To think new build house buyers can’t then complain about further new build developments.

[ItchyScratch]

I live on a row of houses built in 1920. I bought the house after Persimmon had started building a new 200 home estate in the field opposite so I myself didn’t object, but my neighbours who have lived there many years tried to stop the development as it was originally a large field With animals grazing and lovely views.

That development finished this year and now the field in front of the new estate has been put up for planning permission for another 100 houses.

The new build estate residents are petitioning to stop it as it will ruin their views etc and they ‘wouldn’t have bought if they knew it was going to go ahead’

My views on this is that they shouldn’t have a leg to stand on. If they are willing to buy a New house knowing long standing residents tried to stop it how can they then do the same?

I know this as I joined the new estates Facebook group where they are all kicking off about it. (Yep I’m nosy)

Obvs I can’t say this to them as it will be 300 People against one So I’m saying it here to vent my frustration.

Personally I have more of a problem with the people who sell the land to the developers in the first place. A local farmer near my parents was paid several million pounds for some fields which ended up as a housing estate and has caused no end of problems for the capacity in local schools and medical centres not to mention traffic on the roads.
Surely that’s the fault of the LA / approving build body and developers for not ensuring sufficient amenities and roads, not the person selling?

Yeah you're right, they are being assholes.

I just love the idiots who buy a new build house then claim all new builds are awful and they hate them. You bought one you moron! Did you do no googling to see what these companies are like? Plus the company they are bad mouthing is actually pretty good and builds decent houses, far better than some companies, so I don't know what they are even whining about. Heard one person bad mouthing them before they bought a house, and then bought one that company had built.

I think buying a new build house seems to come with a chance that you'll have zero intelligence afterwards.

Personally I have more of a problem with the people who sell the land to the developers in the first place. A local farmer near my parents was paid several million pounds for some fields which ended up as a housing estate and has caused no end of problems for the capacity in local schools and medical centres not to mention traffic on the roads.

Well if we aren't willing to pay farmers to farm, why not ?

I just love the idiots who buy a new build house then claim all new builds are awful and they hate them. You bought one you moron! Did you do no googling to see what these companies are like? Plus the company they are bad mouthing is actually pretty good and builds decent houses, far better than some companies, so I don't know what they are even whining about. Heard one person bad mouthing them before they bought a house, and then bought one that company had built. hmm

But you do realise sometimes this is the only way people will be able to afford to buy?

YANBU
there has recently been a huge protest here near me - the organisers had recently moved into their new large detached home on the site of an old nursery and then spearheaded the campaign to prevent development of the field next to them in the local councils future development plan. very vocal, very active. they knew their stuff due to their day jobs. honestly you'd have thought they would have known better than to move into a new build in a popular expanding town with development sites everywhere. they clearly had a very good budget so would have had plenty of options. a carefully chosen older property with established and maybe already developed boundaries to all sides would have saved them a lot of aggro. i bet what it's really about is they (all the protesting residents in that area) don't want large scale developments going ahead because there has to then be some "affordable housing" included and they don't want those type of people anywhere near them. theirs was 4 houses, i think the cut off is 5 then there has to be provision on site.

anyway the outcome was the field was included in the local plan.

But you do realise sometimes this is the only way people will be able to afford to buy?

Not the ones I've seen complaining, unless every first time buyer buys a 4 bedroom detached house. These people are usually on their second or third homes.

Still though, why buy something shoddy for that amount of money? If it's so shit, who exactly are you going to sell it onto? Who is going to buy it from you? Its a hell of a lot of money to put out onto something crap. I'd rather stay renting.

It does depend on the situation.

A few years ago a colleague bought a new build that looked out onto the large communal green that was going to have a small playground on the other end. She knew they playground may moved to another area of the green but was fine about that. There were also plans for a garden, seating area etc.

Six months after she moved in the developer decided the green space was going to developed and they intended to build three large blocks of flats.

All of the houses facing the greenspace were much more expensive due to facing the green space, the flats were not on any plans, no plan for them had been submitted to the council etc and the developers actively used the communal green as a large selling point.

All of this is academic with the new planning changes that were announced last week. The developers will be building any old shit wherever they please just to satisfy the need for new homes.

”All of the houses facing the greenspace were much more expensive due to facing the green space, the flats were not on any plans, no plan for them had been submitted to the council etc and the developers actively used the communal green as a large selling point.“

That’s really shitty.

Unfortunately, as biddybird says, it’s going to get a hell of a lot worse now with the changes to planning regs.

When I bought a new build (twice) I was shown very complete plans and even had to sign a form that literally said "I understand that this estate had social/shared ownership properties" . However I bought in the final phase of both.

We had a stipulation that we couldn't sell while the developer was still building - again not an issue for us but a big deal if you bought the first house in the estate.

The first which was built on "brown field" turned out amazing as you're right in the middle of an established area but the second was so cramped with parking problems once everyone moved in.

I would have been furious if the central green had been built over as happened to @SimonJT colleague..

People need to stop being so naive when they buy a new build. Often even if additional phases haven't already been officially planned developers will be looking to buy up any land around, depending on how sales go. No fields will be automtically protected, even when people are spending huge amounts on a house.

In general YANBU, but if there is something such as a lack of a road crossing or the destruction of an SSSi, then fair to complain.

I agree. When you buy a new build usually it's pretty well documented and pre destined what's happening on the land around it, but even if not you have no right to a view. I actually find it's usually the opposite, the people in older houses who then get pissed off when the field opposite them is being built on and lash out with negative slurs against new builds, kind of like you did op!

I understand a view is a huge plus when buying a house and it must be hugely disappointing if it's destroyed, but don't pay over the odds for it, you don't own it.

Not all new builds are equal. Some estates are well thought out, decently built with appropriate amenities and transport links. Some just seem to be plonked there with no thought to the people actually living in or around them.

The problem is that developers will sell plots with the good views at a premium, ive viewed them myself and the agent pushes the countryside views, one one case it was then developed.

Yabu.

There have been several waves of housing development including in the 1920s. None will have been universally appreciated.

Totally agree with you OP.

@DGRossetti

True, we also need to do better at building the sizes of houses people want and encouraging people to move into appropriate sized houses as and when their needs change - stamp duty is one reason this doesn't happen (and the long drawn out buying process in England). More and more people live alone - my household went from 4 people in one home to 4 people in 4 separate houses last year (ok extreme and 2 of us don't live alone but it illustrates the issue!)

We also need to distribute employment better, lots of empty houses and brownfield sites in some places but no work. Should start with the civil service.

I absolutely agree - it’s common sense when buying a new build house with fields nearby to at least assume the fields would at some stage be built on.

We chose our new build carefully - with a major trunk road and main line railway on one side and the river on the other the small estate cannot be extended.

"Property Developer Profit Chasing Shocker"
It would be easy to laugh at the naivety of some people, but I suppose that's not fair, but to not realise that developers are in it to make money and will use every opportunity to change plans, drop less profitable schemes (e.g. schools ) or extend sites suggests a shocking lack of thought.

PPs have suggested that 'farmers' are responsible as they sell the land, very few farmers own the land they work.

It's always the same. Here a developer wanted to build some affordable apartments, there are zero one beds, and very few smaller flats or houses for single people or even couples to get onto the ladder, or even rent at a reasonable price here, so we end up losing lots of young professionals which is a shame. It sounded like an amazing project, but it was contested by those in the new builds opposite, to which there was a lot of opposition before they were built. So people opposed the new builds, and then once they were built those people who wouldn't have homes there if the opposition was upheld are moaning about more. I do think though everyone has the right to feel equally against something no matter how old the house is, but I do see where you are coming from. With the new planning law I dont think any of us will have a say now, and when buying somewhere should assume a cheap new estate will be thrown up if there's any land nearby.

But you do realise sometimes this is the only way people will be able to afford to buy? that's the same backwards logic supermarkets use to tell us we don't want to buy ugly' fruit and veg etc etc.

Say it often enough it becomes 'a truth' but it won't ever be 'the truth'!

But you do realise sometimes this is the only way people will be able to afford to buy?

Maybe, but the new builds near me are much more expensive than the existing housing stock so it would have to be very different in other areas for that to be the case. There is about a £50-100k premium on a 4 bed new build compared to existing houses in the area.

People will complain about loads of random stuff on planning applications. I always advise anyone looking to oppose a build to actually look at what planning officers and committees can actually consider before wasting their time.

Saying that, it seems many people move into a new area without properly paying attention to everything around them. We've had quite a few complaints from some of the residents of the new builds nearby about the church bells ruining the "peace and quiet". The church has been there since the 13th century, the current set of bells date from the mid-19th. People are idiots.

Should start with the civil service.

They are, starting with 22,000 jobs moving out of London in the next few years. Those will only be accessible to few people though, as a lot of the London jobs are highish level.

The ones that make me laugh are the ones that move next to an airport or RAF base and then complain about the aeroplanes