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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think my neighbour's Halloween decorations epitomise how abusurd their setup is? (Pic attached)

140 replies

Carla786 · 07/11/2025 21:59

My 'next-door neighbours' have still not moved in, 3 years after they claimed to be arriving in their forever home. There's been a recurrent pattern with the house next to me where it gets redone by the latest buyer, elaborately & noisily & then gets sold on. No one has ever lived there for much longer than a year. (We suspect there is some kind of property-trading ring going on : our house was bought by my grandmother's parents in the 30s when prices were lower, but obvs have skyrocketed since. It seems criminal when there are so many people waiting for homes. Several other houses on the street are the same, it feels a bit ghost-town & def not neighbourly)
It was the same with this neighbour. They did heavy building works for a new basement & granny flat, among other big changes -noisy & very dusty, which was bad for several of our family who have asthma. Not to mention that I was doing my A levels then . And these are still nowhere near complete 3 years after they started. They haven't moved in : OK, it's not finished yet, but I suspect they'll follow the same pattern as previous owners.
But ofc they wanted to put these lovely decorations up, at the house they've never yet lived in & probably won't- and they're still up today.
My mother sent the pic (I'm at uni)- she's a bit of a conspiracy theorist & thinks the gravestone messages are a threat. I definitely don't go that far, though it feels bad taste. I love Halloween but have never liked gravestone decor, esp as the local cemetery is round the corner & we often visit my grandfather's grave.
MN verdict? Are the neighbours CFs, with this as the icing on the cake? Or are we overreacting?

TLDR : Neighbours who have taken 3 years to move in due to noisy dusty building work for a supposed forever home have decided to put up gravestones on the front lawn of a house they've never lived in and probably never will. Gravestones went up before Halloween & are still here today.

To think my neighbour's Halloween decorations epitomise how abusurd their setup is?  (Pic attached)
OP posts:
user5687921 · 08/11/2025 16:42

I mean, you've pretty much just described living in Chelsea, which we did for a decade. People buy houses, renovate them, move in briefly or never move in, and flip them. Or they intend to move in and their job changes, they get transferred to somewhere else and don't. Whatever. Hard to see anything more nefarious than wealthy people making money off real estate which is a trope as old as time. And if they work for JP Morgan, as a PP said, they'd have to be bonkers to be money laundering through a house, which could get them barred for life for what could be quite small potatoes.

Why is it odd if an 8 year old wants some decorations at their new house? We put a wreath and some lights in front while ours was being renovated (which took 4 years, by the way).

I'd really advise you to step away from your Mum's conspiracy theories - a property laundering ring, or whatever you said, makes literally no sense - how would it work? Why? - and go enjoy uni, OP. I'm not even sure that spending a lot of time on FWR is ideal for someone your age. If you were my DD I'd urge you to step away from a forum mostly populated by people much older than you and encourage you to go live your life.

CoffeeCantata · 08/11/2025 16:44

user1473878824 · 08/11/2025 16:20

They are bog standard Halloween decorations.

Even so…

FlorenceAgainstTheMachine · 08/11/2025 16:55

I can’t imagine a 21(?) year old university student of my acquaintance (and I actually know quite a few) would give a single shiny shit what their parents’ neighbours were up to. Which uni are you at, OP? Is it Cambridge by any chance?

UnhappyHobbit · 08/11/2025 18:31

CoffeeCantata · 08/11/2025 16:16

I wouldn’t like that next door. How do you think recently-bereaved people might feel if they saw it? And that covers a lot of people.

Especially if they’re not actually in residence- that’s really weird.

It’s Halloween. Dead stuff everywhere. I don’t see much consideration in general to people who have been recently-bereaved in October, not just these next door neighbours.

Perhaps they were having a party in the house? Who knows. We aren’t there. Like I’ve said, the OP is far too invested in their mums neighbour and what they are doing. They sound a little be on the paranoid side too with these housing schemes that no one has ever heard of.

MerryUmberHedgehog · 08/11/2025 18:53

I think its a bit weird but nothing you van do about it.

user1473878824 · 08/11/2025 19:32

CoffeeCantata · 08/11/2025 16:44

Even so…

Even so the decorations that millions of people use shouldn’t be in case a randomer walking past is recent bereaved and finds a cartoon style gravestone upsetting? Catch yourself on!

user1473878824 · 08/11/2025 19:32

FlorenceAgainstTheMachine · 08/11/2025 16:55

I can’t imagine a 21(?) year old university student of my acquaintance (and I actually know quite a few) would give a single shiny shit what their parents’ neighbours were up to. Which uni are you at, OP? Is it Cambridge by any chance?

But where does her twin go?

Hmm1234 · 08/11/2025 20:29

Carla786 · 07/11/2025 21:59

My 'next-door neighbours' have still not moved in, 3 years after they claimed to be arriving in their forever home. There's been a recurrent pattern with the house next to me where it gets redone by the latest buyer, elaborately & noisily & then gets sold on. No one has ever lived there for much longer than a year. (We suspect there is some kind of property-trading ring going on : our house was bought by my grandmother's parents in the 30s when prices were lower, but obvs have skyrocketed since. It seems criminal when there are so many people waiting for homes. Several other houses on the street are the same, it feels a bit ghost-town & def not neighbourly)
It was the same with this neighbour. They did heavy building works for a new basement & granny flat, among other big changes -noisy & very dusty, which was bad for several of our family who have asthma. Not to mention that I was doing my A levels then . And these are still nowhere near complete 3 years after they started. They haven't moved in : OK, it's not finished yet, but I suspect they'll follow the same pattern as previous owners.
But ofc they wanted to put these lovely decorations up, at the house they've never yet lived in & probably won't- and they're still up today.
My mother sent the pic (I'm at uni)- she's a bit of a conspiracy theorist & thinks the gravestone messages are a threat. I definitely don't go that far, though it feels bad taste. I love Halloween but have never liked gravestone decor, esp as the local cemetery is round the corner & we often visit my grandfather's grave.
MN verdict? Are the neighbours CFs, with this as the icing on the cake? Or are we overreacting?

TLDR : Neighbours who have taken 3 years to move in due to noisy dusty building work for a supposed forever home have decided to put up gravestones on the front lawn of a house they've never lived in and probably never will. Gravestones went up before Halloween & are still here today.

It’s for nosey people like you did you enjoy it!? Hahah

DiscoBob · 08/11/2025 20:29

Why are you saying they don't live there and probably never will? Tell your mum to stop monitoring their house to see who is or isn't there.

It's just Halloween decor. What threat could it be? From people you claim don't even live there and never will? Which begs the question why did they buy the house?

I don't see how neighbours can be both a nuisance and completely absent? Building work is annoying but it's part of life living anywhere near other people. Or not as the case may be...

I suggest you don't let this disturb your uni studies in the way it did your A levels. Tell your mum you don't need regular updates regarding this neighbour.

Beenwhereyouareagain · 08/11/2025 20:40

Carla786 · 07/11/2025 22:49

A lot of shops I've seen have Xmas stuff up already, I don't mind that much about it being the wrong time frame, though it does seem silly. The issues are much bigger than a few gravestones.

If you're all going to come up with plots/criminal housing rings/house flippers, then use your imagination in a bit more practical way.

Have you considered they may have had changed circumstances? A divorce? Life-changing illness? Redundancy? Maybe they ran out of money or can't get a loan?

House flipping is nothing new, although I agree it's a shame if this keeps people out of affordable mortgages. But from all your complaints, your family is looking for something to be angry or worried about. The Halloween decorations are a threat? All of you need to keep calm and lose the dramatic exaggerations. They bought the property and unless it's a hazard, it's no one else's business if they decorate or why they haven't moved in.

Oblomov25 · 08/11/2025 20:56

Love it!

MaloryJones · 08/11/2025 21:14

Flannelfeet · 07/11/2025 23:10

Im beginning to think its Amityville they are buying 😬😬😬🤣

😆😆

Itsarecipefordisaster · 08/11/2025 21:25

Slinkyminky22 · 07/11/2025 22:25

I think you need to find something to do.

Totally agree

Carla786 · 08/11/2025 22:08

Hi thanks for the replies. Will reply later tonight.

OP posts:
PlumOrca · 08/11/2025 22:14

Carla786 · 07/11/2025 21:59

My 'next-door neighbours' have still not moved in, 3 years after they claimed to be arriving in their forever home. There's been a recurrent pattern with the house next to me where it gets redone by the latest buyer, elaborately & noisily & then gets sold on. No one has ever lived there for much longer than a year. (We suspect there is some kind of property-trading ring going on : our house was bought by my grandmother's parents in the 30s when prices were lower, but obvs have skyrocketed since. It seems criminal when there are so many people waiting for homes. Several other houses on the street are the same, it feels a bit ghost-town & def not neighbourly)
It was the same with this neighbour. They did heavy building works for a new basement & granny flat, among other big changes -noisy & very dusty, which was bad for several of our family who have asthma. Not to mention that I was doing my A levels then . And these are still nowhere near complete 3 years after they started. They haven't moved in : OK, it's not finished yet, but I suspect they'll follow the same pattern as previous owners.
But ofc they wanted to put these lovely decorations up, at the house they've never yet lived in & probably won't- and they're still up today.
My mother sent the pic (I'm at uni)- she's a bit of a conspiracy theorist & thinks the gravestone messages are a threat. I definitely don't go that far, though it feels bad taste. I love Halloween but have never liked gravestone decor, esp as the local cemetery is round the corner & we often visit my grandfather's grave.
MN verdict? Are the neighbours CFs, with this as the icing on the cake? Or are we overreacting?

TLDR : Neighbours who have taken 3 years to move in due to noisy dusty building work for a supposed forever home have decided to put up gravestones on the front lawn of a house they've never lived in and probably never will. Gravestones went up before Halloween & are still here today.

Could your mother be experiencing some mental health issues? I say this because my aunty started saying things like that about her neighbours. It started small, saying they didn't like her, then saying they watching her, then saying they were sending her messages, then saying they were trying to kill her. She accused them of running a drug ring, using their house as a grow house. She said they were saying things about her through the walls, complaining when she opened her bathroom window or put her heating on. None of things were substantiated and I would stay with her sometimes to check, there was nothing happening. She would say 'you can't hear that?' - I couldn't hear a thing. She's since moved out as she felt 'pushed out' and is now saying they're following her and sending her 'voice notes' but the voicenotes aren't coming from a device, they're coming from thin air. She's hearing voices essentially.

But it all started with her being way too invested in what her neighbours were doing and applying a targeted, negative intention to the things they did.

PlumOrca · 08/11/2025 22:18

Carla786 · 07/11/2025 22:12

Well that's my mother's opinion more..I don't personally think it's a ring. I do think it's weird & wrong that most people on the street essentially buy up houses, develop them noisily & extensively, then sell them on to people who repeat this cycle & never actually live in the houses, or at best very sporadically. We barely have any actual neighbours, just temporary developers.

I don't mean offense at all - but is it at all possible that your mother is the reason all these people keep selling up?

PlumOrca · 08/11/2025 22:21

Carla786 · 07/11/2025 23:17

Ha, my mum watched that recently. I think she sees the gravestone messages to us as a threat like in the film where the couple are told to 'Get out!'

I think that's totally silly..though tbf she's a bit on edge I think as we did have a previous neighbour who was quite intimidating after we didn't want to sell up our house to make way for their planned huge extension.

So your mum has had issues with other neighbours too?

PlumOrca · 08/11/2025 22:25

Carla786 · 07/11/2025 23:29

Yes! I think that's it, unluckily....or something weird.

We did have neighbours when I was very young who my mum suspected were into drugs. I'm not totally sure why & she is a bit over suspicious often but it does seem overall dodgy.

...OP... I promise you that I'm not trying to be rude but I really suspect that your mam could be part of the problem here and/or could potentially be paranoid schizophrenic. This is exactly the kind of thing my aunty would say regarding her neighbours (who is currently in a full blown psychosis).

ForegoneConfusion · 08/11/2025 22:45

I haven't RTFT, but 'buy to leave' investment is quite an issue, and that sounds like what could be happening on the OPs street, especially if there are houses on large plots in what is now a very expensive area.

I don't think that the gravestones are a warning though, probably just the person who owns the house wanting it to look lived in, to deter burglars or squatters.

If your mum is getting paranoid, I can see why, it must be quite unnerving to live in an under occupied street with constant building works going on.

user1473878824 · 08/11/2025 23:35

Carla786 · 08/11/2025 22:08

Hi thanks for the replies. Will reply later tonight.

@Carla786 pal you’re at university. This is the one time in your life you can spend your Saturday nights getting very drunk with your mates and having amazing memorable stupid nights. You’ll do the same later but have to pay for it in the morning. Don’t spend it on fucking Mumsnet.

Ionlymakejokestodistractmyself · 08/11/2025 23:45

If it's an extremely desirable area could it be that money motivated people are offered big £ for their newly renovated house and it's too good to turn down hence the repeated moving?

Or maybe if the community vibe is as shit as you say it is, they decide they don't want to live there?!

Wealthy people often move around a lot IME, I know someone who has moved something like 5 times in 8 years and ended up back in the flat they kept as they didn't settle in any of the areas and had the money to keep moving.

Mistyglade · 08/11/2025 23:53

I don’t understand what the problem is.

Flannelfeet · 09/11/2025 00:06

IridiumSky · 07/11/2025 23:26

You’re all wrong.

That is not a Halloween decoration. It’s real.

That’s an owner who took too long to finish the renovations.

Please dont tell me they dug up Trevor jordache 😭😭😭

Evergreen21 · 09/11/2025 01:25

Maybe they can afford to live elsewhere whilst the renovations go on. Perhaps they bought the house simply for the catchment area and this house is being renovated to sell or rent.

I can appreciate the renovations will likely have been annoying but yabu. Your health problems or exam period simply isn't their issue. Our neighbours were renovating whilst I was doing my GCSEs, I went to the library to revise.

SemiRetiredLoveGoddeess · 09/11/2025 03:34

I.think this constant house redevelopment could be part of some overseas scam linked to sham.companies to sink.their ill gotten gains into.

Check with the Land Registry about ownership

As for the gravestone skeleton shit rubbish offering .in the.garden.

Your neighbours stroke me as a real bunch of fuck wits. That is probably their latest showing on Facebook.

Also find it interesting that on.Mumsnet how quickly words and phrases catch on
Overinvested seems to be the latest one as a put down..Just waiting for an avalanche of Super Excited, Awesome. and Heads Up
.