Death in property

[Bubbles121]

Hi all! I'm posting here for traffic, I don't really have an AIBU...

How do you know if someone died in your house when you're moving? Is there a website or something like in America which tells you - or does the agent or vendor have to disclose it to you?

I wouldn't buy a house if I knew there had been a murder there. No way. And I consider myself quite no nonsense.

We live in a home built 35 years ago on farmland and have been there since 1988. In spite of this we discovered that there were was an old 13th century leper hospital nearby. It seems that there were a number of buildings over the site, long demolished. Our home was built on what used to be part of the site, which later reverted to farmland.

Our next door neighbours have found dressed stone buried in their garden very near our house. It seems from looking at local library records, there must have been a building on the site of our two homes in the Middle Ages, belonging to the old leper hospital. Who knows what happened in the past? England is full of history.

Another neighbour bought her house from the family of an elderly lady who died during the night in her own bed. Dying at home used to be the norm and they have been very happy there. She was a nice lady who bought a present for my DD when she was born.

I would feel funny about knowingly buying a home where a violent episode had recently taken place. If it bothers you find out the details and then decide.

Red rum
Red rum
Red rum

But it’s so unlikely there was a murder in the house!! However if it’s an old house is is very possible someone passed away there.

If you believe in ghosts then probably best to buy a new house.

I'd want to know before I decided whether to buy or not. If it was a high profile case, I'd worry about neighbouring children mentioning it to my DCs, etc.
You've put enough detail on here that if anyone lives nearby they might check the newspaper archives for you

Dolly

Buying a new house gives no guarantees about what happened in the past.

This house has been in the family for over 100 yrs so I know a bit about it.

My husband's grandmother died in the downstairs bedroom in 1947. Three babies born from 1908 until 1918 AND five babies made. I just realized the last baby to be born in the house was 100 years ago THIS MONTH!

The house has got a really good vibe, not at all creepy.

A violent death would bother me very much, a natural death wouldn’t. I live in a 200 year old house so obviously people will have died and been born here, but I agree op, the situation you describe is really horrible and would put me off a house.
I agree with pps saying check newspapers from the time, and ask locally. In a street of houses it is highly unlikely it was in the one you want to buy. Would the local police station tell you , does anyone know ? If you popped in and asked ?

Oh man, wish I hadn't seen this whilst DH is away for a week. My house is 165 years old. There must've been deaths here!

Although this house has never had a bad feeling about it. It's always seemed happy and bright so maybe they were all old age / natural causes.

Nearby neighbour has an air raid shelter I. The field next to her house. The walls still have blood splatters from when someone was murdered in the 60s. Morbid curiosity makes me want to go and look, but I haven't plucked up the courage yet

It would definitely freak me out! Not someone dying in my house, but a violent murder? Um, yes.

I agree, ask in the local pub, pop in with your DH and get talking to some of the older locals, ask a bit about where you are hoping to buy and if they know the street. Local pubs are full of gossip and if there is a grisly story, they will know it and what house it happened in.

I do think that houses have a ‘vibe/energy’ to them and I knew instantly when we walked into our home, that it was for us! It had and has a lovely, family feel to it, many of our relatives, friends and visitors have commented on what a lovely feel our home has. When we bought it, every ceiling was painted orange, the wildest wallpapers were on ever wall, including a hideous varracous vein wallpaper that made you dizzy if you looked at it too long! It has been beautifully renovated since, although has also had two children grow and live in it since, so it is definitely more homely that show-home!

We looked at so many houses and have visited many, our own childhood homes had bad vibes to them and I couldn’t live somewhere that had a bad ‘feel’ to it. I know that sounds crazy but my dh agrees and we are very happy here fifteen years on. My parents home has never had a nice feel to it, despite being a warm house, it was cold. We used to feel like water was falling on us when we climbed the stairs. Yet there was no leak! My Mum mentioned it to a neighbour and was told that a previous occupant had committed suicide in the bathroom. She asked our local priest to come round and he blessed every room in the house. It stopped the water sensation, which may have been suggestion or not, but ever since moving there, they have had one bad thing after another happen to them . But they love that house, they moved into it just under 30 years ago and are still living there today. It still has the bad feel that it did when we moved in!

Anyway, don’t let the above put you off. Personally, I think that if you both LOVE the house and have physically been round the house to make that decision, then it is very unlikely that it is a house with a grisly history. You would feel it, I am sure you would! But then I trust my instincts .

Yes, by law if a murder or suicide occurred in a property for sale, we would have to disclose that.

If it's an older property, how would you know?

More than half the UK housing stock was built before the 1st World War - long before the NHS. So, if your house is that old, chances are someone died in it. And quite a few were probably born in it.

I wouldn't mind if someone died in my house of natural causes no matter what century it occured in, it wouldn't bother me in the slightest but I'm not sure if I could live in a house if someone had murdered their entire family with an axe..especially if it happened fairly recently, as in the last 20, 30 or 40 years , but that's just me.

Well I’m currently selling my Dad’s house. He died in the living room in May as he had cancer and wanted to stay at home. The estate agent is doing the viewings but I haven’t been told that anyone has asked.

As it happened in 1974, and you have the names of the people involved and exact dates, it shouldn’t be too hard to track down? Is the house you’re interested in at least 2 storeys and detached?

You see AlexaAmbidextra that wouldn't bother me in the slightest, ...but an axe murderer? No way, sorry about your Dad BTW xx

I wouldn't be bothered about a natural death, but a violent one I would be and would not buy the house.

As it happened in 1974, and you have the names of the people involved and exact dates ?
OP said she saw it in newspapers dating back to the sixties ? I had been wondering how she'd come across the newspapers

Teddy.. No, a natural death wouldn’t bother me either. However, I could never live in a house where a violent murder had taken place. There is a house not too far from me where a very famous multiple murder took place some years ago. Family members of those killed moved into the house shortly afterwards and as far as I know, are still there to this day. I just don’t know how they could. 😱

Thanks all - it's good to get some well rounded perspectives.

I was worried about putting too much detail on here as it's a little outing - I've been talking about it to friends at work, but WTH.

So the full account of the murder that I read does reference the man lived in a detached property - and we are buying a semi detached that seems to have been a semi detached since at least the 1930s. So it's highly unlikely / near impossible to be ours.

What did surprise me is that the only online newspaper account I could find of the story was in a city paper around 100 miles away (we are in a small market town) even though there are larger towns etc nearby and surely something as horrific as this would have made local papers? I was really surprised I couldn't find more detail. I double checked this was definitely on my road in my town though - so no chance of confusion.

I could try the local pub or ask some neighbours - but part of me is thinking the logical conclusion is that it can't possibly be our house because it's a semi and do I really want to know if it's the detached house next door....?

On the plus side the house itself is lovely. I just need to move past this as I am known for freaking myself out, picturing some sort of Amityville horror style situation. The house ticks all our boxes and isn't madly cheap or anything like that...

It’s not difficult to find details online, and some newspaper reports can be found in the archives available online. There’s an easily findable brief description of the house, just not the house number.

Was it a report of the murder at the time? or an article looking at past murders?

@HesterMacaulay looks like @buteo busted me? I was slightly vague worried I'd out myself - they're right on dates and all that. I thought being vague about the decade would Make it less likely to out me but I'm beyond that now with all the details! Clearly located the same internet story I did!

I found the newspaper report because I found a website that archives them all online and you can search key words and it pulls them up. It has been brought to my attention though that I could look through local papers at the library - when I said it didn't seem to be in the papers I based that on it not being all over the internet (only just realising the flaw in my thinking on that one!)

I'm nosy and fascinated, but on a practical note, it really, really doesn't sound like it could possibly be the house you are looking at.

Go back, have another viewing and see if you can imagine yourself there. Don't let an unsubstantiated, vague, possible, maybe something, perhaps, possibly near etc. put you off. Good luck!