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AIBU?

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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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GalesThisMorning · 31/08/2020 20:01

I see mountains out of my window from one side. From the other I see half of my neighbours jungle, half my own garden. We're on a steep slope.

Still don't get it though. It's just stuff. What difference could it possibly make to me?

Daphnise · 31/08/2020 20:01

I wouldn't want to look at all your bikes/metal junk, so they may have a point.

But a garden not being well tended would not be an overwhelming factor in buying/not buying.

cyclingmad · 31/08/2020 20:02

My neighbour to the left of me is retired and jsugin by lot of comments most wouldnt have bought my house. His house is deteriorating, broken pane of glass in rent door patched up with duct tape, all his windows and doors have paint peeling off them and same with sofas. His garden in 4yrs is a jungle!

However he is a quiet person and doesn't make lots of noise, play music loud.

Maybe he can't afford repairs but I doubt it, from some conversations I've had with him seems like he doesn't trust traders thinks they rip him off and don't do the job he wants....

However I still bought my gouse despite it because yes his house makes our row look shabby but the house next to him sold at record price so its not that off putting.

Every bow n again i moan at game to cut down his jungle and he eventually does.

This year is the first yr in 8yrs I've seen him in his garden clearing rubbish that the foxes carried in! It'll probably be another 8ys before I see him in it again.

End of the day im notnstaring out my windows all the time so it doesn't bother me until it impacts my house.

But if I was buying a flat in a building with a garden with rubbish in it then yes id find it off-putting

JoJoSM2 · 31/08/2020 20:03

As off putting as it might be for their buyers, it’s their problem, not yours. They had no right asking you to change the way you keep your own property, and if they want something done then it’s up to them to offer to pay to have it sorted. Then they get to hope that you will be kind enough to let them do what they need to get their sale.

That’s exactly the shit neighbour people want to avoid.

Russellbrandshair · 31/08/2020 20:05

That’s exactly the shit neighbour people want to avoid

Agree. Point proven lol
Why on earth should I have to pay my neighbour to get rid of their bloody rubbish so I can sell my house? Geez. 🙄

Sunrise85 · 31/08/2020 20:05

I have been put off a few properties due to the neighbours garden.

Mess in the garden attracts rodents & bugs. Rubbish can smell and tree roots / weeds / ivy can grow and cause damage.

HTH SmileSmile

Nomorepies · 31/08/2020 20:06

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ on the poster's request.

LittleHootie · 31/08/2020 20:06

Yep. Nobody wants to look at a mess every day. I was selling my flat and the downstairs neighbours were awful. Left piles of binbags along communal path and let their dog shit beside the gate. Luckily it was a council tenant so I could easily ask them to take action.

GalesThisMorning · 31/08/2020 20:08

I live in a national park meters from fields and rivers. Rats are a part of life. Weeds are a part of life. Bugs too.

Sunrise85 · 31/08/2020 20:08

@maoiBYRD wildflowers are gorgeous! You could add some bug hotels on the fence (paint it colourful!) and add some bunting too.

Maybe decorate some pebbles / rocks.

So the people viewing the flat can see you love your wildlife and wildspace. And that you care about your outside space!

Just ensure it’s tidy (no rubbish, no car parts etc etc) Smile x

Ginfordinner · 31/08/2020 20:09

I'm surprised at the number of posters who are happy to have a view of their neighbours junk in their back gardens. To me they are an eyesore.

I am lucky that both my next door neighbours like gardening. One in particular has a beautiful garden, and I get such a lot of pleasure from seeing all the roses in June when looking out of my office window.

Russellbrandshair · 31/08/2020 20:10

I live in a national park meters from fields and rivers. Rats are a part of life. Weeds are a part of life. Bugs too

Our house backs onto fields but it’s rubbish that attracts them into your actual garden so I don’t buy that at all. Just because rats exist nearby isnt an excuse to invite them closer in. That’s gross and it’s unhealthy/ unhygienic.

Ginfordinner · 31/08/2020 20:12

We back onto a railway line, so I agree that rats are a part of life. However, why increase the likelihood of having them?

Butchyrestingface · 31/08/2020 20:12

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

Another vote for yes. I was house hunting recently and one of the things I cast my beady over was the state of the adjacent gardens. I would probably have drawn some rather uncomplimentary conclusions about the neighbours themselves had their gardens been a midden.

That said, sounds like there are other issues with your neighbour's property that may be impeding a sale.

Sallycinammonbangsthedruminthe · 31/08/2020 20:12

Totally would put me off buying ...and houses round here are selling like hot cakes..so the market is moving

MaggieFS · 31/08/2020 20:13

Yes it would put me off. And especially if you are the flat downstairs, so it's what they have to look out on, plus possibly share some communal space - (entrance hallway)?

InFiveMins · 31/08/2020 20:13

YABU. Your garden sounds awful and I wouldn't want to live anywhere near someone with a scruffy garden.

BoomBoomsCousin · 31/08/2020 20:17

A garden as messy as you describe that was the responsibility of someone I was sharing maintenance of a building with would be a significant deterrent. A messy garden of a neighbour I didn't share any maintenance with would only bother me enough to put me off buying if it was something I could see from the windows.

I would, though, make me more alert about checking up on neighbour relationships (asking round etc.) as, while it's not determinant of a bad neighbour, when I was in the police pretty the vast majority of truly nightmare neighbour call outs I went to had the problematic neighbour living in a place that looked bad with gardens that were a state. But our garden is a state at the moment and we need a trip to the scrapyard too (and we're not nightmare neighbours!), so I'm well aware it's only a bit of a flag, not a clear sign of people we don't want to live next to.

Jamhandprints · 31/08/2020 20:17

I dont think its your problem. It sounds like a fun, wild, well used garden.
It may put buyers off but that should be reflected in the price. It's not up to you to sell their flat.

Thripp · 31/08/2020 20:18

We are in the middle of a pandemic and no one is buying at the moment

Neither of those things is true.

I’m currently clearing the flower bed of the “jungle” of wild flowers, potatoes and garlic that I created with my little girl

This sounds very passive aggressive. There's no reason why you shouldn't enjoy gardening with your daughter without making the place look tippy.

and trying to find a scrap man to take away the bikes and scooters

Scrap men aren't hard to find. Failing that, there are men who collect rubbish and take it to the tip, if you can't take them yourself. I used one of these men after a building project. He wasn't expensive. I'm assuming the bikes and scooters aren't in a suitable condition to be Freecycled?

and wondering how how I “shape” a bush that we really want to keep because my mother planted it

If you are keen to introduce your daughter to gardening, this is a good place to start.

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

Yes

Enwi · 31/08/2020 20:20

We decided against a property just last week because the neighbours on both sides had terribly unkept front gardens. I guess it’s difficult to say if YABU without seeing it... the ones either side of this property looked like no one had touched them for atleast 5 years. I wouldn’t want to look at that, and as I run a business from home I wouldn’t want my clients to have to look at that either. x

Thisismytimetoshine · 31/08/2020 20:22

@Jamhandprints

I dont think its your problem. It sounds like a fun, wild, well used garden. It may put buyers off but that should be reflected in the price. It's not up to you to sell their flat.
It is, by op's own admission, full of scrap metal. Why should her neighbours have to "reflect" her hot mess of a garden in their asking price?
megletthesecond · 31/08/2020 20:23

can I just add I would also judge a sterile garden without any dandelions, daisies and nothing for wildlife. Although it wouldn't put me off. But they probably wouldn't be my kind of people.

Smidge001 · 31/08/2020 20:24

Another vote for yes, it would put me off buying. One of the most scary things about buying is not knowing what the neighbours are like. I would be put off by neighbours having unkempt gardens, not just by the look of the gardens themselves, but also because it would suggest to me they don't care and from that I'd infer they also wouldn't care about other good neighbour things.

Megan2018 · 31/08/2020 20:28

Definitely. I view neighbours property condition as a reflection of the type of people that live there. If their window frames are peeling and their garden untidy for example it screams Rental and/or Potential Massive Pain in the Arse.

You are under no obligation to change your garden, it’s yours. But yes it is possibly not helping them sell. But it’s ultimately not your problem.