Would this garden next door put you off buying the house?

[twiddlingthumbs69]

As you can see it’s completely overgrown. The front garden is a little neater, but not by much.

would this be a deal breaker for you?

house that’s for sale needs work to bring up to date, new bathroom etc but is liveable although only night storage heaters and needs new windows. It’ll obvs need a fair amount of work but the house itself is a good size.

so, if you were viewing and wanted the house how much of an impact would the neighbours garden have on your decision

I would be concerned and not buy
If the house is a semi, I would also assume that they don't maintain it properly and could affected the structure of the looking to buy house. I have avoided buying a house in the past for this reason.

It would depend on the owners. If it was somebody elderly or just somebody who can't be bothered to do their garden, it wouldn't bother me. If I got the impression they were antisocial in other ways eg rubbish on the front lawn, loud music blaring then yes. But the garden per se would not bother me. We actually need more overgrown gardens like this for wildlife to thrive.

As PPs said: a hot tub and plastic grass would be more off-putting to me.

Learnt my lesson the hard way! Last house, lovely neighbours one side, moved, next did nothing, like a tip.. next, to where we are now, I insisted on being detached. Does it help, does it hell! Both neighbours are like this! We all moved in together roughly the same time, so couldn't tell how it was going to be. Mice from one side eating all my seeds in the greenhouse
Ivy, brambles, bindweed, smashing the fence, they push through the garage door. They aren't elderly,40/50s.older now, why buy a house with 200 garden if you don't like gardening.Dont do it.

You can get the local authority to take action against overgrown gardens especially if there is rodent infestation

https://www.southkesteven.gov.uk/community-and-neighbourhood/untidy-gardens-or-land

The article says "the council may be able to take action in the case of rodent infestation".. try reporting a property that has vegetation growing over a path,so you can't walk down it,a road you cannot safely see down, they aren't interested.

100% it would.

I’d be more concerned about the inconvenience of building work next door when the house sells, assuming it’s an older person lives there? The garden won’t be like that forever 🙂

Our next door neighbours' garden is exactly like this. We were slightly worried but houses in this area rarely come up for sale and we really wanted to be in school catchment among other factors, so we went for it.

If it makes you feel better, we have lived here for two years now and I have never once seen a rat, or heard a peep out of the neighbours.

They should or give a reason why not.

I have complained about a nearby road several times and had a result

Silver lining & all that!! I'd definitely prefer this wilderness!!

@twiddlingthumbs69 Elderly couple, it wouldn't bother me.

looking at the photo the hedge begind the fence probably is the boundary so you would be losing a lot of garden if you don’t sort the hedge behind the fence out - cut it in half and then move the fence into the hedge where the boundary actually is - that’s a hell of a lot of garden to lose otherwise just due to the neighbours not maintaining it!!

I'd be more put off by one covered in fake grass. But I would want to know why it is overgrown. As others have said there is a danger the fence will be pushed over. I'd see if I could talk to the neighbour. The view wouldn't bother me and there will be lots of little birds using it for shelter which I would like, others might not.

It would have zero impact on my decision.

Very likely because I do not spend my days peering into other peoples private spaces.

If you’re that bothered introduce yourself to the neighbors and offer to sort it.

No, it wouldn't put me off if the reason is the neighbour was elderly rather than just didn't care. We have two houses in our road like that - both elderly ladies who refuse any help. They don't have noisy parties and there aren't multiple cars parked on the street - when they die the overgrown gardens will be replaced with families with multiple cars.

The house backing onto mine was like this for years never had any issues tbh

@Pherian why would I offer to sort a neighbours garden out if I haven’t even bought the house? What a strange statement

Are you sure that's the right house? In your satellite photo, there seems to be a shed right next to the patio of the house next to the one with the overgrown garden, which isn't apparent in the OP's photo

What a strange way of thinking. They obviously you would only offer if you bought it.

Do you generally lack critical thinking skills or were you just being obtuse on purpose ?

No this was the one on my street that caused an issue

Oh sorry, my mistake. I hadn't read the thread properly.

It would absolutely put me off. If their garden is in that state there’s a good chance the house is too- and any issues with shared areas eg. party wall agreements needed could be problematic. I wouldn’t trust them to deal with pests, leaks etc which could affect your property.
A few years ago, we rejected a house which had a garden next door just like this for the reasons above.

This actually looks better than my next door neighbour's garden. When we bought the house a lovely couple, who kept an immaculate garden, lived next door. Sadly, they both passed away and a young man on his own has bought the house. He seems really nice, doesn't make any noise etc but he has just let the gardens front and back grow wild. He is massively into conservation and says he wants it to be a sanctuary for wildlife. All very commendable but we live in the middle of a housing estate! Before reading this my main concern was the rotten old shed he's trying to reassemble and place in front of my kitchen window, i'd never thought about rats before, now I'm really worried.

Yes, the condition of the neighbours gardens are reflected in the state of the properties,those who aren't bothered,we had a hell of a job to sell our last house, because of the neighbours gardens/mess. We had to knock a huge amount of the selling price.. talk about a rose between 2 thorns".. we have a parish council,was assured last year, things are going to be tidied up etc, nothing has happened.

After typing this post yesterday morning, I had a friend come round yesterday and she said "you are a rose between 2 thorns" after seeing the neighbours gardens.