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!

No one is making that argument I don't think and I'm not. OP said "good neighbours", nothing specified about criminality. Your neighbour doesn't have to be a criminal to make your life hell as many posts on here over the years have proved. The one about the neighbours blaming an OP for getting some standing water in their garden/patio was truly awful. No mention of drugs or parties, just targeted abuse for months.

But she referenced drug dealing in her opening post?

surely the more expensive the neighbourhood, the less likely the next door neighbour is dealing?

younger renters are in lower cost neighbourhoods - more chances of wild parties. Less consideration of neighbours. All generalisations of course - but this is about the general population.

I think at that price range you should be ok. In my experience people at that level need to be able to conform to societal norms in behaviour in order to hold down a job to afford it, hence understand how to interact politely with others. Interestingly at higher value properties, there can be more problems, think footballers wives types, who are 'new money' and think nothing of loud parties etc.

I honestly hope you buy next to a drug lord who has parties until the early hours every Friday and Saturday. My fingers are so tightly crossed.

Where I live, the average house in my street costs £500,000+ in fact a house 3 doors down from me sold last year for over £600,000

I can tell you now, money does not buy decency. People are entitled, insular, very self absorbed with superficial interactions to boot and BEYOND judgmental.

On my immediate street I know of the following, not because I gossip but because of my profession:

A mother is living in a hotel as she has been deemed a risk to her children who have said she has abused them more than once. Said mother is a consultant Psychiatrist and father is a Surgeon, children all attend private school.

A father is currently being investigated by HMRC for tax evasion.

Another father and mother are being investigated for substance abuse.

So no OP, money does NOT buy you good neighbours. Humans are good on their own merits not on their postcode.

I think its unfair to say the op is snobby it's moreso living a peaceful life and maybe considering upgrading to a more expensive home so looking for opinions here.

We’d be your neighbours from hell. Lots and lots of loud music, from 6am till midnight. No drugs though as it’s not our scene. Naked trips to the outside jacuzzi and lots of other very antisocial activities.
But as we are professionals, this is very much our choice!!!

Disgusting post

She mentioned it yes, but it's simply not the black and white of it that a bad neighbour has to be a criminal to make your life hell.

Hollywolly1 - I thought your post was exceedingly amusing!!

Fortunately I am a realist and note that despite her wishes, she will have zero impact on who my neighbour is.

This is why I haven't responded to many PP - the moment money is brought up or there is a suggestion that some aspect of life could be better if only we had more money, certain people come out who are clearly carrying a chip on their shoulder and make comments or judgements that are irrelevant to what is being discussed. They assume that if someone earns £1 more than them, they will be looked down upon or that the OP thinks all council estate residents are nuisance neighbours who take drugs. They don't know my situation but I'm not overly fussed.

If I strip away the rubbish I guess most people are saying you get bad neighbours everywhere, it's often down to luck and some do think that you are less likely to come across nuisance neighbours the more expensive the area. It's good to see there are some who have experienced better neighbours as they've moved up the property ladder but I appreciate there are a couple who haven't.

I lived next to. Drug dealer once. Nice and polite, kept the street tidy, drove the grannies to their appointments, made sure everyone was good.

lived next door to a well to do guy and he was an insufferable prick who made problems about the length of peoples grass (he used scissors fgs) mooned about everything and was hell to live next to.

more money breeds more entitlement in property and more disputes

Do you live in the UK/England? If you do, then don't forget that UK/England (I forget whether it's just England or all of UK) that means in new build developments, the developers must build a proportion of affordable or social housing in most developments, think smaller developments are exempt. So, based on this, the new build development might not all be up at £600k+ maybe? In my experience, you can get awful neighbours in any neighbourhood, it's luck of the draw probably. Some more affluent ones can be really stuck in their ways, cos they feel a sense of entitlement and being able to do whatever they want, because they are used to getting their way, and the phrase 'A man's home is his castle' and the people who really truly are what that phrase is describing, are the ones you should look out for. They will do what they want, with no consideration for anyone else, and if you dare complain or tell them what to do in their house/garden, they will get nasty. Honestly, don't assume that living in an 'affluent' area will get you reasonable neighbours! But good luck to you, hope your new house is in a harmonious neighbourhood.

Hahaha no. We live in a small block of lard in Central London. One of our neighbours is the biggest cunt going. Blares loud music down the street, with his speakers in the open window, spits on passers by. Has prostitutes over, noisy sex that both his neighbours can hear. His “partner” is a barrister, and he says we can’t do anything to stop the way he behaves because his partner will stop anything going to court. These flats cost in excess of £1 million. Apart from old cuntychops and his barrister friend, the rest of the people are lovely, but it only takes one person to upset the apple cart.

Block of flats, not block of lard - wtf, spell checker?! 😆

My neighbours house is with &800 k . they are stuck up arseholes .. hth!

Money does not buy kindness and consideration .. quite the opposite in my experience!

At that price level, the problem, when it occurs, seems to come from noisy, messy building work, loud cars and motorbikes and a lack of feeling of community spirit which leads to insular and self-serving living. And the teenagers may still need to rebel.

There'll be no guarantees either way wherever you live.

A close friend of mine bought a detached house for £800,000. Her neighbours house is worth £1,000,000.
The neighbours in the million pound house constantly have the police round due to ongoing domestic abuse and drug fuelled incidents. The guy that lives there is awful and has turned paranoid, he is trying to involve my friend now and believes they are all plotting against him. It’s got very very ugly and my friend wants to move to get away from the constant harassment.
Mental health does not decide to only affect people who buy houses under £600,000. Abusive traits and destructive behaviours exist in some of the wealthiest people on the planet, they exist in our leaders, they exist in people with positions of extreme power.
I am surprised you seem to have no awareness to this.
HTH.

Northwinds, snap.
BIL bought off plan at an expensive new development. Adjacent is a row of social housing which he hadn't clocked at the time of purchase. They've been in for a couple of years now, and I honestly think BIL is being the bad neighbour; constantly obsessing about his council tenant neighbours, who never really seem to put a foot wrong, yet he's hyper-vigilant for potential issues and snooty to boot.
His neighbour on the other side, who owns, has had a washing machine and an armchair sitting on the drive in front of the double garage for months, and BIL doesn't seem to mind, just tuts at the council for not collecting (which they've no obligation to do). If it had been his social housing neighbours, he'd be on it.
We've an ex-council house on an old council estate, and have the best neighbours: our whole bit of the street is fantastic, and he bloody knows it.

It's certainly been my experience that moving to a more affluent area gets you more respectable neighbours. I dont know why MN gets so angry about this.

Oh my god yes. My nightmare neighbour, who I ended up moving because of, had a PHD and a brand new £70k Mercedes. He was a CUNT. And a clever cunt at that.

He may not have dealt drugs or played music in the garden but he drove me out of the house I had lived in for over 20 years by raising a boundary dispute the day he moved in. We had never had any issue with any neighbour before him but he nearly broke me.

I now live in the middle of nowhere but my millionaire next door neighbour has been digging up.his 2 acre garden for a whole year now. The noise from the digger is terrible and makes our house vibrate. Using his digger appears to be his hobby and as he is too rich to work he can do it all day long.

Seriously? It's not your neighbours choice to listen to your loud music though is it?

She does reference drug dealing, but also discusses buying good neighbours in general. As a lot of us have pointed out, there's a whole tranche of bad neighbour behaviour that potentially becomes more likely at higher price points and that doesn't really fly in lower income areas, so the question is whether you find that prospect more acceptable than the sort of bad behaviour you mention here. Obviously it's a personal call. Main thing is for OP to have that information and then she can do with it as she wishes.

And fwiw I have lived next to someone who was dealing and it wasn't a particular inconvenience.

I don’t think it is snobby to not want druggies, loud parties, shouty noisy neighbors. Who in their right mind wants to put up with that?
I started in a studio flat above a bookies and now live in a 4 bed detached and have pretty much lived in everything between. My detached is in a nice area. The neighbors tend to be older as like most of us it takes years to move up the ladder so no young children with trampolines or playing in the street. Loud parties are rare but the house at the back of me has one every summer. Goes on late but I can’t complain as it is only once a summer. We all have drives and only 6 houses in the road so no parking issues. Drugs I know are in the area as they are pretty much everywhere and there are a couple of local parks I wouldn’t go in after dark as I know these are places where drugs are sold and used but with older often retired neighbors the only drugs they take are the ones prescribed by their doctors.

I don’t think it is snobby to not want druggies, loud parties, shouty noisy neighbors. Who in their right mind wants to put up with that?

It's more the idea that none of this could happen in an expensive area.