I’m starting to think I’ll never be able to move house.

[Tworoads]

I’m trying to sell my house and it’s been on the market for over a year. Selling it will mean that I can start a new phase of my life and I’m starting to think it’ll never happen 😢. The last straw was that yesterday the estate agent told ME I should get someone else to sell it!
I just wonder if you lovely ladies have any ideas.
My house is a semi detached on the best road in my town. It’s not overlooked in the back garden. I’ve decorated top to bottom, decluttered and depersonalised it. I can’t make it any neater.
The problem is that it’s attached to a decrepit house, unoccupied since the old owner died 3 years ago. His family pop in (why?) but don’t seem to want to live in it or sell it.
My house has my little shop to the front so my property is, strictly speaking, semi-commercial.
A big advantage is that the two houses are on a very big plot. A speculator could have a valuable building plot capable of being used for multiple houses (someone did this further up the same road).
But how do I find a buyer? I can’t afford to auction it for a pittance.
I am in the north west of England.

If you add a link maybe we can point out areas to allow us to help

Might there be mortgage issues if part of the property is commercial?

I think if you really want it gone quick, an auction migh the the best way to go.

Such a lot of ideas!
@Drivingone I hadn’t considered doing that. Sealed bids with a low starting price might be a way of getting people in to see the potential of my home. I like that!
I’d like to put the ‘we buy any house’ type companies in touch with next door but I don’t think I’m allowed to do that.
The daughter of the deceased owner shows no sign of wanting to sell.

I have to try to stop myself from taking it personally that my house hasn’t sold yet and step back. At the moment it’s somewhere that I have lived in for 20 years.

1. Report it as a derelict house to your local council. https://www.gov.uk/report-derelict-abandoned-building

2. Download the title register and see who owns the property officially. This costs £3 https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry This will let you know if it's been put in the name of the new owner or probate hasn't gone through yet and it still belongs to the deceased owner. You could then speak to the owner and perhaps they'd be interested in selling it along side yours to a developer??

3. Ultimately, a house will sell at the right price.

@towriteyoumustlive that is really interesting. I did run the land registry search as you suggested and it is still in the name of the deceased even though it’s 6 years since he died (longer than I thought!). He has two children but there’s no will showing for him in the year he died.
How would the land registry re-register the house if he died intestate?

wow that is super frustrating.

Presume you moved in whilst it was lived in, and was fairly well maintained?

When did you buy? Presumably >6 years ago, how much for? And how much are you aiming for?

edit: changed 3 to 6. Thought I read 3 somewhere

My house has my little shop to the front so my property is, strictly speaking, semi-commercial

Are you overlooking the impact of this maybe?

What do you mean by a shop to the front?

Do you just use your existing living room so it's just set out like a shop? Is there a connected single story unit to the house? Have you converted your front room so it looks shop like with a big commercial window? Is the shop part of the sale?

When I moved in everything was neat. Never modern because he was an old man then but the house was neat, just old fashioned.
The building has a self contained shop at the front with big bay window, two rooms and a small bathroom at the back. Would suit all sorts of things - hairdressers, dentists, solicitors etc really. Then there’s a side access that leads to my house at the back. Totally separate spaces.

It sounds like you need to sell either as commercial with living attached or...

get permission, if needed, to have permission for the whole thing to be residential

if you've had no viewings, there will be concerns other than the place next door.

I also have these questions!

Have there been viewings but no further interest?
What has the feedback from the estate agent been?

agree with the suggestion of looking at getting planning permission - friends of mine did that recently when selling their fathers house - but again, discuss with local estate agents first, they know the market.

If the deceased was the sole owner and there was no will, it was up to the administrator of the estate to either sell the property (and thus it would be registered to someone else) or get it put into the name of whoever inherited it (intestacy laws). A property CANNOT remain in the name of the deceased.

I think I'd do some digging as this sounds quite dodgy! If there was no will then you need to perhaps start looking for who was the administrator of the estate, as they should have dealt with this. Or maybe look through probate records (£1.50).

https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

Not sure how far that will get you to solving the issue of the next door house but it might be worth a shot!

Could the shop be renovated to be rented? As commercial or habitation? That could be a major selling point, as it could bring income.

The daughter of the deceased owner shows no sign of wanting to sell.

Have you had a conversation about it?

At first I thought it must be on for too much but when I read your whole post its obvious you can't sell due to the two problems that you have described. It's unconventional as a home due to having a shop attached and next door is a shit hole.
Job number one is speak to neighbours and ask what their plan is. If theirs goes on the market while yours is on as well the whole prospect becomes a goer.

So many people confusing love for infantilising. Love your dog with all your heart of course but make sure it knows its position in the pack (bottom) and that it is still a dog.
Otherwise you're actually being unkind to it.

Oh no sorry - wrong thread

@stonedaisy you are absolutely right. Unfortunately I can’t get rid of the shop because I still need to work. And yes next door is a shit hole.
I have suggested that she sells it but she just laughed. Other neighbours want to buy it for the large land plot but she won’t. She still has her dad’s old clothes lying around the house. She must be in her 70s herself and I wonder if she’s a little deranged or quietly clever. She set a fire in the grate and went out. It filled the place with smoke (fumes in mine too), several fire engines. Firemen sealed up the chimney now. But I wonder if it was deliberate…. Nothing like that has happened before or since.
@towriteyoumustlive the property is still registered in the name of the deceased after 6 years. I am looking for his will but there’s nothing. The only deceased people with his name had probate granted in Birmingham and round here it would be the Liverpool office. It’s very strange.
I wonder if she CANNOT sell the house.
The best chance I have is for both houses to sell together. Then I think I would be killed in the rush from developers. 🙏🙏🙏

I can't really picture what you mean at all, sorry

Are you selling the house with the shop, or without the shop?

Can you put up a link?

It will sell if it's up for the right price, so it sounds like it's too expensive. Were the other houses in the street that yours is cheaper than, also partly a shop?

I reckon if you want to do this you'll have lower the price. I took £25k off mine and now i'm in a house that I love instead.
Or you could rent it until the neighbour does something or the market improves.
Or Air B&B it if its a desirable town.
If next door is really disintegrating then maybe the council could intervene?

Sympathies OP, I'm in a similar situation in that I'm currently selling my house which is attached to a neighbouring house that has been left to go derilect since the elderly couple renting it went to a nursing home a few years ago. It's frustrating that the owners don't do anything to maintain the place or just sell it on.

We have no idea who even owns it, we went in and cut back the hedges in the front yard ourselves to make it look a little more presentable...not really allowed but no one seems to give a shit about the place so we knew no one would complain. They were so overgrown that people couldn't walk on the footpath passing the house but were instead forced out on to the road.

Luckily we have still gotten a few bids (thanks to Ireland's housing crisis) but I'm sure we'd have gotten more interest if it wasn't for our neighbours. Our estate agent said it's something that most viewers question.

I’d love a Rightmove link. I’m not sure how much help people can be without some figures/location/size.

Could you at least tidy up the overgrown garden / make the front look a touch more appealing?

I don't think that the derelict house is your issue, I definitely think that it is the fact that it is essentially a shop with living accomodation at the back. That will severely restrict your pool of potential buyers.

Do you think there's a reason she doesn't want to inherit the house, perhaps connected to benefits entitlements or something? That is very strange behaviour about the fire!