House of horrors - please help me see a nicer reason for this

[HouseOfHorrors]

Today I viewed a house, I knew it would be in bad condition and was a refurb job. It beyond disgustingly bad - even had a used needle on the floor.

However what has really freaked me out is every room in the house had a heavy duty anti-cut padlock on the outside of the door! Some rooms the padlock was still done up and the door had been broken to open the room and others the padlocks had been taken off and just hooked onto the one side of the catch.

Now all I can think is that people have been locked up their against their will and potentially drugged there. I've keep wondering if it was a unwilling prostitute prison house.

I'm a wuss at the best of times, so this has got me feeling sick. Please somebody come up with a reason why you would heavy duty padlock every room in the house from the outside, that doesn't include people being held against the will.

still no link?

Very odd that the agents wouldn't have had the used needle removed. Talk about a health & safety risk

The owners obviously thought the house was haunted and/or possibly someone living there was possessed by a demon.

Sorry been out.

Dieu the house had been stripped of carpets and the like, I imagine it was missed - there were other little bits of rubbish and random wood chips about. I was the first member of the public to view (with others arriving as I left). Hopefully it will be got rid of now.

I'm very glad so many people have said HMO, even without it being lockable from the inside. I always imagined HMO's would be like university accommodation, where there was a key lock you could do both sides, not a heavy duty padlock on the outside of the door.

I have been googling the address and street. There doesn't appear to have been any horrifying things happen in the house although that could just mean who ever did something bad wasn't caught. But there was a sexual assault on a woman who had her 2year old with her in the street and a stabbing in the last two years! This is the first house I've looked at in that area, as I had heard it was on a par with the main area I'm looking at but obviously not.

Were the padlocks newish or old and rusted?

To those asking about budget - to those in many parts of the country, this will seem miniscule but around this part of the country it's not as small as it sounds. So for context a really nice 3 bed detached with garage, in an extremely naice area here can still be got for £170-190,000. In the areas I'm looking at - which are ok areas, (certainly not somewhere you would ever worry about raising DC, people are friendly, etc, but are mostly ex-council houses) in good condition, the 3 beds are semi s and terraces and go for 95-105,000 depending on whether or not they have their own driveway and/or garage. In bad cosmetic condition those same ex-council houses go for approximately 60-70K.

So the house I looked at is 67,000 via modern method of auction (meaning you as a buyer have to pay £6,000 estate agent fees in addition to the purchase price). This is the most expensive of all the houses I have looked at, yet was in by far the worst condition. Even if I were to look past the horrible feeling I had upon entering and the (hopefully) innocent locks, it's a poor buy compared to what else comes up.

My budget is 60-70k plus 5-15k refurb budget - I can't get a mortgage atm, so I've only got what equity I have been awarded, from my previous marital home.

Anastasia not brand shiny new but not very old.

I've been trying to work out if there is any reason I shouldn't link to it but as I name changed I don't think there is a problem.

It honestly looks 1000x better in these pictures you can only see one of the many crosses on walls, none of the rubbish, or locks, the damp issue isn't anywhere near as obvious. It was so filthy I disinfected my hands and shoes after leaving - and I'm not at all obsessive about dirt and grime. I really have never seen anything so filthy in my life.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-74265803.html

Pic 9 where it looks like old stains on the floor boards - it was actually thick ridges of grime. Pictures can lie

I wonder if the locks were put on when whomever owns it took possession to prevent squatting.

I think you're overthinking it, tbh. Either it was an HMO or the owner padlocked it to stop it being used as a squat and shooting gallery.

Yeah, that's definitely going to take more than £15k to refurb! Apart from the damp, there's a new kitchen and bathroom needed, looks like new flooring, and then total redecorate

It's ugly anyway. You can do better! I'm in a similar position, can't get a mortgage so looking to buy outright from the proceeds of this house. There's some God-awful places out there! I've been looking in Scotland, where the fashion seems to be that all woodwork is brown - door frames, skirting boards and panelling. Lots and lots of tongue and groove. Aaaaallll of it brown. That's in contrast to the 'vibrant feature wall'. Lurid fuchsia seems popular.

I can't get over the price. Even though it's recommended auction kick off, to have that associated with a house is insane. They have garages for sale for the same price where I live. A single garage. Ridiculous.

If you did go for it OP would you have to move in straight away? I know it's no good if you've got a bad feeling about a place. I've been viewing places atm. The one I've gone for needs everything doing to it but it had a good feeling, the area too. Plus it didn't have a weird smell which is always a bonus. I will have to move in straight away. They'll be no hot water out of the taps, so that'll be fun!

*you aren't far from Ironbridge there are you. Love that place.

Arum My parents (who have done a fair few house refurbs) have helped me calculate that I can clean up house and strip wall paper myself then, have professionals in to have the walls skimmed if needed, new flooring throughout, a basic bathroom and kitchen put in and then paint it myself for under 10k - in an ideal world I'd have a far more expensive kitchen and bathroom but I can save for a better one in the future.

My main hope is that a housing trust property comes up tbh. They sell at auction for 60-70k, have lovely big rooms, usually have fairly good modern kitchens, acceptable (although a little dated) bathrooms, boilers seem to have usually been replaced within the last 2-4years, electrics are generally in good order. They are just a bit grubby, have had flooring ripped up, and usually have weird patterend wall paper and often at least one solid black wall and one solid deep red wall - which will be a pain in the arse to cover. Some times they could do with new internal doors. So should need very little spending on it to make it look nice and be worth a lot more. - there were loads earlier this year, before I had my money available. I just need more people to move house (any time a housing trust house over 25years old becomes vacant they are selling them off and replacing with new builds).

I am looking at an old persons house tomorrow in the main area I've been looking. That's on at 60k and is very dated taste wise and has a very, very old kitchen and bathroom but is supposed to have been well looked after otherwise. So we'll see.

Yeah- as others have said, padlocks are at least as likely to mean shitty tight HMO landlords as some sort of sex trafficking ring.

Much cheaper and easier to install than an actual proper lockz

Anastasia That's why I thought I'd better give context!

Vita the area I like best is only 15min walk from Ironbridge! Telford is a great place for cheap housing, lots of greenery and lovely walking routes. Although the housing prices are rising quite a lot because of all the new builds and growth of the town.

Thankfully I wouldn't have to move in immediately. My ex is actually the one still residing in the marital home, I'm in rented. - Ironically I had offically signed everything over to him just to be rid of the abusive dick and for some bizarre unknown reason he took me to court over finances and the highly unimpressed judge awarded me pretty much everything but a teeny bit, as he said he "unfortunately had to let" my ex have "something" and said if he could have given me more he would have!

I don't envy you moving in somewhere without hot water!

what is the door to the left of the front door? on the plan it shows a downstairs toilet there.

i mean to the right of the front door,

Arum I hate brown wood work, wooden panels and lurid feature walls too.

Giraffe it's a small outside storage area then there is a solid wall and the downstairs toilet inside the house but against the storage room wall.

Because that was a dreadful explanation here is an even worse diagram to show hall, outside store and WC.

Buy it cheap! No one else will want it.
Be cold hearted and calculating about it. It’s just bricks and mortar.
So many people by houses that make them feel warm and fuzzy.
Do it up, make it warm and fuzzy and make some money on it.

Eight I don't mind the doing a house up and can see past that but to live in it after it
is done up, it needs the right feel in the first place. That house gave me a really bad feeling from the second I stepped in the front door - I don't think a feeling that instant would ever go.

There is a house in bad condition that I made an offer on a fair few thousand below asking because I think they are kidding themselves over what it is worth. That house felt nice. Twice they have got someone to offer more than me and twice it has fallen through - with the timescales involved in pretty sure it's the vendors mortgage company valuer saying it's not worth the price each time. I reckon eventually they will realise they are kidding themselves and come back to me - if I haven't got another property by then I would take it. At the price I'm willing to pay I should make 20k once it's done up. So although I want one with the right feel I'm also pragmatic about maximising profits on it and not paying more than I feel it's worth.

Tbh I've done pretty well on previous house purchases - took us from a 14k deposit on our first home to a little over 80k equity on our second (in under 5years - which included going through the recession).