idea of being overlooked. Shame about the loss of the field ☹️

That's it, the development hasn't started yet, if we're lucky it would happen while we're doign the house up and living with the in-laws, but knowing my luck, it would start at the exact time we move in and we won't be able to make the most of the house and garden we've worked on. I have no idea how long it would take for the building to be completed, 6 months? 12?