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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Would you buy a house if the owners had buried their pets in the garden?

146 replies

baddayattheoffice · 13/01/2019 10:21

So, you've found a house you love, you've exchanged contracts and during a visit to measure the windows the owners drop it into the conversation that they had buried their deceased pets in the garden. Would this put you off buying the house, and if it put you off to the extent that you no longer wanted to buy it, (for example you wanted to dig out for an extension) what would you do?

OP posts:
ppeatfruit · 13/01/2019 13:10

YABUVU So many people don't want to pay the huge fees that are charged by vets for cremation, burial etc. It's bad enough having to pay so much for "putting them to sleep".

chillpizza · 13/01/2019 13:23

I don’t think you could dig too deep anywhere in my mums garden without finding an animal. A bird/large dog/rabbits. I joke in a zombie apocalypse I’m staying well away from her house. Two gsds in my garden and that’s just what we have buried. Next door is dogs and cats the other side it’s rabbits.

NorthernKnickers · 13/01/2019 17:43

@chillpizza my mum's house is the same...all our childhood pets (numerous cats, three dogs, all manner of fish/rodent and reptile). Plus, we all take our departed pets back to her house to bury! Me and my siblings move a lot, and can't bear the thought of leaving them, so off they go in various containers to 'grandma's house' 😂

dudsville · 13/01/2019 17:47

Enjoy now thinking about your lovely new home-to-be and the extension you're going to put in!

Booboostwo · 13/01/2019 17:48

We must be really weird as we have a dog shower and have buried horses on the farms we’ve lived at. Grin

FaceLikeAPairOfTits · 13/01/2019 17:52

How do you go about burying a horse?! The hole must be massive! And how do you get it in? A horse corpse must be pretty unwieldy. Shock

DaysOfCurlySpencer · 13/01/2019 18:03

I have left pets buried in most of the gardens of the houses I have lived in over the years. It was only in recent years I used a pet crematorium because I didn't want to leave them here. I ensured that I used a reputable place that didn't also do a waste disposal for vets as I wanted individual cremations and not a pot of mixed cremains. There are some (many) which are not entirely honest about what you get back and for what they charge I wanted to ensure that I got my own pet back so chose one where I could be there, wait and bring them back.

I have seen distressed pet owners not wanting to leave their beloved pets when they have had to move home, and pointed them to companies that will disinter and cremate the remains so that they can be taken to a new home.

I regret leaving mine but at the time people never mentioned pet cremation. Burial is natural, I know of a place where someone will get a shock one day, a sanctuary where the field next door is a graveyard for the smaller pets over many years, which will eventually be sold and dug up for development.

I would be fine with buying a house with pet grave in situ, and would keep it nice. I also tend not to buy houses if I can't live in them without adding bits on so wouldn't be a problem.

I would also be happy to buy a converted church with a graveyard, they always feel so peaceful.

chocatoo · 13/01/2019 18:06

I realise that everyone (apart from us - we take ours to the vet to be cremated) buries pets in the garden but it gives me the absolute creeps. I would probably rather not know/not think about it. The thought of the buried horse will give me nightmares.

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 13/01/2019 18:06

We used to bury the pets under the rose garden. Doesn’t everyone? It’s a bit tricky to flush a poodle down the loo.

YouCantPolishThis · 13/01/2019 18:08

It wouldn't bother me.

I didn't mention it to the new owners the last time I moved but turns out I didn't have to because DD (16) went and dug up her beloved Lizard that had died a year earlier!! It was wrapped and in a glass jar but I still thought it was an odd thing to do....

NicoAndTheNiners · 13/01/2019 18:10

I've got a small dog, a couple of chinchillas and numerous rodents buried in the garden, few Guinea pigs as well.

Next door neighbour has buried a St Bernard in their garden!

mrcharlie · 13/01/2019 18:13

We started to level the garden last year, 200 tonnes removed !! and it's a small garden! Came across some huge bones....me getting giddy thought "Oh Jurassic.. COOL!" Turns out they were cows.

Flyingdaisy · 13/01/2019 18:15

3 cats, a dog and a hamster in ours. I sit on the steps with a cuppa and talk with the dig quite often.
Will be hard to move away, but once we're gone I wouldn't mind what the new owners did.

Flyingdaisy · 13/01/2019 18:16

Dog, obs

Ihuntmonsters · 13/01/2019 18:17

I thought that horses were pretty much always buried where they died simply because of the transport costs. My mum's horse was buried on the farm where he lived (she rented a field for him). They used a digger for the hole (and to drop him in and cover him up too). Farmers tend to be practical, and if they have livestock have regular corpses to dispose of (might not be legal for them to do that now because of spread of disease but this was 20 odd years ago).

CookPassBabtridge · 13/01/2019 18:17

I think you'd be hard pushed to buy a garden without pets buried.

OddBoots · 13/01/2019 18:18

It would only worry me if they gave some kind of indication that they would want to have some kind of pilgrimage back to the plot from time to time after they have moved out. A friend bought a house with a goldfish pond and for years after the previous owners would knock on the door asking to visit the fish.

Ihuntmonsters · 13/01/2019 18:20

Oh and all our family dogs were buried in the garden. It was hard work digging because my mum said we had to go six foot down (she was worried about foxes digging them up). dh had our cats cremated by the vet because he didn't want to bring them home but I like the idea of them being buried in places they enjoyed in life.

Giraffey1 · 13/01/2019 18:20

Wouldn’t bother me one iota.

mrcharlie · 13/01/2019 18:30

"Six Foot Down" EEK!!
That's some digging

JuniperSling · 13/01/2019 18:39

No, I wouldn't be put off. If any bones were found while digging for building works, I'd re-bury them in another part of the garden and plant a little tree or something. But then, I'm a bit of sentimental bugger when it comes to pets Grin

Sephyjune · 13/01/2019 18:55

Hahaha no..surely nobody would be upset about that?! What are you worried about? Little cat ghosts keeping you awake at night with their ghostly purring?

mumsastudent · 13/01/2019 19:08

just to cheer you up (NOT) its legal - with permission to bury your granny etc in her back garden …. now that would worry me! (MInd considering how much it cost for burial....but the article on burial did mention it might affect resale price!) -www.gardenlaw.co.uk/gardenburial.html
I have no idea why I started reading about this subject!

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 13/01/2019 19:17

My sister is planning to be buried in her farm. We have told her that we will just roll her into the burn.

mumsastudent · 13/01/2019 19:57

lordprof - sorry no can do- its a watercourse (smug having just read article! :) )