To not buy this house?

[phiaaihp]

My husband wants a new build, I’ve compromised as I don’t.

The one we viewed today the end of the garden is the side of the neighbours house (no fence, the house wall is the boundary) with windows that look directly on to said garden. They are frosted but I find it weird.

Husband said I’m making excuses as it ticks the rest of the boxes and I just don’t want a new build.

How would they cause me major damp issues?

It's more that you could cause them major damp issues.

That is literally one of the worst set ups I’ve seen. Definitely swerve that one.

im like you old houses any day of the week. DH would love a new build but I ‘compromised’ by looking at both and we are now in an old house 😉

could you do the same? Look at both old and new?

@phiaaihp I voted YABU as regarding that house as I'd want to see if there was anything written into the deeds about putting a shed in front of that window.

If everything else about the house was good and I could put my shed or summer house directly to against that window then it wouldn't bother me.

My parents bought an amazing new build. Smaller developers build houses with decent sized rooms!

Nope. What about if they want to open that window or get it cleaned? What happens if that wall needs maintenance?

That would be a big no for me too, I hate going out in our garden as I feel we are on top of the neighbour's, maybe ask him how he would feel if you have friends over and was in the garden later than usual, you would feel like your intruding on your neighbours!

I think if you dropped your objection to all new builds and looked objectively at the ones on offer it might be easier to come to suitable compromise

Sone new builds are poor quality , silly room sizes and crammed together ( which that one sounds)

Others are well built , extremely cheap to run and designed around modern life with studies and car parking for example

Reminds of the thread with the garden table outside the window in the communal garden.

I am just laughing now at the utter horror of that. How on earth did that pass planning?! Oh yes probably because new builds aren’t signed off to the same building control as everyone else..

Imagine them opening their window! Or as someone said kids kicking a ball. This has got to be a joke. And I’d be very worried about the quality of the houses in general with the lawn right up to their house. Where is the drainage.

I highly doubt you can put any against the windows to block out their view/light. I’d be absolutely pissed off if someone did this to my windows.

I think the builders fucked up and put windows in a house that shouldn't have windows. Did you mention it to the developer? I mean it's not just horrible having them being able to look into your garden as it's actually a security risk - people in that house could open the window and climb into your garden any time they want. And if it was a hot sunny day and they left the window open - you could just climb into their house. It can't possibly be planned like that.

I love new builds and would always pick new over pre-owned but I would seriously question the developer about it. If they can agree to brick it up, or let you put a fence in front, then I would be happy to move in

But that's what you need to check, because unless it's written in the deeds then it's your land and you can put what you like there.

The person buying the other property will also know this as they won't even be allowed to open their windows outwards as that's trespassing onto your land. I can't understand why anyone would want to buy the other property with windows like that u less there's a clause that the neighbour cannot put a structure up.

That’s awful. Even worse for the neighbour. They could end up with kids kicking balls at their wall all day.

You haven't said if you have kids OP, but if you do, or you plan to have them, I'd be pointing out to your DH how much it's likely to cost him in window repairs for the neighbours property. It can cause all sorts of problems when your kids accidentally kick a ball over into the neighbour's garden, but how many times will they break their window before WWIII starts?

No way would I want to buy that house. I think you need to tell your DH that you're prepared to look at other new builds but this one is totally out of the question.

Based on the photo, hard no. The windows may be frosted, but they'll want air at some point and will open their window into your garden. Plain weird.
If it had been just an upstairs bathroom window, I would have said YABU. But here YANBU.

I think the main question is - how long would you be looking at living there? - because judging by the replies on this thread you'd have an extremely hard time selling it in the future.

Bloody hell, that's awful. It looks like a neighbour dispute just waiting to happen.

I've been there, done that on buying a new build and never again! Our house is lovely and quite spacious but I'm sick of living on top of eachother (which is what this house definitely is)! I long for some privacy.

Having seen the photo it would be an absolute no from me too!

Christ alive. That looks awful. What rooms do the windows belong to in the neighbours house? Do those windows open??? If it’s their downstairs loo they will be crapping in there with the window open.

If that window opens you’ll literally never have any privacy!!

I know! I thought it would only be the upstairs window, but the downstairs? That's weird!

I think the builders fucked up and put windows in a house that shouldn't have windows.

The bottom window surely hasn't passed building regs? It just seems so wrong

That's as ugly as all Hell OP. Yanbu.

Utterly bizarre! Never seen anything like it. Good job with selling it!

I wonder this too. It can’t have been on planning.

But sadly new builds sign off their own building regs unlike if you do an extension on your own house. Which is how such bad quality ones get passed. So this doesn’t surprise me in some ways. Like they could have messed up and no one cared so now it’s happened. If you join some of the developer groups on Facebook there is some eye opening stuff!

You think there are houses that don't have windows?

I've been there, done that on buying a new build and never again! Our house is lovely and quite spacious but I'm sick of living on top of eachother (which is what this house definitely is)! I long for some privacy.

It's dire, isn't it? Our house was lovely, spacious and comfortable but despite being detached and a not too bad sized garden it felt really not private with all the open plan front gardens, at times I felt like I was living in a children's play park to the front and of course overlooked from multiple directions at the back.