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AIBU?

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Original poster

Would you buy a house that somebody had been murdered in?

363 replies

lucy889 · 10/03/2025 14:18

Around 12 years ago, an awful murder involving a child and parent happened a few miles from our house, it was such a shock and the house has been empty ever since.

It's now on the market, I personally could never buy it or live there and I feel sad every time I drive by.

Would you buy it given the history if it was perfect for you?

OP posts:
Somethingthecatdraggedin7 · 10/03/2025 14:18

No

Nanny1983 · 10/03/2025 14:19

No .

Lentilweaver · 10/03/2025 14:19

Yes.

CremeEggThief · 10/03/2025 14:19

No way even if it was £5.

Magnastorm · 10/03/2025 14:19

If the house was otherwise absolutely right for my needs, then yes, wouldn't bother me at all.

The only pause for thought would be whether I was concerned about reselling it, given some people are fussed about such things.

Changeissmall · 10/03/2025 14:19

Yes. Wouldn’t bother me. Am not superstitious

Birdsongsinging · 10/03/2025 14:19

Yes. But it might give me the creeps and I’d have to sell it again if it did.

Radiatorvalves · 10/03/2025 14:21

i once went to a bbq at a house in London with a notorious address. Owned by a European couple who knew of its history but the price was on the low side. Given what had happened there I think the house had been totally reconstructed. It was uncomfortable thinking of what had happened there.

Lentilweaver · 10/03/2025 14:21

Yes I would be worried abt reselling. But I dont believe in ghosts or atmosphere or anything of that sort.

Glitchymn1 · 10/03/2025 14:22

Yes.

Mulledjuice · 10/03/2025 14:22

All sorts could have (will have) happened in most houses. You just don't get to hear about it.

Itiswhysofew · 10/03/2025 14:23

I was only contemplating that question yesterday. For me, it would depend on how much time has lapsed. 12 years is long enough for me to consider it. It's just a house.

IPM · 10/03/2025 14:23

Yes if the house was right.

My friend needed a 3 bed council house so wasn't really in a position to be fussy, when she discovered a teenage girl had been bludgeoned to death in the garden, rolled in some carpet, put in a wheelbarrow and wheeled down the road to be dumped in the park.

She did however have to fend off a drunk man claiming to be the girls uncle who knocked on her door at midnight, on the 10th anniversary of the girl's death.

But other than that, it was a lovely house and her and her family were very happy there.

Llllllllppppp · 10/03/2025 14:23

No.
I think because of the type of person I am I would have nightmares, my brain would work over time and I would become convinced it’s haunted.
Also to know that people have really suffered in that house it would never feel like a home.

mindutopia · 10/03/2025 14:24

No, but some people wouldn’t care, especially if it’s an investment. I’d be curious to know if it has to be declared. For example, we looked at a house that had a body buried in the garden (oddly, seller’s sister’s nieces goddaughter or some similarly very tenuous relation and no direct connection to the property, as in they didn’t previously live there). And that had to be declared.

Cattery · 10/03/2025 14:25

Radiatorvalves · 10/03/2025 14:21

i once went to a bbq at a house in London with a notorious address. Owned by a European couple who knew of its history but the price was on the low side. Given what had happened there I think the house had been totally reconstructed. It was uncomfortable thinking of what had happened there.

Was it Denis Nilsen’s old place?

Comedycook · 10/03/2025 14:25

Maybe?

Natural deaths in a house wouldn't bother me at all. A murder would be different though...but I wouldn't rule out buying the house altogether if it was what I was looking for

kungfoofighting · 10/03/2025 14:26

Probably not. Maybe if it had been a very very long time ago – like several hundred years.

Lentilweaver · 10/03/2025 14:27

I am more worried about global warming- future suffering- than any previous incidents.

ScholesPanda · 10/03/2025 14:27

I want to say yes OP because it's irrational to believe in curses etc

But I wonder if I would actually buy it in reality?

AquaPeer · 10/03/2025 14:28

Yes provided the price was right and I was comfortable with the circumstances of resale if needed.

@mindutopia you have to declare a body in the garden but that is different to events that happened in the property being declared (I don’t believe you need to)

Comedycook · 10/03/2025 14:28

I wonder what any piece of land in the world has seen throughout the milennia....who knows what happened thousands of years ago on the ground where your house sits....

Original poster
lucy889 · 10/03/2025 14:30

It doesn't bother me the land my home is built on, who's died naturally here etc it's just I'd think of the awful circumstances all the time, the parent actually killed their child and them themselves in the hallway of the upstairs.

I wouldn't be able to walk the hallway without thinking of it.

OP posts:
cunoyerjudowel · 10/03/2025 14:31

Yes- it's just a building

Fargo79 · 10/03/2025 14:31

No I wouldn't. It's not superstition or anything "woo". I am just a person who loves to connect with the history of a place and imagine all the things that went before. I've always lived in old houses for this reason. Every day I find myself daydreaming about who might have lived here before me, how they spent their time, imagining them looking at all the same fireplaces and windows and skirting boards that I see each day. I think I would be unable to stop myself from imagining awful things as well if I was aware of them.