House viewings - neighbour refuses to take down flag

[KayleighhMum]

Our house is up for sale and we have viewings commencing from tomorrow - 7 in total lined up over the course of the week.

Our neighbour hung a large England flag from his top window on Friday and it has remained up. DH saw him outside the front on Saturday and politely asked if he could take it down before Tuesday. He basically laughed and said if any prospective new neighbour dislikes the flag then they won’t be the sort of person he’d want living next to him. It remains up now.

I am concerned this would be off putting, but speaking to my mum earlier she thinks I am over thinking things and it wouldn’t make a difference if someone likes the house.

Do you think we should try and ask again or would you assume it shouldn’t put people off? We are semi detached so it will definitely be noticed.

No prior issues with this neighbour who has always been friendly etc.

It's good to know if your neighbours will be racist to be honest so he is helping prospective buyers. May put some people off and reassure others.

Sorry but this is getting ridiculous. Your neighbour is displaying an England flag... in England. I wouldn't want to live next to someone who objected to it either.

We must be the only country ashamed of flying our flag. It's frankly bullshit!

So you’re not going to use your M&S carrier bags? 🥴

Flag waving may take place but only when deemed appropriate? 🤣

The only upside to this situation is whenever he comes to sell you can have a lot of fun with it. If he’s not going to help you out, you surely ain’t gonna help him when needed either.

Exactly. And the irony of this flag-waver being 'othered' by people... who claim to wholly despise those who 'other' people 🤔

You have to be careful that you don't have to say you have had a dispute, then you will never sell it.

It would put me off buying for sure.

He’s a tosser but he has the right to hang the flag on his property.

You do realise that England women are currently playing in the World Cup. Many of the flags up at the moment in support of the Red Roses as they should be.

This would put me off even if I loved the house. But I actually think it’s better that the flag stays. Obviously you want to sell your house but morally it feels wrong to hide something like this that could make an unsuspecting buyer feel uncomfortable or unsafe in their new home. If the flags up you may get a smaller pool but at least it’ll be someone who doesn’t care or thinks a plus. You’ve not tried to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes.

Oh my fucking god.

I am SO beyond sick of the fucking “English person flying an England flag from their home in England must be racist” bullshit.

I genuinely might actually go and buy a bloody flag tomorrow just to buck the trend.

I have never voted Reform or even Conservative, only ever Labour/Lib Dem/Green (depending on where I lived at the time) and I voted Remain in 2016.

I was born and raised in England and I am white, but 3 of my 4 grandparents were immigrants (the 4th was the child of immigrants) and one was Asian. Knowing what they had to endure in their home countries, particularly my Grandmothers, I feel very lucky and very proud to have been born and live in this country. I know they felt very lucky and proud to live here and raise their families here. I think for all its flaws, England is pretty great.

Am I allowed to fly the flag?

Nobody is stopping you from flying a flag.

People are allowed to judge you, positively or negatively, for it.

Given that the current campaign of flag flying seems to be motivated by racism, I'd assume someone who chooses this moment to start flag-flying to be a racist.

It's a shame that right wing racist fuckwits keep making the flag a point of division, but that's where we're at.

For me i would take a look at that flag and apologise for wasting time booking viewing and leave. Yes it’s just a flag and people should be proud of their country but for many the flag flying is for a certain reason. We are a mixed race family and i would be concerned about possibility of certain views.

But it isn’t. It doesn’t matter about when people have decided to do it. Whether it’s now, six months ago or six years ago, for some people the timing would never be right. If someone flying the flag doesn’t stop you going about your every day business, just get on with your day. It’s two tier thinking. Some are happy for pro Palestinian flag waving protestors to walk the streets of London every week, disrupting people’s lives and causing intimidation, but apparently someone putting a British up outside their house, not affecting others, is far far worse….

It would put me off. Despise how this flag flying has been co-opted by the thickheaded. Look forward to the Google maps car coming round, so prospective buyers can be sure what sort of knuckle draggers are in the area, down the line.

We did not invent the international slave trade, that was the Portugese. English people in large numbers were also captured as slaves along the west coast by the Muslim Barbary pirates (as well as Scotland, Ireland and the Mediterranean.). The slave trade existed right across the world at the time, England being one nation among many.

It would put me off somewhat, but I wouldn't rule the house out if I liked it otherwise. I don't think you'll get your neighbour to change his mind, unfortunately.

Britain grew rich off the slave trade. It fuelled the industrial revolution. It’s a shameful legacy.

But why do you care so much about a symbol whose meaning has been hijacked that you’re prepared to make non-white people feel unwelcome and unsafe?

I think you really need to ask yourself that question. Do you really care about the flag - or are you bristling at losing control?

Yes we did, as did many other nations. We also fought to end the slave trade and slavery involving a naval campaign that lasted decades. Our history isn't all bad.

Fully entitled to keep his flag up.
Yabu.

Just tell the viewers he is supporting the Womens rugby team , because he might should be

It'd put me off, I'd probably imagine the worst case scenario that he was a vocal, sweary racist (and probably homophobe), sorry OP.

Whether people want to admit it or not the flag has been co-opted by the worst elements of the right. Whenever I see St George's flag bunting outside a pub, and there isn't a major sporting event on, I assume it'd have the sort of regulars that'd glass yer Nan. 😅

Slavery ended because it stopped being as profitable and slaves revolted against British slave owners, such as the 1831 Jamaican slave revolt.

There is nothing to be proud of here for Britain.