Vet next door

[Newgate]

Just received planning permission notice that the owner of the house next door, terrace, wants to convert the house to a vet practice.

Am I right to be worried? We have a GP on the terrace but this feels wrong. I am worried about noise and smells. Could it have an impact on value? Would people want to buy a house attached to a vet? I have a call with the planning officer. Please help.

4 ddogs here
2 dcats
A dsnake..
Sound ideal ndn!!
Better than weed smokers or tinkerers of motor vehicles..

Depends on whether the vet is offering 24 hour service. Is it a private practise or owned by a group. Will there be kennels outside. Will there be early morning collections of deceased pets and waste by a cremation company. Where will deceased pets be stored for the week leading up to the collection date. What is the parking like.

@Pumpkinsonparade

4 ddogs here 2 dcats A dsnake.. Sound ideal ndn!! Better than weed smokers or tinkerers of motor vehicles..

Thanks this is giving me some perspective. I am worried about barking etc

@ANameChangeAgain

Depends on whether the vet is offering 24 hour service. Is it a private practise or owned by a group. Will there be kennels outside. Will there be early morning collections of deceased pets and waste by a cremation company. Where will deceased pets be stored for the week leading up to the collection date. What is the parking like.

Thanks some useful questions to ask. All I have seen is the plan to convert. Does not give details on the practice. Not worried about parking as we have none - just on street parking.

I’m a big animal lover with vet friends but I’m not sure a residential terraced street is a good place for a vets practice

Vet practices are generally very clean - they have to be, for infection control! I'd much rather have a vet's than any type of a shop or cafe/restaurant.

I would worry more about the traffic and amount of people coming and going - appointments are usually around 10-15 minutes so if there is one vet working, you could expect at least four sets of visitors to go in every hour for appointments + extra people collecting medications/food, dropping off pets for operations and collecting them etc. Some vet's do appointments all through the day, but most tend to have a morning surgery sometime around 8am-12 noon and then evening surgery 4pm-7pm with a break in between for operations etc. and fewer visitors in that gap.

As a cat owner I would love it for the convenience though! I guess it would put some buyers off in the same way as having any kind of a business next door would, though, as obviously there'll be lots more coming and going compared to living next door to a home.

Ddogs kept in overnight will likely be post op and in no mood for barking I imagine!!

It may only be a branch surgery, in which case it will only be consulting rooms and may only be open part time.

Thanks for your comments. Don’t even know whether objecting will lead to anything.

My previous vets was in an end terrace house. It was clean, quiet and well kept, but they did have notices up asking clients to park considerately- I think they’d had some problems.

Will ask for information on opening hours, waste etc.

Will there be animals left overnight - barking through the night will quickly get wearing

Parking, if there is no allocated parking could easily be an issue - the vet practice staff might drive in, then there will be clients arriving and leaving during opening hours

It wouldn't put me off buying next door. Could be very handy. Plus they generally have regular hours. Could be worse, could be an off license.

I’d be concerned about the parking situation but other than that it wouldn’t bother me.

I worked at a vets. It was a standalone building (having graduated from a town centre terrace years before I joined). The dogs rarely barked (they were too scared for barking). Deceased pets were stored in a freezer before collection (zero smell even when you opened it). The only time smell was ever an issue was when we had penguins from the local safari park which is a very niche service. Parking might be an issue but even as a big practice we only had 3 concurrent appointment slots so at most there would be 6 or 7 visitor cars. Staff might be more of a problem if space is an issue. There were 5 receptionists, 6 vets and 6 nurses on a shift where I worked though again, it was a big practice.

Dogs are often distressed going to the vets or indeed staying overnight. Hence I'm not sure I'd want to live next to one.
And I love animals! It doesn't sound like the right place.

@MilduraS

I worked at a vets. It was a standalone building (having graduated from a town centre terrace years before I joined). The dogs rarely barked (they were too scared for barking). Deceased pets were stored in a freezer before collection (zero smell even when you opened it). The only time smell was ever an issue was when we had penguins from the local safari park which is a very niche service. Parking might be an issue but even as a big practice we only had 3 concurrent appointment slots so at most there would be 6 or 7 visitor cars. Staff might be more of a problem if space is an issue. There were 5 receptionists, 6 vets and 6 nurses on a shift where I worked though again, it was a big practice.

ah man I'd love Penguins as neighbours, how cool would that be?

@Thelikelylass I thought the same but the place stunk of fish for days! The squirrel monkeys went through an aggressive phase and they were awesome when they were brought in. I was so excited the first time two keepers showed up at the front desk with a cat carrier and said "we're here for the monkey". It was so normal to the vets they didn't think to mention there was a monkey in the hospital area.

The noise and smells wouldn’t bother me - I doubt there would be much anyway. But the parking would worry me. Will there be enough customer parking or will they have to park on the street?

parking is the issue- all pets come by vehicle

[quote MilduraS]@Thelikelylass I thought the same but the place stunk of fish for days! The squirrel monkeys went through an aggressive phase and they were awesome when they were brought in. I was so excited the first time two keepers showed up at the front desk with a cat carrier and said "we're here for the monkey". It was so normal to the vets they didn't think to mention there was a monkey in the hospital area. [/quote]
that all sounds brilliant! I was in France once at a vets getting our dog his jab to return home and the door opened and sheep walked into the waiting room. I always wanted to be a vet I wish I had pursued it!

I think it would probably put me off as a buyer.

It doesn’t sound a great location for a vet practice though if there’s no dedicated parking?

Yeah parking is going to be the issue here. The vets would probably either be empty on an evening or very quiet as the animals would be either ill or post op.
As long as it didn't effect me being able to park outside my house I wouldn't be bothered

I believe, it would affect people ability to mortgage your property. I could be wrong though but I’m sure if you are x amount of metres from a commercial premises it affects loan to value

I wouldn't expect smells, or huge amounts of barking, but some dogs howl or whine when coming round from anaesthetic.