Pros and cons of buying a house adjacent to green space

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We are in the process of buying a house on a modern development and ours is at the end of close, with no passing traffic, but there is green space adjacent to it. We quite liked this as the house has a nice outlook and our son can play there too. But I've noticed that other older kids hang out there sometimes and I'm not sure if this would be a nuisance to us in the long term - I guess it depends what they get up to really. It's just green space, there's no facilities there - thoughts? Am I worrying unnecessarily?

I wouldn't worry, they'll build a Tesco on it eventually

It's just a smallish strip of land between two developments with a pathway through it

Is there anywhere they can sit?
I would imagine that unless there is a wall or something, it is unlikely to be a hangout as such.
Best of luck with the move.

We live next to a green space - there aren't a huge number of children on our estate, but it does get used well. Its never an issue, and its lovely to see them out playing on it.

Our space is pretty large, and the developers did sell it on a couple of years back. The people on the estate got together and bought it so it is a charity in its own right now and can never be built on or enclosed

Is it completely accessible all the time? We looked at a house that backed onto a park and I thought it would be lovely to have a playground etc that close by, but when we looked a second time, the park was not locked at all in the evening, and there were teenagers lurking about drinking/smoking in the wooded area. It put me off a bit, I worried about noise, litter etc. And like Isla said, is it likely it could get built on at some later stage?

We're confident it won't get built on as it is largely protected woodland, and then there is a smallish grassy area with a pathway through it that provides access to the other estates. It's otherwise fairly built up in that area.

There is a playground at the other end of the estate and this put us off a couple of houses near there in case it became a hangout for teenagers in the evening. The area by our house has nowhere to sit, no walls etc - probably most likely to be used for playing football - which could become an annoyance I guess.

I'm getting concerned now with who owns this land. The development is about 12 years old - do you think there is a risk that this land could be built on?

Hmm - they are in the process of building houses on a protected greenbelt area in my village despite huge local opposition and environmental surveys to the contrary. Nothing gets between a developer and making money where available land is concerned I would definitely look into it and make some inquiries locally.

The land would be sufficient for two houses max I would say - do this alter anything?

May not be worth their while to develop then unless the land belongs to one of the adjacent houses and they sell up with planning permission. Def worth finding out who owns the land. Otherwise, living near an open green space without a playground area would be unlikely to worry me - much more pleasant than having rows of window to look out at

You need to check out ownership and permissions - your council should be able to help.

I would be tempted to visit at different times of the day and night to see if there are ASB issues. Litter, graffiti etc can also give clues.

Also, just ask the current owners. They are not officially allowed to not disclose these things. Or a quick visit to the local police station / speak to PCSO for some local insight.

It really does pay to do your homework when buying a house, even if it seems a bit OTT at the time.

Thanks - I will definitely find out who owns the land.

I don't think it's owned by any of the houses as the houses are all railed off from the land with a gap in the rails for the walkway - so it looks like it's part of the plans for the development, but will definitely do some checks.

We bought a house overlooking a park, so we made sure that our solicitor asked the question of whether there had been any issues regarding the park.

Also, my paranoid DH drove round past the house every night at different times to see for himself who was on the park.

Ours is a big open green space near our house then a play area quite a distance away.

We have lived here 2 years and as yet have never had any issues. It is used a lot in the day for football, people just sitting on the grass, people walking dogs. In the evening there are some groups of teens who are there but it isn't noisy and the park is overlooked by a number of houses.

I go past the house regularly at different times on my bike - there's no graffiti or litter. There's the odd bit of graffiti/litter in the playground at the other end of the estate, but generally it's well cared for. There have been no police issues other than one burglary somewhere on the estate.

We live on a new estate and the 'public open space' is in front of our house. We only get boys playing football, tonnes of them, nobody in goal, its hilarious to watch, we also get s lot of screaming girls, and people walking teeny tiny dogs. We don't get big kids hanging around - It's too open for them because the houses are in a horseshoe so we can all see what they're up to.
Try drive by's at different times just to get a better idea, but we have no problem with ours

we have an open park at end of garden

never notice anything at night- tho dp says the dogs find used johnnies there on their walk first thing in the morning