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Original poster

Our garden is not the cause for the lack of sale

416 replies

maoiBYRD · 31/08/2020 17:33

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. :(

OP posts:
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JoJoSM2 · 31/08/2020 18:10

Are they getting viewings? If they are then maybe your garden is putting people off but if they aren't then it can't be unless they have put pictures of the view on the listing.

This.

Your garden would be a deal breaker for me.

ErinBrockovich · 31/08/2020 18:10

Yeah it would put me off.

GameSetMatch · 31/08/2020 18:12

Your garden, you can have it how you like.

DishRanAwayWithTheSpoon · 31/08/2020 18:12

It depends how messy

Overgrown with flowers/vegetables - no

Multiple scooters/bikes in need of going to the tip -yes. It makes me think its a dodgy area and you are going to be a problem

It really doesnt take much to make it presentable. You dont have to pull up the bush ffs just trim it like a normal person. You dont have to remove your wildflowers/veg, just contain them in a border/pot. Dehead them if necessary.

Plants are fine, its the non plant areas really that make it look messy. Grass cut/patio weed and junk free.

MitziK · 31/08/2020 18:12

If you need to book a scrap man, rather than putting the things out the front unattended for five minutes overnight with a poster saying 'FREE TO GOOD HOME' - it's you that's the problem.

YouUnlockedTheGateAnd · 31/08/2020 18:13

@Liverpool52

We often have an overgrown garden and we pick up after our dog but not every day. Because we both do jobs that takes us away alot and doesn't pay enough to get a gardner in nor do we have family nearby who could hel.

Given how little we are here, we can't possibly be nuisance neighbours just based on our garden.

People need to be less judgemental. There must be loads of people missing out on their dream home because of what next door's garden looks like. Ridiculous.

But if I was being choosy ( and if I’m buying a house I damn well will be)

If you are away a lot, and CBA to do the garden, or can’t afford to be paying someone, then it might be a real pain living near you if there are joint issues.

Blown down fence, leaky gutter, tree problems, a faulty burglar alarm? If you aren’t ever in, and ‘too busy‘ when you are there, how long will it take US to sort that shit out.

I mean I don’t know, you may be the best ever. But if I’m making a judgment at a house viewing. That’s how I’m going to see it.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 31/08/2020 18:13

Definitely get rid of the junk but I wouldn't be clearing the bed of wild flowers.

The scrap would put me off but I would also be put off buying if I was overlooking a perfectly manicured landscaped garden! I would have no intention of having my garden like that is would worry what the neighbours would think of me.

toomanyspiderplants · 31/08/2020 18:15

er.of course it would

Climbingallthetrees · 31/08/2020 18:16

Your garden is absolutely putting off viewers. We once had to sell for less purely because the neighbour’s garden/front of house made it look like a slum. People would do drive bys and cancel their viewing. She was otherwise an excellent neighbour though.

OhCaptain · 31/08/2020 18:16

Of course it influences sales!

Nobody would want to move in next to a scruff/chav/insert word here, which would be the initial impression, even if not true.

lockeddownandcrazy · 31/08/2020 18:16

Why are you changing it - tell them it is your garden, nothing to do with them!

areyoubeingserviced · 31/08/2020 18:16

Tidy up your garden FFS.
I would not buy or rent a house whereby the neighbours had scruffy back gardens, but particularly front gardens

OhCaptain · 31/08/2020 18:16

Aside from anything else, why would you have your garden in that state?? I just don’t get it and I’m not a bit green-fingered or anything like it!

SchadenfreudePersonified · 31/08/2020 18:16

We have next door neighboy=urs like this. We are semi, so joined on. The garden is a mess and the house looks ready to drop to bits.

The neighbours, however are lovely. They make no noise, are happy to tale in parcels, never complained about the racket our previous dogs used to make (they were happy little beggars- - I was always apologising for them.

The woman has been very ill for a lot of years and is now in a home. My husband used to tidy the garden (slash-and-burn) twice a year. Couple of years ago her sone came"home" when he got divorced (he's 50) so we stopped doing anything. He is a right lazy sod, but amiable.

I wish I knew how to approach him about the state of the house without offending him - it would actually take comparatively little to clean it up - the garden cut back and a coat of paint on the windows.

I dread to think what the inside is like.

I know it impacts the value of our home, but there's nothing we can really do. We can't compel him to pick up a tin of paint. Sad

Spodge · 31/08/2020 18:17

I walked away from a house without even viewing it once, due to the state of the one next door. We happened to drive past it a couple of days in advance of the viewing, luckily, so could warn the sellers we weren't coming.

Skyliner001 · 31/08/2020 18:18

Definitely would.

Thisismytimetoshine · 31/08/2020 18:18

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

Definitely get rid of the junk but I wouldn't be clearing the bed of wild flowers.

The scrap would put me off but I would also be put off buying if I was overlooking a perfectly manicured landscaped garden! I would have no intention of having my garden like that is would worry what the neighbours would think of me.

I could be wrong, but I got the impression that op has the ground floor flat and it's her upstairs neighbours (without garden) who are trying to sell? It's not next door.
ballsdeep · 31/08/2020 18:19

Op come off it .
You KNOW that having a junk yard and over grown garden will affect buyers.

Liverpool52 · 31/08/2020 18:22

@youunlocked and so you've just proved my point. Being judgemental.

It's not because we're bad neighbours it's because of our jobs although all the things you've mentioned have never happened in our garden. On the other hand we have neighbours with a perfect garden who are constantly drilling/banging in their house late at night.

As demonstrated by this thread, many people assume that messy garden means noisy/inconsiderate neighbours. Which is rubbish. It's pure snobbery because you have time/money to keep a tidy garden so you can't possibly countenance other people who don't.

Bluntness100 · 31/08/2020 18:22

There must be loads of people missing out on their dream home because of what next door's garden looks like

You’re missing rhe point. It’s not most people’s dream home to be looking at someone else’s mess. It’s far from the dream. So they are missing out on nothing.

And I’m sorry but yes, if your garden is over grown and has a lot of dog shit in it then you’re nuisance neighbours.

It’s one thing not to maintain your home, because only you see it. When you don’t maintain your garden everyone is subjected to it.

It also makes you question what sort of folks live there, you assume the house is the same sort of disarray and disrepair.

If it is someone who is unable physically then it’s very different, many folks will offer to help. But when it’s someone who just lets it get to that stage even though they are physically able, then no ones dream home is next to them,

pilates · 31/08/2020 18:22

Yes I’m afraid it would

NoGinNotComingIn · 31/08/2020 18:23

Yes it would and it has. I mean the house we rejected he was running his own mechanics business out his front garden, that or he was a serious car enthusiast. There were 20 tyres piled up and car parts all over. We said "do we want to look out at that everyday... Nope" so we didn't buy it. We met the people who bought it and I pass it on the school run, they put up a huge dividing fence so they can't see the mess from their house!

Jessy2903 · 31/08/2020 18:24

Yes it would put me off. I would instantly think that they do not care and would probably be nightmare neighbours.

Bluntness100 · 31/08/2020 18:24

On the other hand we have neighbours with a perfect garden who are constantly drilling/banging in their house late at night

How do you know this if you’re never there?

Dyrne · 31/08/2020 18:24

To be honest you’re kind of proving them right about being a nightmare neighbour by throwing your toys out of the pram and going “FINE, we’ll rip EVERYTHING out” rather than just getting rid of the rusty shit and doing a bit of a trim elsewhere...

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