Would you buy a house if the neighbours were a bit weird?

[blueberrybluey]

We went to view a house today, as we pulled up there was a car behind us who revved and hovered in the road looking at us, my husband wound down the window and asked what was wrong and the man said that was his house and he parks there so humouring him we apologise and park further along.

The house we viewed was next door to him and it really was lovely and ticks all the boxes other than having a drive so is on-street parking only, which I thought we could live with but I can’t help wondering if the parking incident is a sign of what’s to come.
Would this put you off an otherwise perfect home?

We went to see a house recently and as we drove up the neighbour was at the door enquiring what kind of people we were and then when we were in the back garden there was another woman just staring at us from the upstairs window. I know they were maybe worried about who their new neighbours would be but I also got the impression they would be overbearing and it did put me off.

Why would you be parking directly outside someone else’s house? Surely it’s common sense to expect to leave space for him to park outside his own house or is there not enough space for both of you? Then yes it will be an issue in the future

YABU to draw us in with such a misleading title! I was expecting some proper weirdness and all I got was a stereotypical rude entitled man! I would definitely think twice about buying a house with a neighbour like that though, he sounds like the kind of person who looks for things to complain about and, as his immediate neighbours, you’d get the brunt of it.

I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I know what it’s like to constantly be on edge wondering what your neighbours are going to do next or how late their parties will go on for. I hope you eventually get somewhere with the council xx

Nope. Move on. If he’s Willy waving already what will he be like when you move in

They phoned me last week and even they admitted that it had dragged on for a very long time and they are apparently discussing it again and will phone me this coming week. Thing is I can't get my hopes up as they said they were addressing the "serious issues" and it "will take time" well over two years ago!

I wouldn't buy it but I really really hate horrible neighbours and they stress me out.
Parking on street brings out the worst in people imo.

I think if I didn't share a party wall with that neighbour, I'd go ahead and just put up with the odd disagreement. I can put up with that but not loud noise through the wall!

An alternate thought.

If, unbeknownst to you and DH, you were one of hundreds of cars parked in his spot over the years because the sellers were CF who had numerous guests and parties and he worries it's being sold to more CF who will make his life a living hell.

I'd go and knock on the man's door and have a face to face conversation with him. Ask him the norms of the neighborhood. Talk with him and get a sense of who is based on more than one interaction.

I’m mean nothing is perfect. If he’s possessive over ‘his’ parking space which is actually just public road outside his house, and there was other spaces in the road, he’s going to be a prick. How much interaction you have to have with the prick though, is anyone’s guess… is this house connecting? How thick skinned are you?! 😂

Find somewhere else. When you search for a new home, it is perfectly natural to make yourself known to the people either side and chat to them.

Weird - potentially yes depending on the nature of the weirdness
Awkward and showing all the red flags of someone who is constantly one half of neighbour disputes and would likely mean all give / compromise on my side and all take / complaining on theirs - absolutely not, even for the most beautiful house in the world.

Decent neighbours makes all the difference and there are some people who no matter where they go will stir up trouble with their neighbours. The kind where if they end up living next door to someone of a similar ilk, you see neighbour disputes escalating to one or both of them getting arrested - and it never ends because even if one person moves away, the remaining neighbour starts again on the new neighbours - so then you’ve either got a nightmare neighbour and/or you’ve got neighbour disputes yet again.

It may well be that he is lovely to all neighbours and just a nightmare to strangers visiting the street - but I also wouldn’t want visitors to my house who innocently park on the street being made to feel uncomfortable by the neighbours either!

FWIW, I do live on a street with only on street parking - and fortunately we all seem to have our own ‘place’ so it works very well with the neighbours - occasionally someone will have to encroach into someone else’s spot - but there are no houses opposite so then someone will just park over there. So I do ask all of my visitors out of courtesy not to park in what would be the neighbours ‘spot’ and instead to park opposite or further down where it’s not directly outside someone’s house - which makes everything run a lot more smoothly … but if someone is quickly dropping something off, I see no harm in them being directly outside the neighbours (same as I have seen the neighbours friends do outside my house), and I’d hate to think my visitors might have someone revving their engine and staring at them making them uncomfortable.

I may well be extra sensitive about it because somewhere else I lived there was a neighbour who would get very irate about people parking near his house, and he was definitely a nightmare neighbour - unfortunately he met his match with one of the other neighbours and the pair of them used to escalate everything seemingly just to irritate the other as much as possible - impacting on everyone else around them in the process, and he was a nightmare to live next door to. I’ve also heard more than my fair share of horror stories of neighbour disputes where they’ve ended up assaulting one another.

So like I say, maybe I’m extra sensitive, and yes unfortunately nice neighbours can and do move away - but I wouldn’t risk buying somewhere the next door neighbour has already demonstrated he’s got an attitude problem.

Sorry.

It's a public road 🙄

Absolutely do not move there. Neighbours can really make your life hell

Run a mile ,we have vile neighbours and it's not fun .The woman trains ivy up our old walls because I have removed it and her overgrown trees have caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to both neighbours,it's a horrible way to live but some bitter people do

Run our neighbours are very unpleasant,have ruined ours and another neighbours property with ivy and trees that are out of control,it is no way to live but there are some bitter nasty people out there

I don’t know. There’s a few people on my street who are funny about being able to park outside their houses but they’re basically nice, quiet people otherwise. I’d rather live alongside them than some of the other people I’ve lived next to over the years. Parking just makes some people crazy for some reason.

Never buy a property next to one where there are a lot of trees. The owner may be obsessed with the idea someone is watching them all the time. You don't even have to have windows overlooking them. The obsession is still there.

I am currently being helped by my house insurance solicitor to get my neighbour to dg up the trees because the roots have invaded my drains and I have had to pay £1K to have the drains CCTV inspected and the roots cleared.

I have tried for years to make them cut them down. They were planted after my gas boiler flue was sited on the flat roof. The branches are growing over the flat roof of my disabled living extension. The branches grow over the gas boiler flue on the roof and block it. Now the trees tower over the main house, with branches reaching the apex. The front of my house is 10 ft from the back of theirs' because it is set back from the rest of the street.

I have had to have a new boiler installed in another part of the house in November last year, because in October the police told me that I have the right to cut the branches back to the boundary and if I choose not to do that, it is my own fault if my flue is blocked and my roof damaged.

Trying to explain that the neighbour has cut off access to do that and will not allow a tree surgeon onto their property is useless. The trees are now as high as the main house and branches stretching across almost touch the roof. It is impossible to cut the branches back unless the height is reduced, and the police wrote and said it is illegal to reduce the height of the trees.

They have friends in high places.

The law is not on the side of common sense,some neighbours are horrible
We would be devastated if we damaged someone's property

We moved mostly for off road parking after years of living on a road with on street parking. Everyone was mostly quite nice about it but even then there were niggles, especially deliveries or guests. It’s bliss having a drive.

We mived about 10 years ago and off street parking was a must have for me. It never used to me a major problem but coming home from work or having done the shopping, being able to pull up on your drive is a godsend