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Original poster

House with electrical substation next to garden - would you buy?

35 replies

drinkwithanumbrellainit · 15/06/2021 11:08

As above basically! Seen a house that ticks a lots of boxes in a market where there isn't a lot coming on, but there is a small electrical substation at the bottom of the garden. Not in the garden but right next to it - one wall forms part of the boundary. My worry isn't about safety as such, but more re-sale value and whether it would put future buyers off/ affect house price. Size is about 3x3m in a small brick building. No noise that I noticed but wasn't massively listening for it. Would really appreciate different people's thoughts about whether you would consider it?

OP posts:

Dontrainonmyparade · 15/06/2021 11:37

I live next to a substation and it doesn’t bother me at all. I haven’t tried to sell though so I don’t know about resale. It didn’t concern us at all when we were buying.

StatisticallyChallenged · 15/06/2021 11:38

I sold a house last year which was actually attached to a sub station. Estate agent/solicitor (Scotland, one and the same) basically said it would reduce the potential buyer pool - some people would be a hard no, others wouldn't give a monkeys

We sold very easily (a few days) but we had an unusual property in an otherwise excellent location which helped. I'm not sure I'd take the risk from a resale perspective unless it was something similarly unusual which could outweigh the downsides.

We had no issues with noise, except when they messed up fitting an alarm and it went off a few times. I think the noise varies quite a lot but our one was very quiet

Original poster

drinkwithanumbrellainit · 15/06/2021 12:03

Thanks @Dontrainonmyparade and @StatisticallyChallenged, really good to hear your real life experiences.

OP posts:

Ariela · 15/06/2021 12:50

Stick a nice hedge round it and chances are potential buyers won't notice!

TheYearOfSmallThings · 15/06/2021 12:53

It wouldn't bother me at all unless it was particularly ugly/noisy etc.

Hallyup6 · 15/06/2021 12:58

@Ariela

Stick a nice hedge round it and chances are potential buyers won't notice!

But their solicitor will.

I probably wouldn't buy it, personally, but I'm sure many people would.

QueenStromba · 15/06/2021 13:00

I wouldn't but I'm very noise sensitive and I'd worry that even if it seem quiet when I visited that it might be louder at other times. That's assuming normal sized garden though - there's one about eight houses down from us which we weren't concerned about so if it's down the end of a really long garden I might not be bothered.

Thisnamewasnttaken123 · 15/06/2021 13:02

No I wouldn't.

FurierTransform · 15/06/2021 13:12

I'd see it as a plus. Like having a neighbour that you never ever see, who never sells or does any dodgy extensions/development :D

Thedot90 · 15/06/2021 13:13

We viewed a house that we loved and put in an initial offer - withdrew when we realised the proximity to the sub station after doing a bit of research/chatting to my brother who used to work as an engineer. There are lots of articles about potential links to childhood cancers, which personally I’m not sure whether to believe, but there is enough out there to make me think it would affect the future buyers pool when it comes to selling. It certainly put us off and we went for a different property in the end. My brothers argument was also that if we stayed there for 10/15 years and some new study was published that “proved” a link then our property would essentially be worthless. I’m not woo at all, but on balance the risk wasn’t worth it.

Thedot90 · 15/06/2021 13:14

Re noise - substations are practically silent and certainly quieter than most neighbour as above!

Sometimesfraught82 · 15/06/2021 13:15

Personal preference, not related to any concerns over health for example

Absolutely no I wouldn’t

LovelyGirlCompetition · 15/06/2021 13:18

There's one near us. They get a bigger garden because of it so saw it as a bonus. I wouldn't personally. I think it would hum! Question would be if it's such a desperate market, how long has it been up for sale?

Original poster

drinkwithanumbrellainit · 15/06/2021 14:04

Thanks again everyone. Good to hear the mix which confirms some of my suspicions - seem like it would narrow down the potential buyer pool even if it wouldn't be a no for lots of people.

OP posts:

happydan · 15/06/2021 14:05

No for health reasons, our surveyor on a property recommended a house as a big risk financially and health wise and pointed us towards research in his report- we did not buy!

deathbollywood · 15/06/2021 14:14

one has sold near me that has a substation attached quickly for £1.4m. Given there are thousands next to houses any concrete health risks would be apparent by now.

deathbollywood · 15/06/2021 14:15

@happydan

No for health reasons, our surveyor on a property recommended a house as a big risk financially and health wise and pointed us towards research in his report- we did not buy!

what did the research say?

johnd2 · 15/06/2021 14:29

Surely it's a good thing if it affects a resale value as you are about to buy it! It would only be a problem if you already owned it when the substation appeared.
Say it halves the price of the house, then you have half the mortgage loan/payments, half the interest charged on it, half the deposit to pay. Then when you sell it you only get back the half the deposit but you never get the interest back anyway!
Yes it can be harder to sell but what i mean is try to focus on your own feelings rather than other people's. Assuming you're not trying to do it up and flip it of course!

happydan · 15/06/2021 14:40

It was about 15 years ago but it was about the link to childhood leukaemia and a short distance from a substation. My child's bedroom would of been very close so there was no way we could
consider continuing and I believe at the time there was new legislation put in that a substation could not be within a certain distance from homes if built today.

deathbollywood · 15/06/2021 15:09

@happydan

It was about 15 years ago but it was about the link to childhood leukaemia and a short distance from a substation. My child's bedroom would of been very close so there was no way we could consider continuing and I believe at the time there was new legislation put in that a substation could not be within a certain distance from homes if built today.

there is no such legislation

Willdoitlater · 15/06/2021 15:12

I've lived near one three times, which is most of my life. The first one was completely surrounded by a high anonymous fence: my parents lived near it for decadesand it was never any trouble. The second one was surrounded by a low wire mesh fence and was no trouble for years and then suddenly the neighborhood kids all started climbing up on the roof throwing bricks from it. The third is a completely unfenced brick building, again no problem for years and then local kids started to smoke dope round the back of it. Neighbour planted big bushes and let them over-grow into the space. Then it started to make a noise which my neighbour could hear at night. Noise was fixed and at the moment it's back to being absolutely no trouble at all. It was on our the list of things to avoid when we bought here, but I guess it turned out not to be a deal breaker in the end.

johnd2 · 15/06/2021 16:49

Regarding the health worries remember that nearly every floor, wall and ceiling of your house has cables going through within an inch of the surface, plus any flexes that are plugged in, so any signals would be stronger from them.

Sometimesfraught82 · 15/06/2021 16:57

@deathbollywood

one has sold near me that has a substation attached quickly for £1.4m. Given there are thousands next to houses any concrete health risks would be apparent by now.

But giving figures is irrelevant. It’s more interesting to know of very similar sis and condition properties in the very close vicinity but NOT attached to a substation

Doesn’t looks quite so positive if these are £1.9 million

SpeakingFranglais · 15/06/2021 19:34

We have one opposite our house, never bothered me, DS lives next door but one to a different one, never bothered him.

ExBIL lived next door to one in a new build, it was the show house and they got it loads cheaper than the good plots. No problem reselling.

SpeakingFranglais · 15/06/2021 19:37

@happydan

It was about 15 years ago but it was about the link to childhood leukaemia and a short distance from a substation. My child's bedroom would of been very close so there was no way we could consider continuing and I believe at the time there was new legislation put in that a substation could not be within a certain distance from homes if built today.

ExBIL lived next door to one, new build, built 2010

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