to think that I can 'buy' good neighbours

[uis]

Ok so I think I am probably BU but let me set context. I also appreciate this thread might grate on a lot of people given the difficulties in getting on the property ladder but I post this with the humblest of intentions and appreciate how fortunate I am.

So I've been on MN for a long time and read a lot of neighbour dispute threads. Most of the nuisance neighbours seem to be druggies, on benefits and out of work or just not right in the head. We live in a detached house and had a set of bad neighbours who were renting (loud music in the garden, parking issues, drugs and we suspected dealing as well). Through us and neighbours persistently complaining to the landlord and development company, things improved after a few months and they moved out after 12 months anyway.

We're currently in the process of selling and have reserved a detached house in another new build development much further away. The houses around us are all detached and around the £600 - 680k mark and it got me thinking - we were worried about getting dodgy neighbours again but sort of assumed that being at this price range, we'd avoid really bad nuisance neighbours or that we'd get neighbours who would probably be more reasonable about things.

Is this a really bad assumption? Does anyone have any horror stories about neighbours despite living in a nice affluent area or area with relatively high house prices? I know minor parking disputes are fairly commonplace regardless of where you are but any major issues anyone has experienced? I guess had we not had issues ourselves, we might never had considered it. Thanks in advance for any responses!

£650k plus does not gaurantee you "nice" neighbours here in Cheshire we have some right nuisances in the £1mil plus surrounding properties,they think they can drive around in their cars speeding and parking their cars anywhere they like,there are nicer neighbours where my DD lives in a semi which sell for £300k+.

Ha! I live in a "sought after area," lovely, affluent village. Because of this, the teenagers who live here are spoilt, entitled, little pricks who think they can do whatever they want. They're terrorising the neighbourhood atm, it's getting pretty bad.

We're moving pretty soon.

I live in a very expensive apartment building in London. One of our neighbours is running a 'high class' brothel. Not great

Possibly one of the snobbiest assumptions you could possibly make 🤨
Rich people can be horrible too you know 🤨 It’s not a trait exclusive to those of us who rent, rely on UC to make ends meet, and live in less than desirable areas.
When I still lived with my parents, it was always the more well off people in the “naice” houses down the end of the road causing endless parking disputes with all the neighbours for parking their obnoxiously posh cars like their in the running for the Arsehole Of The Year trophy

Not necessarily. I live on a split 50:50 private and HA road. Of the 10 HA homes, one is problematic and not intrusive so. I get the impression they get up to whatever it is they get up to well away from their home turf. We just get the excitement of the latest arrest.

My parents live in a cul-de-sac of 10 hours, 2.5 minutes off Sandbanks so a very wealthy road. The neighbour to their immediate left is owned outright by a wealthy Dutch man who has deposited his very mentally unwell 30 year old daughter there. There's drugs, screaming fights, blasting music. Police are a weekly occurance, nothing can be done.

The neighbours to their immediate right and a very genuinely nasty husband and wife. Very spiteful, very arrogant, believe they control the close. Its hard to explain.

The parking wars are obscene. There is very much an attitude of "we pay a fortune for our homes so we can do what we like".

My own neighbours clearly have issues but it is momentary issues. The atmosphere on my parent's close is just unbelievably negative, competitive and fairly spiteful. It really opened my eyes.

We do have some problem council areas but I definitely learnt having money does not make someone any less anti-social.

You can to an extent - a friend lives in a very expensive road where the detached houses have massive gated driveways and huge plots. No one overlooks anyone, no one would hear a hot tub or trampoline, no one parks on the road because they can fit a dozen cars on their property. Yeah, if the neighbours had an actual rave you could tell, but you don’t get disputes about ordinary noise the way you might in a terrace. Plus she’s got far fewer neighbours than if she lived in a flat or terrace, so the chances of any of them being difficult are lower. There is a lot of snobbish nonsense about hedges etc, arguments about maintaining the private road and there was a nasty planning dispute recently though so nothing guaranteed. Do you have a spare couple of million though?

Otherwise on a new build estate type development, at the price you’re talking about, I doubt you’ll necessarily avoid difficult neighbours, in fact I think often it’s worse as the houses are crowded together and can lack established community.

*10 houses

YANBU

Those of us with shitty neighbours are a bunch of tinks, obviously.

OP - this is not always the case.

My Aunty lived in a lovely house (worth around £750,000) in this courtyard hamlet place that was made up of 6 luxury homes. Her next door neighbour was a GP who was unfortunately also a massive lover of wine.

This happened about 10 years ago. After my Aunty had a small gathering at her house with a few friends, the friends went home and my Aunty went upstairs to get ready for bed. She heard a noise downstairs, went to investigate and found her NDN (the GP) in her kitchen looking for wine, because she (the NDN) saw that my Aunty had some friends around and thought there would be some spare wine lying around. The NDN had gone into my aunty’s back garden and then somehow dislodged the catch on my aunty’s back sliding doors and let herself into the kitchen.

A few weeks later the NDN was caught drink driving - don’t know what her punishment was but I do know she could no longer practice as a GP.

Just goes to show - money might “buy” nice neighbours, but not always. Good luck!

I’ve recently visited a friend in a very posh area of my town, a cul de sac of large detached houses. I parked very very carefully as her drive was full and checked with her that where I parked was acceptable.
When I left I was harangued loudly by a man who swore at me and accused me of parking in the close to save paying parking for the nearby hospital. He was so rude to me and I came away thinking that money doesn’t bring manners.
But overall, I think it is luck of the draw with neighbours. I personally think good neighbours are worth their weight in gold.

Guys don’t feed the journo, it’s not worth it.

The rich just buy better drugs OP

Don't be such a snob

I will be honest and say as I have moved up the property ladder the problems with neighbours have reduced.

first home an apartment - lots of rented neighbours. All quite young. Problems were parties and one offs. A few drunken fights and had to call the police once.

next ring on the ladder was a smaller house in lower priced neighbourhood. Problems every summer with loud music in gardens - couldn’t really use garden because of noise. Small gardens so could hear about 10 families shouting, swearing, playing loud dance music etc etc.

now in a much more affluent area. Noise in garden is children playing - trampolines and swings squeaking and kids laughing and shouting. Lovely background noise🥰.

I think the difference for me isn’t how rich the people are - it’s their ages and life stages (the people here tend to be older). Also the more expensive the house, the bigger the gardens and the more space. So you just don’t hear as much.

🎶 neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours, with a little understanding, you can find the perfect blend 🎵

i would have thought those in detached expensive houses would probably feel more entitled to have parties etc. fingers crossed you get some decent ones

That is the average price of a house in my postcode. Most of us are nice normal people that keep to ourselves, some of those who have been the longest here are on benefits (all nice and lovely), we have students passing by and what is suspect is a midway house just around the corner who are no bother but the neighbour who is driving us ALL crazy is a mad lawyer who keeps threatening neighbours and being nasty to everyone as she assumes we are using a private lane behind us wrongly.

She has these horrible arguments by email with other neighbours and the council all the times and cc:us all in, she is so nasty it makes you anxious for the poor person receiving them. She picks up fight with neighbours, traders and even delivery drivers but claims she was the victim and calls the police if someone dares to stand up to her.

My advice to find a nice neighbourhood is avoid new builds, look fit well established neighbourhoods, well tended gardens are normally a good sign that the neighbourhood is now a peaceful place 😁

Money cannot buy good neighbours.
Imagine a very small, quiet village, expensive area, & with a Manor House inhabited by a multi-millionaire celeb.
No parking problems, but the bastard used his helicopter to disturb everyone at all hours of the day & night.

You can't guarantee anything OP, unless you live 100m from your neighbours. I lodged for a few months with a lady who had a lovely semi-detached cottage in a wealthy village. The neighbour was a very sweet and totally inoffensive older lady who became terribly lonely and slightly vulnerable after her husband died. She just wanted company but honestly she became a menace who imposed herself on my landlady, who felt too sorry to tell her to go away.

Yes it is a bad assumption. It's also a hard pill to swallow when you've spent a fortune and rarely have the opportunity to have peace or enjoy your own home. You have no idea who you'll be beside in a new build but fingers crossed you have respectful neighbours.

Thanks to those of you who have directly responded to my questions.

I forget that on MN you need to spell things out or explain a specific scenario to death or people pounce and take it out of context or just feel the need to get something 🙄 Most of the comments are par for the course whenever anyone raises anything to do with money on MN so I won't address those.

I wasn't ignorant that I thought there would be no disputes if you paid above a certain amount for a house but I guess I was most interested in understanding what sort of disputes people might have encountered/expected at the £600-800k bracket as obviously this might be different to disputes on say a terraced road or a private house where houses are £2m+.

To be honest I wouldn't care if my neighbours were young working professionals snorting coke as that would impact me less than someone drug dealing but it's interesting to see that across the board I guess loud parties and noisy music can happen across any road or area regardless of price (though I sort of expected that). We're still quite young so hopefully in time we can get to the million+ houses and at least now I know what to look out for!

Naive at best! Twats are in every type of housing from sink estates to Chelsea's finest. Only difference is the Chelsea twats can afford litigation and will have you in court if your bin is ever out before 7 am. I live in a lovely exec detached, one neighbour lovely the other complained when my foot went on their front lawn (next to my drive). I never initiate interactions with neighbours as my decades of experience has taught me things can change. I am polite if addressed but I have never in 50+ years invited a neighbour in or accepted an invite. Even if you feel your neighbours are lovely, things can change quickly.

Pretty much all my problems neighbours have been massive snobs. I live in an ex council house now, lots of rented house on my street, and my neighbours are great, far better than when I’ve lived in “posher” areas.

I reckon you might end up being the problem neighbour with your attitude!

this is probably the most “up your own arse” thing I’ve ever read on MN 😂 unless your buying your own estate there’s no choosing the neighbours.. you clearly think people with more money are better people. 😂😳😳

You might will be less likely to encounter low income renters and therefore the druggy element you mention but tuere are all sorts of things that make difficult neighbours. Hedges, over enthusiastic tree pruning, extentions, parking, noise, mental health, teenagers with drum kits /music/ late night visitors, campervans, bonfires, firepits, hot tubs, garden bars etc. You are being unrealistic.

Nice area, neighbour does DIY in the garden really loud unless he's sing karaoke in his shed, and has a dog that's a bit antisocial, previous owner in the house was an alcoholic, swore at us and our kids over the fence, sprayed us with the hose!

I'm looking for somewhere with pretty much no neighbours because I'm becoming ever more intolerant: I'm really quiet, park very carefully, no flashing Christmas lights, they probably can't tell if we're here or on holiday, apart from our taking in parcels for them!