To think there might be something dodgy going on?

[1Pinkfluffyelephant]

A family living opposite us sold their house almost a year ago, the new neighbours have still not moved in.
They mentioned back before Xmas they would be hoping to move after Xmas, then they blamed Covid for not being able to get a removal company (despite other families having moved recently both on our street and surrounding).

They come and go randomly, turn up for half hour then leave again then don’t come back for a day or two. It’s a quiet dead end road so really obvious when cars come and go.

All the curtains and blinds the old neighbours left are still up and have remained shut. The windows also never opened even during the heat wave etc - we were out in the garden most the day with DC’s so it was very obvious they were the only house with everything shut.
Something tells me something odd is going on but maybe I’m over thinking 🤷‍♀️

Interest rates are so low, so savings are earning nothing in banks so possibly an investment vehicle for the future? Isn't there some law that says if a house is unoccupied for 6 months, the council can requisition it for tenants?

Haven't RTFT sorry but coming and going at strange times?
A lot of buildings insurance policies have an inspection warranty for unoccupied buildings which say someone has to internally inspect the premises at regular intervals for the cover to be valid.
If they work FT they may be checking up on the property when they can. If they are not there for long periods they may not want to open windows etc, its not a crime

Does it even matter 🤔
Nothing that is going on in that house impacts you directly.

Its 100% none of your business.
These are weird times we are living in. Maybe they have bought it as an investment property
Who knows. It may be something I would have a wee wonder about.
However, I wouldnt take tonthe internet to seek validation for my nosiness.
Let others just live THEIR life their way.
May be different from you, doesnt make them wrong !

I’m sorry people are taking the time to accuse you of being a busy body. They have not much to do I guess

Oh the irony!

People do like to jump to conclusions, don't they. OP could report a suspicion of a cannabis farm at the house to the non-emergency police line and there, that's the job done, isn't it? Nothing else needs doing.

OP said that the owners have talked to her - of their own volition. So, what's the mystery then? That's the first point.

The second is that posters (including myself) have explained about the windows/doors closed in the Summer heat thing.

I don't believe that nosey neighbours 'save lives' but did snort at that monstrous leap. Good neighbours save lives. By that I mean that they're aware of their neighbours' general routine almost by osmosis, and if there's a deviation, they would be attuned to it. That's normal and good in my opinion. OP's neighbours are normally away and the curtains being closed is standard... so, nothing to see, is there?

It's possible to be interested in people's welfare without needing to know all about their lives and business. I don't know of anybody who wouldn't jump to help neighbours - but without having their nose up against said neighbour's window or through the letterbox.

Posters on this thread have said about their intrusive neighbours. I'm not suggesting OP is this - and if she were, it would go unnoticed as the neighbours themselves are not currently there - but feeling scrutinised is not nice. I shuddered at the appalling post from someone who has learned to 'sit in a dark room and watch the neighbours'. It's not to be commended, it's a bit sick in my view and I wondered why some were congratulating her as if it was something to be proud of. Icky isn't a strong enough word.

If we impose something on other people that they haven't asked for then we can expect to be told to butt out. Nosiness isn't a worthy skill, it's an annoying habit of people who have no respect for other people's privacy and respect for privacy really ought to be the default.

@LyingWitchInTheWardrobe
Good points.

I flagged a person who had gone suddenly quiet {including sniffing at their letterbox} because of a genuine concern for their welfare.

The person {young} had died unexpectedly .

The neighbours had noticed music playing 24/7 and not heard person come and go every day

That, with my card to him {landed in communal hallway} asking {name...are you ok?? I'm worried} was enough for them to call police.

The snooper you mention with the darkened room was 8 yrs old, so hopefully was joking.

The reason I can't bear nosy neighbours was a ghastly auld gossip a few years ago at old address who really tried to mix trouble and drama in the street.

''Curtain Rash'' {as a student lodger called it} from being pressed up against the nets for so long, the lace imprints itself on the skin of the nose of said gossip.

He said ''No matter what time I come back, I see her from her vantage point behind the nets''

So many haters on here OP 🙄🙄🙄
I don’t have any wise suggestions but hope you figure it out for your own peace of mind.

Oh that's sad, oakleaffy; and your methods are the same as mine. I go by what I would want (as a very private person) and afford that to everybody else. If they want more interaction then they can make the approach to someone else.

The darkened room snooper is still a snooper as an adult from what I interpreted, 'learned'' how to do it at 8 years old.

'Curtain Rash'... yes, that's it exactly!

The family next door to us bought the house and never moved in for four years! They came and went randomly and stayed there a couple of times. Not a cheap house either they paid nearly £400k for it.

Pinkfluff76, where are these 'haters'? Who is doing the hating, exactly? You must report this to MNHQ, they do not allow haters/haterz here. Why do you use hyperbole and eye-rolling emojis? Use your words.

You could always ask!

Maybe they need to do work on it but with covid they have no funds and moving in then having to gut the place too much hassel?

Planning permission for something?

Obviously something is odd but then we're in an odd time right now. I would just ask them how it's going and see what they say.

As for neighbour watching - in a quiet cul-de-sac trust me, you can't fart without the whole road knowing about it! If you live somewhere a while you get familiar with the neighbours habits - the time their door bangs in the mornings, the ting ting ting at 10.30 when they bang the spoon on their tea cup (yes despite concrete walls you can hear that much!) you hear things at regular times without realising so when something is out of the ordinary you really notice it. When I don't hear the spoon ting I know my neighbour isn't well (elderly and poor health) so always pop over to check on them. One neighbour shuts all curtains when they go away so it's like a bloody 'im not home' advert to the neighbours and all thieves. People notice stuff - doesn't mean that's all you do.

@LyingWitchInTheWardrobe

Oh that's sad, oakleaffy; and your methods are the same as mine. I go by what I would want (as a very private person) and afford that to everybody else. If they want more interaction then they can make the approach to someone else.

The darkened room snooper is still a snooper as an adult from what I interpreted, 'learned'' how to do it at 8 years old.

'Curtain Rash'... yes, that's it exactly!

It was grim. I went round the back of his house, and called his name...but didn't peer through the windows. He was an intensely private person too. He'd have hated seeing a face gawking through his windows.

The student who said ''Curtain Rash''...He recently moved to a detached place overseas with zero neighbs.

Some people are more nosy about neighbs than others, for sure.

Gossip and snoopage may be more common in very rural places..

We went to Eire to collect a large and fragile item, and that meant getting the same return ferry the same day.

One of the Crew said 'Weren't you on here this morning?''...

I said yes, he asked why so quick in Eire...I told him I'd collected a fragile item in a van...
and only mentioned the sellers first name.

He said ''What, so and so so and so? from so and so''??

It was the same person! Even so, the Port person also noticed we had done an about turn and wanted to look in the back of the van...

Not full of puppy farmed dogs {a common thing, so say} but a big wooden horse.

Cannabis farm or just brought brought it to have an address near good schools maybe. X

@1Pinkfluffyelephant I don't blame you for being worried, there was a house like that on my street too and it turned out that the man who bought it had filled the whole house up with ecstasy bushes, no word of a lie! I think you need to log this with 101 immediately as it could be the same thing going on here or even worse, there's this new drug called 'cake' that people make in gas ovens, that's what they might be using the house for. Call the police today!

[quote ViciousJackdaw]@1Pinkfluffyelephant I don't blame you for being worried, there was a house like that on my street too and it turned out that the man who bought it had filled the whole house up with ecstasy bushes, no word of a lie! I think you need to log this with 101 immediately as it could be the same thing going on here or even worse, there's this new drug called 'cake' that people make in gas ovens, that's what they might be using the house for. Call the police today![/quote]
@ViciousJackdaw

That would be extremely worrying.
Do you mean Cake as in this shocking Documentary?

Warn Britain about Cake...Before it's too late.

Are you sure they aren't just checking their post?!

Yes @oakleaffy that's the one! I'm glad you're on the ball regarding dimesmeric andersonphosphate, we need to think of the children!

@ViciousJackdaw

Yes *@oakleaffy* that's the one! I'm glad you're on the ball regarding dimesmeric andersonphosphate, we need to think of the children!

Absolutely. Not to mention the Shatner's Bassoon area of the brain that can be adversely affected.

Hi OP had a brilliant thought why dont you get CCTV installed and you can watch the cul de sac in more comfort?

Where has OP gone? Maybe pressed against the window and got stuck somehow?

This sounds a lot like The 'Burbs.

You need to get in and check the basement. And don't eat the sardines.

Chinese family abroad bought house for 11 year old son who is about to start a disgustingly expensive private school. It's just another property to add to their wealth portfolio

I don't think anything necessarily dodgy - house over from us was sold late last year, most of their stuff appeared to be moved in (I could only tell as there were obvious boxes and a fridge visible by front window) and left there while a loft conversion was done and a lot of work carried out, which stopped and then slowly resumed after lockdown. I think they have recently moved in, but I think lockdown has disrupted a lot of things.

Maybe the buyers are staying put where they are for now, due to coronavirus, but checking in on the new place now and then. Perhaps circumstances have changes and they can't move easily etc.

Sounds like a cannabis farm to me! 😬

the funniest thing about this is all the people saying 'It SoUnDs LyK a CaNnAbIs FaRm' obviously know absoloutly nothing about cannibis farms

as some who lived in a poor area with an exorbertant amount of cannibis farms i'll tell you for a fact people live in them lol do you honestly think people leave thousands of pounds of highly sort after product sat around for days/weeks in empty houses?

what wonderful imaginations some people on here have - drug dens, sex rings, child slaves, cannibals lol all because someone didnt immediately move house during a pandemic, ever heard the saying about horseys and zebras