Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Why wouldn't you research an area before you move?

191 replies

GlitterGiraffe13 · 13/04/2021 19:37

This popped up on facebook earlier.. A woman bought a house next to the A446 and is now complaining about the noise from the road..For those who aren't really familiar with the A446 it's a really busy road in Birmingham and is used as an alternative route whenever theres a crash/traffic on both the M42 and M6...

She says;
"Before we moved in we had several viewings that all took place on a Saturday morning which all meant that the road was relatively quiet. We absolutely fell in love with the house,"

There was also another article which says she didn't research the area before she moved?

We're relocating soon and we've spent ages researching the new area, good and bad locations to move to and we're going to go and stay for a few days as soon as we can to get a feel for it? Which I thought was normal behaviour?

Even if that was the only time the estate agent could do (unlikely but how else would they sell the house) why wouldn't you drive past it yourself at different times of day to get a feel for the traffic? She's moved from Kings Heath in Birmingham so it's not exactly far for her to go and scope the place out?

I feel like i've missed something here? Confused

Link:
www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/property/couple-forced-wear-earplugs-bed-20350434

OP posts:
PurplePansy05 · 14/04/2021 00:10

I can't believe the local council gave planning permission for this.

I then can't believe that developers considered this a good idea to build a house practically on a dual carriageway. Although...no, this doesn't actually surprise me with these greedy bastards. I bet they didn't expect it to sell quickly.

But the fact she didn't put two and two together after multiple viewings that living so close to the dual carriageway would be noisy, polluted and most likely unsafe is beyond ridiculous. She only has herself to blame. xx

quizqueen · 14/04/2021 00:22

Sounds like she'd better get some leylandii trees planted. I don't have that much sympathy for her though as she should have thought about traffic problems before she bought it. If she'd moved to the countryside, she'd probably be the one complaining about the roosters!
However, the council planners could have insisted that the developers laid out the estate better so there was some sort of a green belt with screening between the road and the houses.

PickAChew · 14/04/2021 00:26

@Butchyrestingface

I didn't do much research. I was looking to buy before Lockdown 1 kicked in and shut the market down. Didn't manage to find anything then. The minute the housing market reopened last summer, I was desperate to find somewhere which would enable me to stop paying £££ on rent every month when my job security was so uncertain (self employed).

So that's one reason. I was in a hurry. It worked out reasonably well, thankfully.

I'm sure you were capo able of using Google maps to check out any dual carriageways by your back garden and upmystreet to scope out local demographic, catchments, crime stats etc, though.
Changingwiththetimes · 14/04/2021 00:34

I do the same as you OP. I go to the area, drive around, look at various streets, Google earth it, street view it all the way to the shops and train station, look at where the schools are. I then view the house at least twice on different days and time of day, check out the sale history, sale history of the street, look at the extensions done nearby, check out recent planning applications, look at town development plan and so on.

Sstrongtn · 14/04/2021 00:41

She’s an idiot and I love that the article says the husband isn’t named. You can imagine him going “don’t you DARE make me we will look so stupid”.

I feel for her and I agree that planning should have only been accepted if barriers were put in place. I remember viewing a new build in Wales with a beautiful orangery ceiling built right under a motorway.

All I could think was “fuck me one car leaves the road and it’s coming through that nice glass roof”. Stupidity!!

Clymene · 14/04/2021 00:49

If anyone didn't notice the houses were right next to the dual carriageway when they were buying, they didn't have their eyes open. The houses should never have been given planning permission and now she's stuck with it - no one is going to buy it.

I feel really sorry for her

Why wouldn't you research an area before you move?
changi · 14/04/2021 01:08

The houses should never have been given planning permission and now she's stuck with it - no one is going to buy it.

It never ceases to amaze me what and where some people will buy.

SunIsComing · 14/04/2021 05:53

She was stupid and is probably lying about not knowing it would be noisy. Honestly.

chatw00 · 14/04/2021 06:06

the article said she was looking at another house on the same estate, but this one next to an A road, was 25k cheaper. Surprise!

ChocOrange1 · 14/04/2021 06:27

Likened to 'living next to a motorway', the thundering of commuting cars and lorries can be heard between 5.30am to 8.30pm, the mum says.
Maybe that's because you are living next to a Motorway! How could this come as a surprise.

She says they moved in on Friday and on Saturday the noise was unbearable, but also that they viewed on a Saturday and didn't notice the noise.

I agree that the house shouldn't have been built so close to the road, and it does sound horrible the amount of noise and sir pollution but nobody made her buy It!

Chicchicchicchiclana · 14/04/2021 06:37

I feel sorry for her and anyone else living that close to a main road. That it was ever built is disgraceful.

Not nice to see her being called a moron by a pp on this thread.

Thehop · 14/04/2021 06:46

I can’t believe she’s admitting to being so stupid.

Standrewsschool · 14/04/2021 07:20

If she hates it so much, why doesn’t she cut her losses and move!

cheeseandpicklesandie · 14/04/2021 07:24

@quizqueen

Sounds like she'd better get some leylandii trees planted. I don't have that much sympathy for her though as she should have thought about traffic problems before she bought it. If she'd moved to the countryside, she'd probably be the one complaining about the roosters! However, the council planners could have insisted that the developers laid out the estate better so there was some sort of a green belt with screening between the road and the houses.
They'd take up the whole garden it's tiny as typical for new builds.
CrazyHorse · 14/04/2021 07:28

I'm constantly amazed by other people's stupidity.

Having made a poor choice she needs to keep quite about it and move, not publicise the fact that's it awful living in her house Grin

I don't get the bit about the goal- she's put a massive goal post in the garden because it's not safe for a child to play in the garden, incase a lorry crashes through her fence? I bet she had the goal post against the fence next to the road and the kids were kicking balls over the fence into the road.

There is no way she couldn't have noticed the traffic noise on a viewing. I viewed a house on the slip road if a much quieter road than that and didn't buy it because of the traffic noise in the garden.

Thewinterofdiscontent · 14/04/2021 07:48

Well obviously she was daft to buy it but I also agree those houses should never have been built. There was a report not long ago about road pollution levels and the terrible impact on health.

I think that she might have assumed that because they were given permission to build there it couldn’t be as bad as all that. Sadly an error on her part.

I guess she’s gone to the papers as a last resort to get something done as she is never going to sell that house.

aweirdtopic · 14/04/2021 07:49

Wow she's dim. She won't be able to sell it now either!

YellowFish1647 · 14/04/2021 09:01

To be fair, a massive dual carriageway at the end of the garden is really easy to miss.

JM10 · 14/04/2021 09:10

@Roselilly36

The goal post in the picture concerned me, imagine a football going over the fence, could cause a major accident.
This is exactly what I thought too!

I imagine now they've gone to the press about the noise selling the house will be harder too.

ClarkeGriffin · 14/04/2021 09:35

@aweirdtopic

Wow she's dim. She won't be able to sell it now either!
She will, but at a loss (an even bigger loss now that she's broadcasted her stupidity to the world). Sell it at a low price, someone will buy it and use it for a rental probably.

Probably not a bad idea really. She's now known in her local community as the biggest idiot ever. Less money means she'll have to move away, and she won't be known there so can have a clean slate.

Drunkenmonkey · 14/04/2021 09:45

Perhaps she viewed it in lockdown? To those saying it's 'hard to miss' the A road. It isn't hard to miss, it is impossible to miss.
She clearly knew there was an A road directly behind her garden. What she probably didn't realise is just how bad it would be living next to that road. She might have viewed when the road was quieter, during lockdown perhaps.
She probably accepted some road noise as a trade off for having a nicer home.
She probably didn't anticipate the extent of the pollution on her windows or the fact the windows would shake when HGV come past or sheer volume of pollution and fumes, or the fact the traffic would be going all night long.
That is WHY we have regulations and planning guidelines etc, that is exactly what they should be assessing. The house should never have been built there and I assume she has gone to the papers in desperation to get something done.

SchrodingersImmigrant · 14/04/2021 09:46

Imagine publicly announcing you are just not bright at all...

K don't know what's stupider. Buying that or going to newspapers to put a face to the stupidity.

However, I agree that houses like that shouldn't be build. Or at least not without proper protection from the road.

ClarkeGriffin · 14/04/2021 09:50

@Drunkenmonkey

Perhaps she viewed it in lockdown? To those saying it's 'hard to miss' the A road. It isn't hard to miss, it is impossible to miss. She clearly knew there was an A road directly behind her garden. What she probably didn't realise is just how bad it would be living next to that road. She might have viewed when the road was quieter, during lockdown perhaps. She probably accepted some road noise as a trade off for having a nicer home. She probably didn't anticipate the extent of the pollution on her windows or the fact the windows would shake when HGV come past or sheer volume of pollution and fumes, or the fact the traffic would be going all night long. That is WHY we have regulations and planning guidelines etc, that is exactly what they should be assessing. The house should never have been built there and I assume she has gone to the papers in desperation to get something done.
It's a dual carriageway though, with a speed limit of 70. It's going to be loud, it's going to be busy now and again, and there's going to be pollution. I'm not even in the same country and know that.

Yeah it should have been planned better, assessed better etc, but councils these days don't give a shit and just build wherever. If people actually want them to stop doing this, make your opinion clear in the most obvious and damaging way: don't buy the houses. People complain all the time here about one company that actually does build decent houses, but is clearly in bed with the council as they get most of the plots. But they keep buying the houses, when there are alternatives.

BalladOfBarryAndFreda · 14/04/2021 09:54

Even if she had viewed the house on quiet days, it is clearly very close to a dual carriageway. She even says that there is no break from the noise on weekends, so how the viewings could’ve taken place at quiet times, I’m not sure.

I have sympathy for her to a point. Living with that level of noise, vibration and pollution must be awful but she can’t claim that she was unaware that it was a likely outcome of living in that property. That dual carriageway was there a long time before she purchased the house.

Property developers shouldn’t be allowed to build residential property that close to such busy, fast roads in the first place.

OrraBoralis · 14/04/2021 09:56

Thewinterofdiscontent said
Well obviously she was daft to buy it but I also agree those houses should never have been built. There was a report not long ago about road pollution levels and the terrible impact on health.

I think that she might have assumed that because they were given permission to build there it couldn’t be as bad as all that. Sadly an error on her part.

I guess she’s gone to the papers as a last resort to get something done as she is never going to sell that house.

I totally agree. It is a scandal that councils are allowing planning permission for houses so dangerously close to a fast main road. I also agree that they were wrong to buy but does she not have a point?

Swipe left for the next trending thread