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.

I don’t blame you. Your neighbour is a moron.

My neighbour across the road from us has an England flag up all year round the only time she takes it down is at Christmas to put a Christmas flag up then it’s back to the England flag, she is an old lady and not racist just patriotic. Just because a house has an England flag up shouldn’t cause offence to anyone, how do your potential buyers know your neighbours don’t have it up all year, and tbh I agree with your neighbour on what he says. I love seeing my neighbour flying her flag

I'm as white as can be and it would 100% put me off.

In America you see their flag everywhere. Why is our national flag seen as something to be hidden? Being patriotic and proud to be British isn’t racist or far right. After seeing all the pearl clutching on here over our national flag I’ve ordered one myself 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧

My dad is 91 and flies the union flag all the time. For VE Day, VJ Day the football the rugby the day my daughter got married you name it, if you can find an excuse the flag is up. There’s nothing racist about him at all. He’s just proud to be British and loves our flag.

One of our neighbours where we used to live had a flagpole.
He hung the French 🇫🇷 flag on Bastille Day , the English 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 flag on St George’s Day ..4th July the USA 🇺🇸 flag , St Andrew’s Day 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 the 🏳️‍🌈 in June etc
Privately called him Mr Flagpole 😂 and gave him a Mr Bean voice in my own head 😂

Gosh, all you people who say it would put you off! It’s a good job you don’t live in other countries where people are proud of their flag and fly it all the time.

Would absolutely put me off. I couldn’t live next door to a racist idiot, sorry!

That’s not why he’s flying it let’s be totally honest. The flag has been hijacked to deliver a completely different message.

Because the British/English are not generally a flag flying people, for better or worse. And this has meant that since the 70s the St George’s Cross has largely been co-opted by far right groups.

And right now it’s not Euro 1996. Nor is it not another major rugby/football tournament. Nor is it the women getting to the latter stages of a football tournament or the last day of the Proms or a Royal wedding.

Rather, it’s a political party, which has immigration as its raison d’être, telling people to put up flags as a protest against immigrants/immigration policy/the fact that there are lots of non-white people living in the UK.

So yes, many people are not getting a warm patriotic glow when they see these St George’s Flags going up as it’s not one of those occasional happy “All Together Now” Euro 96 moments, but rather a “Far Right” moment ….. not exactly rocket science is it?

If they were honest then they would need to admit deep down they agree with the racists

Cue all the fake outrage and saying we all hate the flag and the country

Honestly, it's pathetically laughable how they purposely dance around the actual problem and ignore the context of the entire situation :v

I wouldn't and didn't buy a house that was in an area with a few flags up.
Unfortunately they're not synonymous with British pride anymore
But you can't ask him to take it down, there's no chance he will.

It would absolutely put me off. Unless there's football on, I would be concerned about living next to an enormous racist. However, the people who aren't put off can expect a like-minded neighbour, so it might work out!

Can you ask him why it’s up? Saying “oh he’s supporting the women’s rugby” will go down rather better than other possible explanations?

You and your neighbour are both white are t you?

No would not bother me at all , but if I went to view a house and there was a Palestine flag that would put me off.

In my village there is a Sikh gentleman flying the union flag. So please tell me is it just white, far right racists flying our flag??

Exactly. You prove my point. People generalising over a group of people. Doesnt work does it?

Love to know what a Christmas flag is?? And i want one!!!

Unfortunately the English flag has been hijacked by the far right thugs of this country so has terrible connotations I’m afraid

You don't need to be white to be far right or racist

Just look at all Latinos who were dumb enough to vote for Trump, now many innocent people getting iced

Turns out some non white think they're the exception and agree with the anti immigration racists

They'll regret it if they win :v

I think that its up to him how he decorates his house. My neighbour of a decade also has one up. I’m very curious as to why he has decided now to be patriotic when his never expressed it in the past (not even for euro or VE Day when we had a street party) but with newspapers such as the sun and daily mail shyt stirring at every opportunity I can’t help but see a connection, but maybe I’m wrong.

No more ridiculous than the poster i was responding to who was labelling a whole group of people as racist just because they want to fly our national flag. Generalising works both ways...

I’d feel the same. To be honest we’d probably offer to pay him to remove it for duration of viewings. The connotations are unclear but we do live in a very polarised world at the moment so any connotations are a risk to your sale. You are not be unreasonable.

I totally understand your concern as there's no way in Hell I'd buy a house if the neighbour had a giant st George's cross hung up. I'd think it was a rough street where there might be bother tbh.
But what can you do?? Nothing sadly. Just hope he comes to his senses and has compassion for you. It certainly does put buyers off.