Would you still buy this house?

[BonnieBlueButler]

We’re buying what seems to be a perfect house for us in terms of size/location. There is some derelict land to the back of the property that used to be the grounds of swimming baths that was knocked down 7 years ago. The land is fenced off at the moment and is overgrown and disused.

The searches have come back to show that planning permission has been granted for 28 houses on the land. I’ve looked up the plans online and the new estate doesn’t look it’ll effect our house in terms of it being overlooked or losing light. The land directly behind our garden would become what looks like a huge garden for a new house. There are trees at the back of our garden so it would still be private.

My husband thinks the houses a massive negative. However, I think in some ways it might be better to have family houses there than overgrown land which would pose a security risk as an access point to our back garden.

My biggest worry is the noise and nuisance during construction. Does anyone have an experience of this? How long do these things usually take? Are there strict rules about the hours of the day that building can take place? We are quite far along now and in the middle of a chain that would collapse if we pulled out.

WWYD?

HI Bonnie
We bought our house five years ago in similar circumstances. it backs on to woodland but with PP for 25 houses. Initially we were worried but when we thought about it 25 houses is a very small development. As you say, the worst bit would be the disruption during development, but we figured houses go up pretty quickly theses days so in the end it didn’t put us off. Five years on and no sign of development starting yet!

It would put me off tbh.

It depends how long the garden is.

Good point Cointreau. Should have said, our garden is about 130feet in length, with trees at the end, which had a bearing on how we felt about it.

I’ve tried to attach part of the plan. I’ve marked with an arrow where our house will be. Next to 22b. The garden for number 10 will run behind our property. The garden looks really long and the part behind our house looks some distance from the new build house.

Singing thanks for that. That’s my thinking too. We really do love the house.

The garden for our new house isn’t very long.

Derelict buildings and ground behind a house would put me off far more than other houses/an estate.

No, not if everything else was what I wanted and needed.

If it's a nice development then tbh I'd argue it's better than the land being derelict.

It's really the unknown that impacts property values.

Better a housing development than an ugly industrial building or a supermarket for example.

Yes there will be some impact for building works but I'd suggest you factor that into any offer.

Again if it's an attractive development then the value of the property is likely to enhanced once completed.

So if it were me I'd look in detail at the plans and if possible contact the developer to ensure they plan to proceed and what the timescales are.

I do agree about it being better then wasteland at the back. The plans suggest a nice development with a number of 4 bedroom homes.

It wouldn’t put me off at all

We bought our house knowing that there were plans to build 113 houses behind us, in open countryside. We got 35k off the asking price so thought it was worth it. We did try to stop the construction, along with all the neighbours, but it started about 2 years ago.

We are now well into phase 2 of the construction, with another 12 month's to go. I will be honest, the first 4 weeks of each phase have been HORRENDOUS. My neighbour counted 170 lorry movements in one day once. The noise, the dust, the traffic... it has been awful. But once those initial weeks are over it gets better. At one point I was complaining to the council twice a day, but it's been over a month since I complained about anything.

We have a strong residents' group and we have insisted on meetings with the council and the construction company. We have had some huge arguments, mainly due to breaches of planning permission on their part and their inefficient traffic management. I think we have one more bad period to get through and then the development will be finished. The houses are quite nice actually and our house seems to have retained more or less the same value.

If you go ahead I would recommend keeping a log of noise and PP breaches. Our construction friends asked for an extension of working hours which we were able to get the council to refuse because between us we had documented everything. We almost got the site closed down a couple of months ago but actually it's better to get the pain over and done with and have the houses built and occupied.

*months, the iPad added the rogue apostrophe.

Duchess that does sound like a nightmare to be honest. Glad you’re almost through it. I’m hoping this won’t be anywhere near as bad as it’s a much smaller development. I don’t think it will take anywhere near 3 years to do (I hope!) It’s still at the planning stage and I don’t think the land has actually been bought by a developer yet.

I need to find out for sure and then ask about time scales etc.

Thanks for all the input so far.

Most houses in the UK will have houses beside them, joined to them behind them, in front of them, surrounded by them I never understand the angst people have about houses being built behind theirs, it’s totally normal! It’s not as if they are building a nuclear power plant!

Betty you are right! Our current house is a newish terrace and we are overlooked from all sides. It’s never bothered me in the slightest. Or my husband so I’m not sure why he is so bothered now.

My main problem is the actual building works and how much of a disturbance this will be. But it’ll only be a temporary problem.

We just bought a house in a similar situation with disused land but at a point where the houses have been completed. We don't feel overlooked as it's the side of a house with no windows, out the back.

We couldn't afford any more than a poky little box on that particular development!

No, if it was me right house I’d feel better than not knowing what would happen to he land, or it remaining deralict. The construction will be noisy but if you go out to work you won’t notice it and it will be temporary.

We had building work similar to this for over 2 years. That was for 2 4-storey blocks of 'luxury' flats. Really noisy and disruptive to be honest. Building hours were 7-7 and from 9am on a Saturday, but very often flaunted and they started earlier. We have young dc so long lies are out of the question anyway, but they certainly would have been non existent with the level of noise. Especially at the never ending ground clearing/piling stage. Our street was also used as the construction entrance so all heavy machinery and vehicles rattled past all day long. And there's the mess. Dirty windows, car, washing on your line....It would really put me off buying somewhere with this to come, having experienced this. Sorry.

If you are shielded from the building work by a decent garden and trees it’s not so bad. Flats are a different proposition because they are usually bigger buildings involving steel frames and may have underground parking which is a wholly different proposition. There will be some disturbance during building, of course, but the worst can be digging foundations. It is unlikely they would have to be piled as they are houses. The planning authority usually stipulates site hours. Typically it is 7-7. Weekend working is tightly defined.

This land is probably classed as a brownfield site. It was formerly a community resource with a building on it. It has been developed before. The government strongly wants these sites developed in preference to greenfield sites. This makes sense really. Is it still owned by the Council who ran the pool?

I would prefer a decent development to an overgrown site. It will get built on at some stage, it’s inevitable. In many areas a well planned small housing development nearby doesn’t detract from the value of nearby properties.

Bubbles that’s really reassuring. Thank you.

The land is owned by Dudley Council. It’s ugly as it stands. I’ve done a bit more digging and it seems that there has been issues with garden sheds being broken into and the council had to fence off the land so it does seem like leaving it as it is could be problematic.

There have been objections to the plans but they are all from people who currently live on the other side of the development and involve loss of privacy and light. I can’t see this being a problem for us.

It’s funny because I asked the seller about the land at the viewing. He’s a lovely elderly man who has been in the house for 42 years! He said as far as he knew there were no plans to do anything with the land. I’ve just found a letter on the planning application webpage from him! It’s not an objection, just a query about the trees on the land. Seems he knew about it all along .

Is the development ready to get started? The only thing that would worry me is any last minute change to the plans, we have a large development going up in a field near us. The original plans had the new house gardens backing onto the existing house gardens however they’ve recently changed to putting up a 2 storey block of flats to cover the social housing ratio. So the existing gardens are now overlooked by 3 sets of families!!!

Other than that, if you can deal with the PITA of the building site I’d say go for it as long as you’ve got it at a good price.

It wouldn't put me off. We had an area of wasteland behind our house that was used as a dumping ground/cut through into a neighbouring estate/place for travellers to keep their horses etc it was pretty horrific. The land was sold to a developer and they planned 30 houses on the land. They started building Jan 2017 and the houses that back directly onto us are already occupied. Last summer was a bit noisy when we were in the garden but it didn't really bother us and my DD was entertained by the diggers for a long time! It is certainly a better use of the land now than it was previously.

Looking at the plan I don't think it would bother me. But I would probably try and negotiate a price reduction, especially when the seller lied to you.