If buying a house, what would make you want to walk straight back out?

[JMSA]

I mean it lighthearted-ish, as we probably wouldn’t be quite so rude! But what is an absolute dealbreaker for you?
For me it would be the presence of a Saniflo/macerator toilet. Evil things.

The stink of dog. Some people obviously don't mind it though.

It's so often the neighbours. You said brothel and up thread I mentioned my friend living above a possible morgue.

I lived about a floor away in a block of flats from a dentist's surgery. Very common in France where health professionals often open up shop in mainly residential buildings.

Imagine listening to the sound of teeth being drilled through the wall all day, every day. I couldn't hear it, I was upstairs and a bit along but somebody must have had to put up with it.

If it looked like its soul had been ripped out during renovations, like the after shots on Homes under the Hammer. Hideous cold, clinical sanitary ware in the modern bathroom. Pure brilliant white paint everywhere with cheap grey carpets.

Those horrible "brick" tiles, even worse if in white.

TBH they are such a deal breaker for me that I wouldn't even view.

Bifold doors and skylights downstairs

I looked around a house once and went in a bedroom and there was a huge bloody snake. I screamed at the top of my lungs and ran out. I'd never have gone if I'd have known there was a snake in the house. I think the EA should have warned us. They took the bedroom photo from angle not showing it. Horrendous for me as I'm phobic of snakes.

🤣 your think they'd use disposable clothes.

Noisy neighbours

Potential noise, loads of spotlights (can’t stand them) and otherwise a bad vibe (bit woo I know but you can feel it straight away!).

Things that have actually made me turn round and walk out of viewings:

• Collection of tarantulas in tanks in the son's bedroom
• Seller opening door in his vest before showing the downstairs toilet with unflushed turd
• house which had seen so much fat-based cooking it smelled deep-fried
• similarly, house kippered in smoke
• flat where people upstairs were apparently riverdancing with their horses
• happy hardcore neighbours in next door garden sitting on old sofas, off their tits
• strange holes in the structure of each room, leading nowhere obvious

No, upstairs. I haven't lived in a house with an upstairs bathroom for almost 40 years now and I think I'd find it a pain having to go up to the loo during the day or have visitors going up. Downstairs is a lot more convenient.

It's certainly not a problem for anyone to have a downstairs loo as well as an upstairs one. I've never minded that our downstairs facilities are where our main bathroom is.

My ex's nan died and when the house was up for sale, no one removed the goliwog teddies for the photos. I imagine that scared off a few potential buyers

Big England fag. A definition of Farage.

Mouse smell as you walk in (implies infestation).

Dogs indoors while I'm viewing (barking, smell or just a random animal sniffing at me when I'm trying to imagine the rooms empty). Implies owners can't be bothered to take them for a walk! I've refused to view houses with dogs present and walked out of a viewing when I almost stepped in dog poo on the lawn.

Neighbours' garden unkempt or broken fences, old furniture dumped.

Over-friendly owners (intrusive/desperate) or sullen neighbours (nobody wants the memory of angry/resentful/strange previous owners to linger. I've felt so unwelcome viewing houses at times, it put me off considering them. It's possible the viewing was at a bad time, but I don't understand why they accept evening viewings if they'll be busy cooking/looking after children! We always left the property for viewings, even if had to take DS to local cafe for half an hour, or for a walk!

No ensuite to master and less than 3 bathrooms total, wouldn't have made it onto a shortlist. I don't know how families or guests manage with fewer.

A smell.
Not just any smell but that unclean, recooked fat, stale air smell, mixed with ammonia from cat/dog wee, and that choking smell of the contents of a cat litter tray that has not been cleaned in months. If I’m purely there to view the house and not to provide some kind of help for its occupants then I would absolutely walk back out.
Would not even be interested in the place as a dooer upper, I’d be afraid the smell would come back and haunt me even after removing all floor boards, anything wooden including joists and skirting boards, and stripped plaster off the walls back to brick.

I want to add that the presence of pets doesn’t put me off; most people with pets don’t let them repeatedly go to the toilet on the floor without cleaning it up (though yes, some do), but if animals wee and sh*t has soaked through to the floorboards and potentially beyond then it’s a problem!

On a less obvious scale, random weird, slightly petty deal breakers for me would include any kind of decor that was going to be a nightmare to remove, not enough cupboard space in the kitchen, and one of those weird fireplaces that has the hearth floating randomly at shin height - not only does it look weird but don’t care much for bruised shins!

I once viewed a house where a man had died on the bedroom floor and apparently lain there for quite some time. The vendors (I assume his remaining family) had attempted to let the floor dry out and a big damp patch on the below sitting room ceiling had clearly been attended to, but I didn’t stick around for long.

Neighbours. I wouldn’t live beside anyone else!

One house we viewed was being sold by a man with two big dogs.
He laughingly told us that everyone in the street had been burgled except him because his dogs made too much noise
Another house and the seller opened a cupboard door to show us how much space was inside and I saw three mouse traps in there.
And another one .had a lovely big apple tree in the garden. A neighbour told us that we'd have be quick picking up the windfalls as the rats would eat them,.
Err..nope...

And another one .had a lovely big apple tree in the garden. A neighbour told us that we'd have be quick picking up the windfalls as the rats would eat them,.

Right, but everywhere, town or country, there will be several rats watching you wherever you go. It's like saying "oh no this garden gets rain sometimes" or "winter falls on this street in December every year." There are rats in your shed and around your bins and gnawing on plants, catching mice and snails, huddling around birdfeeders... bless their little ratty faces.:D

I agree with you but still not sure what you meant. Never mind.

Viewed a house decades ago with ex husband and the owner constantly tried to persuade us to buy his horrible furniture and TV. His hair smelt and was really greasy and we kept getting whiffs of it each time he moved.

The garden was definitely the clincher, he had an alsation dog and you couldn't walk in the garden without huge piles of poo everywhere.

We left as soon as we could get away, him still trying to sell us his furniture if we bought the house. Never in a million years!

Obviously not to strip off and have a shower, but to turn it on and see the pressure, what would be the problem with that? Would only do it if it was a real consideration of buying

You might have seen this on HUTH terraced properties where the third bedroom is accessed via one of the bedrooms. If the doorway to this room is inline with the top of the stairs, simple solution is to put a stud wall to create a corridor. Thus making that first bedroom smaller. Same goes when bathroom is in the 3rd bedroom.

If the doorway is not inline with the stairs, you may have to flip the stairs round which is costly and very messy.

People do not want to buy properties where you have to walk through a bedroom to use the bathroom or to another bedroom.

Any kind of shared amenity that could lead to difficulties or disputes with neighbours - shared driveways, paths, gardens.

Anything on the boundary that could lead to disputes - dilapidated fencing, massive conifers, etc.

Any sign of damp or mould.