To refuse to buy her house and tell her why?

[StinkyTowels]

A few years ago my sister bought a beautiful period property with all original features. Victorian fireplaces, hand crafted bannisters, Victorian carved coving, the head things that pop out of the coving - I adored the house and always said if she sells it, I’ll buy it.

That was of course until she “modernised it”. Stripped out all original features, painted everything white, installed a clinically white and shiny kitchen, lobbed the standalone bath out of the window and replaced it with a spa bath … I kept telling her she was ruining the house but she said I was old fashioned and nobody likes that shit anymore.

The house is historically important, a local famous post lived there, from the outside it looks like a grand Victorian villa. On the inside it look like a London penthouse. It’s awful.

last year she decided to sell it but rather than coming straight to me she tried to sell it for much more than I would have ever paid due to the “improvements” she’d made. LOTS of viewings but no offers - all feedback was exactly the same - put off by interior. Lack of original features etc

So she’s come back to me - I’m now saying I don’t want it either for the same reasons. She’s fuming at me and says I “promised” I would buy it. In its original state I did yes but once she started pulling it apart I very clearly told her I would no longer buy it as she’s wrecked it. She won’t accept this however and is already eying up another house she’d like to ruin/renovate.

AIBU to be glad she can’t sell the bloody thing. It should be illegal to do what she’s done to that belle house

I don’t think it would be possible to remove an inglenook without virtually demolishing the house.

you could always buy it for significantly under the value, restore all the period features and then sell it on for a huge profit and then if you achieve all that quietly evidence your smugness. Without that it is just your personal opinion against hers and she will continue ruining other period properties.

I live in an area with lots of Edwardian and Victorian housing stock, beautiful old houses with original features. So many have been turned into shiny white/grey boxes inside it makes me want to cry. YANBU

Different people like different styles.
People are allowed to both like the large rooms and high ceilings of older houses and to prefer monochrome colour schemes, more modern bannisters, UPVC windows etc. They are also allowed to go with compromises to make renovations and changes affordable
We have a 1970’s gas fire in the living room of our Victorian terrance. When we eventually decorate it we will likely get a period one (or a replica) as I think the 70’s one is awful but I assume at the time someone loved it OR it was what was within their budget to get gas heating in place. It hasn’t destroyed the house and it’s perfectly changeable.
When we built an extension to create a kitchen/diner/snug I would ideally have done for something like Victorian style floor tiles, sage green kitchen units and replacing the electric fire with a period one but in the end cost and room layouts were significant consideration. We went with grey units (thousands cheaper as every single retailer sold grey versions of every single cabinet) & we blocked the fireplace as it allowed us to fit in a TV for the kids in the snug. I’d like the style of the original plans best but not enough to make it difficult to use the space the way we wanted or to pay that much more money for it.

Same where we are. We looked at keeping sash windows at the front of the house but it cost more to restore them than to replace with triple glazed UPVC and then there would have been regular painting/maintenance costs. You have to be practical about things sometimes (unless very wealthy) and go for the options that are affordable to you.

No, of course you're not being unreasonable. Exactly the same thing has happened to the only old house in our village, once the residence of an early Victorian landowner at a time when this area was seriously poor. The house needed some work, but it was full of original features.

It was bought up by incomers, the Victorian garden (including an orchard of old apple and pear trees) and interior were trashed and they now have a low maintenance sportsfield-size lawn that can be mown on a sit-on mower, with evergreen shrubs round the edges and not a single flowering plant or garden feature left. The interior has been stripped, ceiling roses and decorative plasterwork removed, old fireplaces replaced with modern 'French-style' horrors and the whole place painted in shades of grey and furnished from the a tacky gift-shop furniture store.

They can't sell it now, either.

It annoys me when I see people on Homes under The Hammer buying houses with beautiful original fireplaces etc and then ripping them out . Twats

Dd2 and her dh bought an Edwardian property a couple of years ago. Initially they wanted something newer but they were unable to find anything with the spec they wanted and the location.
They decided to renovate it and only finally moved in a couple of months ago. Even though they are a modern couple and their previous flat was ultra modern they felt it would be 'criminal' to rip out all the original features. It is beautiful and they've properly insulated it and added a heat pump and solar panels. Still has the curved walls, intricate coving, stained glass panels, fireplaces etc.

Dd2 has knocked down the wall between the kitchen and dining room of her Edwardian house but has done so very sympathetically. She has also extended it and has a beautiful oriel window and French doors in the dining area. They have changed the downstairs layout somewhat but nothing is grey or white and looks amazing.

Definitely don’t buy it. Why would you!?

If the house is historically important (Listed?), how on earth did she get planning permission to destroy it? Beggars belief!

You are VVVVU to have not posted a Rightmove link... Just saying...

Agreeee

We need to see @StinkyTowels pretty please

The OP hasn’t said it is - and in all likelihood it isn’t. Victorian houses aren’t rare.

Plenty of Victorian houses are listed.

But many, many more aren’t. And if this house was listed, don’t you think the OP would have mentioned that little detail?

Your post suggested that her house won’t be listed because Victorian houses aren’t rare, which is incorrect. Many houses and conservation areas are Victorian properties, usually because of the unique and ornate architectural designs.

Out of interest, where have they located their solar PV panels? It’s always a point of debate when they can’t go on the roof isn't it.

I know where your coming from there’s a (was ) Gorgeous red brick Victorian house near us that has been renovated/ vandalised
the whole thing now is an enormous grey monstrosity

@Dreamingofgoldfinchlane they are on the roof but a lot of solar energy companies wouldn't touch the project due to the pitch of the roof. I think they have some on a couple of faces - it was dark when I last went but going next week to see it in the daylight. It is a large 7 bedroom house.

Thank you. I know many people renovating period properties prefer to place the panels elsewhere but that obviously poses a host of other challenges.

Yanbu. Don't buy something you don't want. Your sister has ruined a house

I would have bought all the fireplaces and everything else she ripped out and kept them in a garage or storage.

So do I need to keep the horrible 1960s original fireplace in my lounge? After all it's an original part of the house?

Don't mind juxtaposing different styles necessarily but I do think it's shame to buy a period property then rip out original features and then putting down some hideous white tiles or grey carpet with cold/bluey white lights and spotlights (warm lights always please). Absolutely different styles but some people just have a sense for homely and stylish. I love a mix of periods and styles, no problem with that.