Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

just found out the neighbours have a turning circle on front lawn

95 replies

user1467297746 · 20/08/2016 22:45

finally found a dream home! detached- check! large garden check! overlooking fields check!

offer accepted check!

we must have been in a daze becos we didnt realise that the tarmac in front of the front door connects to the neighbours drive.. well on the day I thought odd- but nobody said anything.

anyways- turns out they sold the turning circle to the neighbours!

Its right outside the front door! How odd is that! I guess we might see a the odd car or van reversing in there!

They're not supposed to park there.

wwyd? The house needs some work - the price sort of reflects that- but but I'm sort of speechless! walk out of your front door into neighbours reversing?! literally 5 feet from front door! :(

OP posts:
Just5minswithDacre · 21/08/2016 21:23

The stupid owners have basically rendered their house unsaleable. I wonder how much they got for that piece of land? It can't have been worth it.

Don't let them pass the problem onto you OP.

Just5minswithDacre · 21/08/2016 21:25

And, yes, it's a parking space that the estate agent had rebranded a 'turning circle' while they hunt for a dupe. They think you're the dupe.

That's not what a turning circle looks like. At all.

Just5minswithDacre · 21/08/2016 21:27

Let me guess; you're FTBs on a tight budget? They'd be fairer looking for professional LLs to sell to.

I'm getting quite angry on your behalf now. They're taking advantage of your desperation and budget.

Cocoabutton · 21/08/2016 21:29

No way, the front garden is the first bit of the house you see when you get home.

Mine used to be a mess and depress me, before I got in the door. I re-did it, and I LOVE it. I drive in and just admire my flowers (in amazement, rather than smugly!), it makes such difference to my mood.

There is nothing you can do with tarmac belonging to someone else.

MsKite · 21/08/2016 21:34

The cat per smell could be damp, just FYI. Great house, shame about the car park in the front garden. The ea really should have pointed that out to you

Danglyweed · 21/08/2016 21:35

By turning circle I though you meant one of those actual fancy turning circles you see on grand designs. Thats a parking space, would fuck me off having someones car pull in and out even just twice a day.

HarryPottersMagicWand · 21/08/2016 21:36

From that ariel photograph, it looks like they have 3 cars and a caravan. They can't get their cars out with that caravan there plus that must block their own windows up which I cant imagine they like. Hmm, I wonder where they could possibly put their vehicles in a better position for them to get in and out!

Caken · 21/08/2016 21:45

Nope, I'd pull out. It's too complicated and I'd want just simple boundaries where everyone knows who owns what. This just seems weird.

And I think by planting conifers it would almost be like you're saying they can park there but you just don't want to see it. Maybe it's just me that sees it that way.

Different circumstances but a friend has a house with a shared driveway and it's caused no end of trouble with her neighbours. I just couldn't / wouldn't touch anything like it with a barge pole.

PikachuSayBoo · 21/08/2016 21:55

How old is the ariel photo? Where's the caravan currently?

Palomb · 21/08/2016 22:01

I bet the caravan is on a friends drive along with the 2 extra cars and the minute someone moves in they'll be back.

FuzzyOwl · 21/08/2016 22:03

I would be under no illusion that the EA deliberately parked in the turning circle during the viewing to suggest it was either part of the property or always empty so not an issue.

If you fall out with your neighbours over it, you will have to declare it as a dispute when you sell. I would walk away. Definitely not worth the hassle.

AcrossthePond55 · 21/08/2016 23:27

I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole!

Can you actually do that? I mean take a random bit of your property and just sell it? Here you'd have to have permission to sub-divide your property like that. Could they have granted them an easement or just agreed to them using that bit informally?

I'd want to find out if the 'sale' was truly legal and if it wasn't, have they created a legal 'right of way' based on continuous usage. If the sale wasn't legal or if they can't claim an easement/right of way I might consider it.

CrimsonKing · 22/08/2016 06:12

Would run a mile. Sorry.

user7755 · 22/08/2016 06:32

Have a read of all the responses here and ask yourself how you will sell this house on when you want to move. No one will want to buy it I'm afraid, keep looking and don't tie yourself up with this one.

AngieBolen · 22/08/2016 06:57

I can see why you like the house, the rest of it looks fab and you could do great things with house and garden.

But that drive would give me the rage.

Unless I got the house really, really cheaply.

PoisonWitch · 22/08/2016 07:33

No no and no again.

averylongtimeago · 22/08/2016 07:45

Walk away, unless you like complicated neighbour disputes, someone else's car/white van/huge caravan parked outside 3feet from your bay window, and a house which is then almost impossible to sell on.

ButteredToastAndStrawberryJam · 22/08/2016 08:11

What an oddity and a shame, nice house.

RoughMagic · 22/08/2016 08:20

It would really put me off, I think.

I think you need to find out exactly what the situation is. Do the neighbours have deeds for this bit of land? Or is it more of an informal agreement? I would be vary wary in any case. How would you feel if they (or subsequent owners) decided to park a caravan or white van there? It would be literally 4 feet from your window. You'd feel hemmed in and like your home wasn't your own. No. No. No.

SanityClause · 22/08/2016 08:21

What if the neighbours are fabulous, and only use it at sociable hours, and never park there, blah, blah, blah...

And then they sell to someone else who basically does the opposite.

Walk away.

The vendor did this, because they were letting the house, and didn't care all that much. They have now blighted the property, and it is probably only suitable for BTL, and even that probably just for short term lets, where the tenants can live with the inconvenience for a short time, for a reduced rent.

Onlytimewilltell · 22/08/2016 08:47

That was very sneaky of the estate agent to park there when it literally has nothing to do with your property and there is a drive at the side!! That is going to block your light when they put their caravan back, and wake up whoever is in the front bedrooms.

PikachuSayBoo · 22/08/2016 09:13

What's the agent said this morning?

Original poster
user1467297746 · 22/08/2016 10:22

Spoke to a different EA there- the young man that showed us around was off and she said that they were surprised by the unusual arrangement and it was done for the new build since it needed to have space so they didn't have to reverse onto the road,

She wasn't sure but thought it was the previous owner who had built the house next door.

And the land belongs to the house next door, but there is covenant that they aren't to park on it.

Totally not convinced! But she said they have had 3 offers over its first weekend on the market.. It was asking 195 - we initially offered 176 - but on learning of the turning "circle" we have dropped our offer to 166.

It does have so much space on the side we might extend there and change the internal layout?

OP posts:
Sooverthis · 22/08/2016 10:42

Walk away

JaneAustinAllegro · 22/08/2016 10:49

sounds like it may have been a condition of the planning on the new house that this "turning circle" was installed in order to prevent that house reversing out to the road, which is why they did such a crazy thing in the first place.
The people with the caravan there now might be absolutely magnificent about not parking in it, but you never know who and their horsebox may move in later. There's so much potential for misery here that I'd walk now. And I'd bet a dollar that the reason "the chain fell through" previously is because the previous purchaser's mortgage lender report on title flagged this as an issue / reduction in valuation and therefore loan.