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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

What’s going on in this situation?

137 replies

Thestormishere · 09/01/2026 06:43

Name change because of possibly very recognisable location.

Live just off one of the most expensive areas in London. Houses between £20 and £40mil.

Go for walks daily.

There’s always a car with someone inside, outside of a specific house. The house is not on the road with the very expensive ones, just off it, so not an ambassador/Middle Eastern royalty one, more like a £5/6mil one.

Lots of private security guards around with high viz jackets and marked cars patrolling by car or on foot.

‘They’, instead, have normal cars with always someone inside looking utterly bored, checking phones, listening to music. Never outside of the car, not even in summer. So cars and people inside change, but car with person inside there day and night, always in front of this house.

From the outside, you can see that inside the house there’s a tv showing cctv camera feeds. It feels like the tv was positioned so as to make it clear to outsiders that there are plenty of cameras in and around the house.

And a man often sitting by the window facing the road in an office/library room. Neither the man nor the room look fancy, but also not a guard.

What’s the deal?

(I know it sounds like the beginning of a badly-written short story, but it’s all real, I’ve been discussing this with my husband and I just can’t understand what’s going on but I pass in front of it every day so it’s hard to not think about it)

OP posts:
MojoMoon · 09/01/2026 06:44

A rich person obsessed with not allowing someone to park in front of their home employs a team 24/7 to prevent it.

Whyherewego · 09/01/2026 06:45

No clue! Maybe a low rent security guard 😂

PollyBell · 09/01/2026 06:46

Drug dealer?

HelenaWaiting · 09/01/2026 06:57

Some of the smaller countries do have their embassies in fairly unremarkable buildings.

Cassan · 09/01/2026 07:06

Go in and knock on the door. Ask them if they’ve seen your cat

Passaggressfedup · 09/01/2026 07:07

The offspring of foreign royalty parents studying in London and renting the place, needing 24 hours surveillance?

Thestormishere · 09/01/2026 08:01

Love these!
I do have a cat…

But why are they not sitting just inside by the door? Also, how are they actually effective if they look at their phone because they are bored? (I’d be too if I had to sit for hours there!)

OP posts:
Turmerictea · 09/01/2026 08:04

The person in the car could be a driver, waiting to chauffeur.

I'd go with foreign royalty or diplomatic status too.

And I would totally fabricate a reason to knock 😂😂😂

Didshejustsaythatoutloud · 09/01/2026 08:06

MojoMoon · 09/01/2026 06:44

A rich person obsessed with not allowing someone to park in front of their home employs a team 24/7 to prevent it.

😂

Cantheowneroftheredcorsapleasemovetheircar · 09/01/2026 08:09

OP, stop finding reasons to walk past my house. I'm watching you.

Untailored · 09/01/2026 08:10

Just someone who employs a private security guard. Some rich people do it just to put off burglars, they’re not even there themselves. I know some footballers do it as there have been burglaries when they’re away at tournaments and stuff.

IwishIwasacaterpillar · 09/01/2026 08:18

Can we have a street view pic of the house

MrsDutchie88 · 09/01/2026 09:38

I’m a bit taken aback. Is this a British culture? Snooping on people’s personal affairs?

Runningoutofpatiencefucksandmoney · 09/01/2026 09:42

Bishops Avenue ?? Aka - the biggest building site in London. It's private security OP

TemporarilyCantDoMyself · 09/01/2026 09:47

MrsDutchie88 · 09/01/2026 09:38

I’m a bit taken aback. Is this a British culture? Snooping on people’s personal affairs?

Is it Dutch culture to have no curiosity at all? No wonder poor Van Gogh went mad! 😂

1clavdivs · 09/01/2026 09:50

My DH is a bodyguard and he does this. Yes it’s an affluent area of London and if the family is at home they don’t want the bodyguard in the house. He gets flipping freezing on night shifts.

InterestedDad37 · 09/01/2026 10:15

That's the place where all the conspiracy theories are dreamt up. There's a cabal of bankers and politicians who go to meetings there, arriving through the secret underground railway that links it to their own houses. You're not supposed to know about it, so be careful!

socialdilemmawhattodo · 09/01/2026 10:19

If you find a good excuse to knock, please share. I am researching prior occupants of a very exclusive house, now an embassy. Am dying to get in for a nose.

friedaddedchilli · 09/01/2026 10:24

Bishop's Avenue?

JoshLymanSwagger · 09/01/2026 10:24

I guess it's someone with way too much money to spend thinking they're way more important to the world than they are.

🤷‍♀️

You do realise they record your image when you walk past? and that of your dog?

HappyFace2025 · 09/01/2026 10:27

Cantheowneroftheredcorsapleasemovetheircar · 09/01/2026 08:09

OP, stop finding reasons to walk past my house. I'm watching you.

😂😂😂

Nicecatneighbour · 09/01/2026 10:30

Security, or maybe reporter? 🤔

corlan · 09/01/2026 10:33

MrsDutchie88 · 09/01/2026 09:38

I’m a bit taken aback. Is this a British culture? Snooping on people’s personal affairs?

You've clearly not been here long. Curtain twitching is a long established British tradition.

SilverPink · 09/01/2026 10:38

MrsDutchie88 · 09/01/2026 09:38

I’m a bit taken aback. Is this a British culture? Snooping on people’s personal affairs?

People watching is our absolute favourite pastime!

Thepeopleversuswork · 09/01/2026 10:44

I was going to say M15/MI6 but they would probably be somewhere more suburban and nondescript than this. Agree probably private security for some zillionaire.