Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

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

Buying a house you think someone might have died in? Yes or no?

156 replies

Aaaghbuying · 18/06/2021 21:00

Saw a lovely house that's just come on. House here go pretty much within a day - think we saw it first.

It clearly belonged to an old person. And was told it's a probate sale.

What I hadn't expected was that the house still had the hospital bed with all the wipes etc by it. All the personal possessions etc. Looks like nothing has been moved or tidied AT ALL since the owner passed away. Which is a bit creepy.

I asked the estate agent if he knew if anyone had died there and he wisely said he hadn't asked as it's an uncomfortable question to ask, which is true.

Genuinely not sure what to do. It will go very soon whatever and ticks all our boxes in terms of size, location and price.

But I'm not sure if I could buy a house someone could have died in? Is that over-sensitive? It's a Victorian property so someone may well have passed away there in the last 140 years.

Views please. Have you done this and regretted it? Or done this and not regretted it? Or couldn't do it?

Thanks.

OP posts:
Betsyboo87 · 18/06/2021 21:13

Given the choice, a lot of people would choose to die at home so it’s probable it’s happened in many houses in the market and you just don’t know.

We bought a probate house. What has stuck with me since we viewed it was that her neatly folded nightie was still on the end of the bed. The thought of her folding it one last time was so sad.

Thisusedtobeaniceneighbourhood · 18/06/2021 21:13

Fairly sure the previous owner of this house died here. I mean, I didn’t ask directly as it is an awkward question, but he was very elderly and his daughters moved in to nurse him. He probably died in our bedroom. And I know that the elderly gentleman two doors down died in that house. And also rather sadly that the elderly lady a few doors away was found at the bottom of her stairs after a fall.

I have visited a few deceased estates for a viewing before and sometimes they are as you describe, with lots of possessions laid out/unkempt. That’s not pleasant. Fortunately this house was still set up as a home which helped.

So no; death in the house in and of itself, wouldn’t bother me. I would be more worried about whether the family were going to empty the house properly though!

BasiliskStare · 18/06/2021 21:13

Ha ha - how rubbish is my typing - so many others have made the points I was making @Aaaghbuying before I could post it - so massive cross posting there ( by me )

Poshjock · 18/06/2021 21:13

Not only did a previous house have all the medical detritus still in it when I took possession, but the bed hadn’t been stripped and still had, um, evidence of the elderly occupant who very clearly died in it. DH and I are medical so rather surprised at the finding but not particularly bothered. And had access to appropriate disposal means.

The house was in dire need of renovation so it was very different when we lived in it. Very much our own space after the work was completed.

CompleteBarstool · 18/06/2021 21:14

@Gladimnotcampinginthisweather

The husband of the previous owner of this house collapsed and died in the main bedroom of our house. We didn't find out until the next door neighbour told us, but it hasn't made any difference.
Jeez, why do neighbours feel it necessary to share this sort of detail?!
Maybeshesawomble · 18/06/2021 21:16

I am in the process of buying a house in which I know an elderly lady died last year, so no problem there. However, we viewed a house a few weeks ago where a lady had died four years ago (I’m friends with the next door neighbour so know about it). Her poor husband had very little in the house other than dozens of photographs of her and there were bottles of vodka tucked down next to the bed. It was so sad and rationally I wanted to overlook it but it felt very odd - a definite atmosphere.

DotCottonsFagButt · 18/06/2021 21:16

It’s Victorian. Plenty of people will have been born and died in that house. If that bothers you then you should probably consider a new build.

5zeds · 18/06/2021 21:16

I want to die at home. I don’t see what it has to do with the next person who buys the houseConfused

londonsaint · 18/06/2021 21:16

If there's medical equipment, it sounds like the occupier chose to die at home. I work for a hospice and everything we do is to support people to have a good death. People who can receive the support to live out their last days in their own home, surrounded by loved ones is one of the better ways to go.

I'd happily buy the house knowing that someone valued it so much that they chose to spend their last days there.

I would have expected it to be cleared up before marketing though.....!!

Livingintheclouds · 18/06/2021 21:16

There's probably been many births in that house too.
Why estate agents don't get a cleaning firm in and charge their clients is beyond me.

BrumCahoots · 18/06/2021 21:16

Come on now .. my house is Victorian .. I never ever think about who lived there ... I sold my old house as part of my divorce.. my kids grew up there .. I just want a new family to be happy there .. the old person with the wipes snd medication was once young and full of hope .. Dont be daft !!!!

MistakenHoliday · 18/06/2021 21:18

We viewed a house a few months ago and the owners ashes were in an urn on the floor next to the fireplace in the living room, complete with the invoice label from the council crematorium sellotaped to it 😱

Biancadelrioisback · 18/06/2021 21:18

Our house was home to a couple who died here. They bought from new (1950s) and died here in early-mid 2010s.
The mum died in what is now DSs bedroom. I mean...is it ideal? No. Is it or has it been a problem? No.
I've heard so much about the old owners from the neighbours and they sound like they had a lovely family together and a nice life. I often wonder how they'd feel about some of the changes we've made but at the end of the day, it is our house now. The family have their memories and we are making ours (I know, bork).

Chewbecca · 18/06/2021 21:21

Of course I would, it’s what happens in houses.

WingingItSince1973 · 18/06/2021 21:23

As awful as seeing all those things left behind I would still purchase the house. The person has sadly passed away either at home or in hospital but they would have had a life and loves and hopefully lots of happy times in the house. When I was younger my grandparents house had alot of deaths in it. My nan nursed her mum, her father inlaw, my aunty and then my pap. They all passed away in the lounge in a bed that seemed to be kept especially for occasions like this! Eventually my nan passed away in the same room. They had lived in the house since the 50s and I stayed as a child many many times. Sometimes the 'death bed' would be dismantled and in the same room as where I slept!!! Anyway despite many people passing away in the house I look back fondly of the fantastic memories there. Lots of comings and goings, it was the hub of the family and was really really sad when it had to be handed back to the council 5 years ago. So go for it. I bet the owner would love someone to make a happy life there xxxx

NeedToKnow101 · 18/06/2021 21:27

Wouldn't bother me at all. It's actually ideal to die of old age in your home.

JaninaDuszejko · 18/06/2021 21:29

My Dad died at home, as did my grandmother and my great uncle. The house is now owned by my sibling. It doesn't feel creepy at all, why would it Confused. Of course, in our case the house has been redecorated, whereas a hospital bed makes it feel very recent and sad, why has the family not tidied it up?

MaudBaileysGreenTurban · 18/06/2021 21:29

I find this attitude odd, and a bit naive tbh. You're buying a house that's 150 years old, it would be highly unusual if someone hadn't died there.

Then again, I am probably lacking sensitivity in this area - I sleep in the room my mum collapsed and died in and it doesn't bother me in the slightest.

SummerSaladsAreBack · 18/06/2021 21:30

Not quite the same but my house is a 1700s former chapel with a garden full of graves. Does not bother me in the slightest. We all die and we are all part of the nitrogen and carbon cycles.

BarberQueue · 18/06/2021 21:31

If you don't think you could buy a house that someone has died in then you will be considerably reducing your pool of possible houses. My poor neighbour had a heart attack and died at home last month. His house is 18 months old.

Cantbebotheredtothinkofaname · 18/06/2021 21:33

We are close to completing on a house which we have reason to believe someone may have died in, can’t say it’s worried us, and I haven’t thought about it before. Our current house is about 140 years old so I’m sure at least one person has died here!

cantkeepawayforever · 18/06/2021 21:34

A previous owner committed suicide in a bedroom ibn our last house - my son's bedroom, in fact.

It still felt a happy house, and we were very happy there.

Equally, in our current house, the previous owner's husband died in our bedroom. It's a lovely house, full of love and steeped in the benevolence of previous generations.

On the other hand, we left a viewing of another house very quickly - it felt absolutely horrible. I think the owners were going through a terrible divorce, but whatever it was, it had a terrible atmosphere, one i have never felt in any other house.

cookiemonster5 · 18/06/2021 21:37

The previous tenant in my house died here. He lay for 2 weeks before he was discovered. It was quite sad.

I used to be really scared about going into a house where someone had died until my grandmother died at home. That completely changed my perspective

Unless you buy a new build all houses will have some sort of history. Happy things will have happened and some really devastating things will have happened also.

Don't be put off it by its past. You can make your own past in it.

Waitingfirgodot · 18/06/2021 21:37

My house is almost 300 years old. One of the things I love about it is the connection to the past - the idea of all the lives lived before. Death is part of this, and if it comes at the end of a long, happy life, it's not such an awful thing.

VettiyaIruken · 18/06/2021 21:38

Unless you buy a house nobody has ever lived in there's always a chance someone died in it. The older it is, the higher the chance that one or more people died in it.

I wouldn't be happy if they were buried in the garden but other than that, I wouldn't be put off.

Swipe left for the next trending thread