Our garden is not the cause for the lack of sale

[maoiBYRD]

Neighbours have just blamed me because our garden is a mess. That’s why they can’t get their sale for the flat upstairs.

They are selling for 10 grand over the asking price. You can get a three bed in the next road for 5 grand less, they are going with an online estate agent and you have to do viewings yourself. We are in the middle of a pandemic and no one is buying at the moment.

I’m currently clearing the flower bed of the “jungle” of wild flowers, potatoes and garlic that I created with my little girl, and trying to find a scrap man to take away the bikes and scooters and wondering how how I “shape” a bush that we really want to keep because my mother planted it.

Would a neighbours garden really influence your purchase of a property?

Im digging up the unsightly veg bushes. I will clear the garden. We don’t have any rotting cars or rat nests. It was just a bit overgrown with wild flowers and veg. :(

@Allergictoironing

So many judgmental posters assuming that untidy garden = ASB, noisy etc.

My garden is dreadful. I also have arthritis in my back and standing for more than a few minutes can be agony - bending even worse. I can't really afford a regular gardener, as my working ability is somewhat limited also. So the garden gets very overgrown. I'm single, very rarely have visitors & then only watching TV & chatting, don't play loud music, do my best to get on with neighbours & always help them out if I can (and vice versa). Even my cats are indoor only, so no cat poo; not a lot I can do with the local urban faxes, who poo everywhere!

So in just about every way, I'm an ideal neighbour EXCEPT my messy garden.

You are like my neighbour then.

Many health problems and house and garden in a right state - but you couldn't get a kinder woman.

Many years ago when all of our kids were young (hers were teens, mine were little) we were out shopping and our rabbit escaped into the street. We cam back to the neighbour and her two kids surrounding the rabbit so it could't get out of the front street. They'd been trying to catch it fora while, but couldn't (we did - the power of broccoli ).

I bought her a big bunch of flowers as a thank you.

But I must admit, that had we known the state her house was going to end up, we wouldn't have bought the one next door to her.

[quote GruffaIo]@BigBlondeBimbo, I agree. I'm afraid, extenuating circumstances notwithstanding, I judge people that put in fake grass and I'd like to see it banned. There are all kinds of interesting low-to-ground wild flowers that you can sew / plant so you don't need to mow - better for wildlife, better for the environment, better for water run-off and flood prevention. The new trend for fake grass makes me think of Thneedville in The Lorax.[/quote]
Can you recommend some f these flowers Gruffalo? I'd fancy something like that.

We once didn't even bother viewing a house we really fancied because next door's garden looked like a scrapyard, so yes, it can have an influence.

Who would pay thousands to live next to these eyesores? Will the properties next door be devalued? They certainly will be - and unlikely to find a buyer.

Those waxing poetically about wildlife and getting snotty about people who like a tidy garden are missing the fact that the OP has enough shit lying around her garden to warrant getting a scrap man round to clear it out!

Also it may be hard to believe but there honestly exists a happy medium between “shit tip” and “sterile manicured garden that gets bleached twice a week”.

Has the OP been back?

This would piss me off enough to not do a damned thing to tidy the garden for several months... Maybe next year?

I fucking hate people who think they can tell you what to do with your own property. It's bad enough to deal with bylaws... But asshole neighbors... No.

Be honest, how messy is it? It might put me off and it sounds like they’ve had feedback from viewers. Houses are selling really quickly currently.

I spoke to the estate agent and owners about the next door neighbour’s door being kicked in, it did make me almost pull out of the sale. The last thing I wanted was neighbours who didn’t care for the property or who were violent or something.

@Dyrne

Oh no, I quite agree there is a balance to be struck.

I think a separate conversation happened re plastic grass, which I think might be the source of the poetry to which you refer!

I don't think scrap metal counts as nature any more than plastic grass does and I wouldn't want it my neighbour's garden either really. No danger though! We live in Thneedville and Little Whingeing combined .

A messy garden does put people off. And a garden with bags of rubbish next door makes a house nearly impossible to sell. Front gardens should be fairly tidy IMHO. If you want to go wild do it in the back garden.

Those waxing poetically about wildlife and getting snotty about people who like a tidy garden are missing the fact that the OP has enough shit lying around her garden to warrant getting a scrap man round to clear it out!

Exactly.

It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Why do some posters think it has to be a jungle full of rubbish or a sterile garden of concrete and decking? I like a neat lawn and chaotic flower beds.

It would definitely put me off.

@SchadenfreudePersonified Clover is a really obvious and easy choice, and there are varieties beyond the standard white. It's great for bees. Also field speedwell (delicate blue flowers). Buttercups too - whilst they're more conventionally seen as weeds, if you've got swathes of different ground cover, it's looks done by design. I'm sure there are lots more interesting ideas - it would make a good question for GQT.

You can also add some herbs, but my experience is that they can really take over (beware mint!) so I wouldn't recommend it.

@gumball37

This would piss me off enough to not do a damned thing to tidy the garden for several months... Maybe next year?

I fucking hate people who think they can tell you what to do with your own property. It's bad enough to deal with bylaws... But asshole neighbors... No.

Op is the asshole neighbour, it would seem.

This thread is hilarious, my garden has been a mess for a couple of years because I inherited a mess, have been sorting the house first, don't enjoy gardening and can't afford to do things like buy a lawn mower yet.

But my house is spotless, I make pretty much no noise at all, and I'm a very considerate neighbour. Genuinely never realised people judge people's whole personalities on the state of their garden!

@maoiBYRD

Neighbours have just blamed me because our garden is a mess. That’s why they can’t get their sale for the flat upstairs.

They are selling for 10 grand over the asking price. You can get a three bed in the next road for 5 grand less, they are going with an online estate agent and you have to do viewings yourself. We are in the middle of a pandemic and no one is buying at the moment.

I’m currently clearing the flower bed of the “jungle” of wild flowers, potatoes and garlic that I created with my little girl, and trying to find a scrap man to take away the bikes and scooters and wondering how how I “shape” a bush that we really want to keep because my mother planted it.

Would a neighbours garden really influence your purchase of a property?

Im digging up the unsightly veg bushes. I will clear the garden. We don’t have any rotting cars or rat nests. It was just a bit overgrown with wild flowers and veg. :(

Yes it would. I would not want to be spending hundreds of thousands pounds to live next door to an overgrown rubbish dump.

I've baked bread for my one neighbour all through the pandemic & would help anyone but now I see why the diy/tidy obsessives the other side don't have me on their Christmas card list anymore.

May need to get the manky drive sorted sooner rather than later...

Yes it would. Particularly the scrap metal items. I can only imagine the scrap intermingled with the jungle.

Causes concern about what type of neighbours there are. Then add in the issue of price and on line estate agent. In that order.

So you’re not the only reason but quite significant portion of reason why I wouldn’t buy, regardless of price. I wouldn’t want to see that every time I leave or come home.

OP has fucked off, no point in paragraphs here, the shithole garden dump lovers won’t change their ways.

Now matter how you explain it, it sounds a bit off putting.

I have a wildlife friendly garden. No lawn at all. It's all Japanese style gravel with herbs, perennials and a tree that birds murder each other for

It would put me off, sorry. If someone doesn't take a bit of pride in the appearance of their home & garden, I'd be wondering if they'd also not be bothered about being noisy etc. Maybe a bit judgemental but that's how I would think.

I am laughing at this thread and the very judgy attitudes. I live in a very nice neighbourhood, have done for years. The problem neighbours for me this year have been the neighbours getting external works done all through lockdown, when I and many other neighbours were working from home, and then it has continued all through the summer holidays. Lots of whatsapp messages the night before about early starts and (fake) apologies for all the inconvenience - ie the constant lorries all day, the noise, up on the pavements. And please dont get me started on all the new dogs acquired over lockdown whose owners dont seem to be able to control the dog barking and pooping. Whereas I, with my less than perfect home and garden, am the perfect neighbour - no noise, no parties, I take in parcels, I talk to my older neighbours to see how they are doing. I think some of you might be very surprised when you move as to what really constitutes a good neighbour.

Health issues are why our garden got to be a state. That, and rubbish being thrown in or blown in from the neighbouring houses with their tidy paved gardens! Good to hear how most people would judge us.

Wildly overgrown with brambles, nettles etc wouldn’t put me off at all. Japanese knotweed would, though. So would junk.