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Original poster

Would you sell your house to a registered sex offender?

160 replies

TiffanyBonj · 25/04/2016 11:36

We've got a big move coming up and thought we had the house all sorted out, we've just been informed by our agency that the possible buyer has disclosed that she is currently registered on the sex offender's list.

I was Shock . She's married with two really young kids, and seemed like a decent person, we don't know what to do now.

Are we allowed to ask her for more information? I don't know anything about the sex offender's registry, are people on their for the rest of their lives? Do you think they can change? Her being on the registry is the only reason we would turn down their offer, their's no way I would ever want to put children at risk, but is that unreasonable?

OP posts:
summersky11 · 25/04/2016 13:31

She might just have pinched man's bum at an office party (I know a man who was put on the SOR for doing this to a woman)

FlyingScotsman · 25/04/2016 13:32

Lurking I know but then who are you to decide that you know more and can take a better decision than said SS, probation services or whatever??
Surely there is NO WAY you can make a judgement on that without any other fact?

You don't need to have raped a child to be on the register. A teacher who is sending a text 'with sexual content' to a 16~17yo would go on the register for sample.

FlyingScotsman · 25/04/2016 13:33

I'm not even sure why that woman would need to declare that to the agency anyway?

ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe · 25/04/2016 13:34

This can't be true, she's under no obligation to tell the agency or you for that matter.

Someone's playing you.

LurkingHusband · 25/04/2016 13:35

Lurking I know but then who are you to decide that you know more and can take a better decision than said SS, probation services or whatever??

I didn't say I was. However, there are numerous (possibly countless) threads around - some on Mumsnet - about some of the heartbreakingly tragic cases of recent years, where some people have suggested SS are incompetent at best.

GoblinLittleOwl · 25/04/2016 13:38

There is no point in disclosing being on the Sex Offenders Register to an Estate Agent if the vendor is not notified. (if this is true.)

I would be more suspicious about the much larger offer. Is it cash?

Find out as much information as you possibly can before agreeing to the sale; you do have a (slight) duty to your neighbours. (She may be planning to set up a brothel; a relative lived opposite one for some time, before it was raided; the taxis arriving day and night were an awful nuisance!)

VestalVirgin · 25/04/2016 13:40

In general, I would not sell to a registered sex offender if I liked my neighbours.

But a woman who is allowed to have two small children in her family ... I don't know. Some laws are so weird that she might be on the list for showing someone a nude picture of herself as teenager, or something.

It can't be anything that makes her a danger to children if she's allowed to have them, and the danger the average woman poses to adult men is rather low.

Even if she's on the list for drugging and date-raping an adult man, she could do that anywhere and doesn't have to live in the neighbourhood to do that. There, the "but sex offenders have to live somewhere" argument applies.

BoffinMum · 25/04/2016 13:55

None of your business. It could mean she snogged a 15 year old when she was 16, sent a text, or went out with someone she thought was above the age of consent when they weren't. She might even have engaged in sexting in an inappropriate manner. The likelihood this is going to lead to your neighbours's children being buggered over the petunias is probably nil. You need to be more worried about road safety and less about moral panics.

Andrewofgg · 25/04/2016 14:10

If it's true - which I doubt, it's not a question an EA has any need to ask - it's still not your business.

I would sell to the best offer. Frankly if Peter Sutcliffe or Rose West were released and offered to buy my home when I wanted to sell it I would sign on the dotted line.

DinosaursRoar · 25/04/2016 14:11

Actually, I wonder if the Estate Agent has told you because previous sales (not nes. including this woman) have fallen through due to the house being near a school or with young children living next door etc. If there are restrictions put on where someone can buy given previous convictions, then that's additional information you might need to factor in, she might also struggle to get a mortgage. (I have heard of people with suspended sentances not being able to get mortgages).

If there were young children living either side, or you were across the road from a school, and there was a chance this person's crime involved younger children, then there's a risk that you turn down lower offers from people in a good position to move, then find this sale falls through.

The Agent doesn't get their money until they get a sale, if this one falls through due to her previous conviction, and you get stroppy about it, they can say they did tell you.

Given there's no small children near by and I assume you don't live at the end of the street from a notorious dogging site, then it's unlikely it'll be a problem that will effect your sale.

Andrewofgg · 25/04/2016 14:11

And the EA probably has a favoured offer from someone who is selling through the same EA - who sees two commissions instead of one!

WannaBe · 25/04/2016 14:26

But it's not information she would need to disclose to an estate agent.

Admittedly buyers and sellers do disclose all sorts to agents, but it's not something which would ever be asked officially and as such it's not something which would need to be disclosed to a seller.

And she's not googleable according to the OP so It's not as if she's pre-empting a backlash for instance.

sunnyoutside · 25/04/2016 14:48

Disregarding whether the EA should have disclosed this I am slightly depressed by posters saying they wouldn't sell "if they liked their neighbours" Does that mean you wouldn't give a shit if you didn't like or didn't know your neighbours?

OP I have no idea of the ins or outs of this and whether the EA should have told you or not. You have received a high offer from a couple with children. I would proceed and sell to them.

WoodleyPixie · 25/04/2016 14:48

I think I would call the estate agents and ask to speak to the manager. I would want to know why they were telling me this information and where the information came from.

I understand why the OP may be concerned as to if she should sell. Say in 5years time its in the papers that 'sally smith' of ops previous address, raped and assaulted the neighbours. You would have some kind of guilt knowing that you knowingly sold your house to them

VestalVirgin · 25/04/2016 15:00

Does that mean you wouldn't give a shit if you didn't like or didn't know your neighbours?

If I lived in a neighbourhood where there's a brothel next door (I live in Germany, so totally possible ... in theory), and most people living there were single men because the area isn't considered safe by women, then I would not feel bad about selling to a sex offender - they have to live somewhere, as others pointed out.

As things are, I live in a nice area where I did a paper round as teenager and felt safe walking around alone at 3 am. A sex offender living here would make a difference.

sunnyoutside · 25/04/2016 15:02

Eh? So if hypothetically you live next door to a brothel surrounded by single men in which case you would happily sell to someone on the Sex Offenders Register?

Andrewofgg · 25/04/2016 15:12

As to neighbours. One of mine is a thorough out and out racist.

We all have plans for what we will do when we win the Lottery. We are going to buy the home of our dreams - then put our flat on the market at an under value but only advertise it in The Voice and West Indies World.

Pixienott0005 · 25/04/2016 15:33

No I wouldn't WANT to because I value my neighbours and their young children too much for that. But can you afford to decline?

purplevase · 25/04/2016 15:51

Too many people on here assuming being on the sex offender's register means you have committed a sexual crime against children. It is possible to commit a sexual offence against an adult - or just against public decency.

It could even be going to the loo in a public place. People have been placed on it for having sex in a public place. The law can be ludicrous. Google her. If she doesn't come up it can't be that serious.

WoodleyPixie · 25/04/2016 16:16

She condo have changed name since being arrested? Got married?

I didn't say it was towards children but I'd still feel like I had a moral obligation to protect my old neighbours. If it's peeing in a public place or getting caught having sex outside then that's different. I think now I have the information that she is on the register I would want to know more and why the agent told me before I made a decision.

Sparrowlegs248 · 25/04/2016 16:17

tiffany you could ask her but I am positive the estate agents have breached data protection by disclosing this too you. I see you have Googled, if you know where she lives you could do a search of the local newspapers website. It will almost certainly come up in the court register.

Sparrowlegs248 · 25/04/2016 16:18

Also, the more serious offences will have conditions attached, and exclusion zones (areas where a victim lives or works, schools etc)

MeMySonAndl · 25/04/2016 18:13

Nottalotta, I cannot imagine how an EA has access to such information. IMO the agency wants to force the OP to sell to their preferred buyer

carabos · 25/04/2016 20:05

Surely somebody on here must know whether it is standard practice for an estate agent to ask a prospective buyer whether they are on the SOR Confused. I'm really struggling to understand why they would do that.

wheresthel1ght · 25/04/2016 20:12

  1. your estate agent has breached data protection laws by disclosing this information to you.

  2. there are numerous ways in which you can find yourself on the list, not just relating to children

  3. not all cases require being on the register for life. Min term is 7 years

  4. yes in some cases even those convicted of crimes against children can retain custody of their kids, usually supervised but not always

  5. yes I believe in some cases rehabilitation is possible