Would this put you off?

[StuckInARug]

There’s a house we’re considering, it has an amazing big garden which is the main thing for us. We just found out there is going to be a 15 storey block of flats being built about 200m from the back of the house. It will be visible from the back garden.

Would this put you off?

100% it would. No way would I buy that house.

Just to add, the house is in a busy area of London so it’s not like it’s a tower block in the middle of the country side 😁

What is around it at the moment? Is the garden already overlooked?
It would put me off, but it depends whether it’s an acceptable compromise for you with an otherwise ideal house.

Yes it would put me off.
I still might buy it but would carefully consider how much it would cut off my sunlight in the garden and how much I'd be overlooked.

The garden is already overlooked by a row of houses on the back…. It’s a big garden and end of terrace, so there are about 7-8 other gardens sort of all around it if that makes sense? Our plan was to put a 2m fence around it and fill it with trees, but obviously it will take years for a tree to get high enough to block the block of flats. I don’t think we’d be overshadowed as 200m is not too near (and we’ve read the planning application and the report around loss of light).

If it was already there, possibly not. But no way would I buy somewhere knowing I was in for months/years of construction next to my back garden.

For a start it would render the garden pretty unusable while the building work happens due to noise, and getting woken up by 'beep beep beep' of reversing trucks and power tool noises would drive me batty

Where I live, yes it would definitely put me off. In London, not so much, so long as the price was right. When was the house last sold? If relatively recently (last decase), I would probably expect to be paying similar or less than what it was last sold for - because the tower block would massively devalue it.

I currently back onto a large park and am moving to a house that backs onto fields. So It would def put ME off but I don’t like being overlooked, however 80% of the houses we have viewed have been overlooked by many other houses and flats so it clearly doesn’t matter to that many people.🤷‍♀️ I would be very worried by the construction , 15 stories?!!! How long is that going to take? London is different though, maybe a large garden is worth the sacrifice ?

I didn’t consider the noise of construction, I don’t think it’s near enough that you would hear it in London - there’s a busy train line between the house and the construction site and you definitely don’t hear the trains from the garden.

Would 100% put me off too. The building work and noise itself would last a long time. Have you seen any plans so you know what it would look like when finished?

The house hasn’t been sold in the past 10 years so it’s difficult to tell. There was a lot of interest and there are a few bids.

Yes we’ve looked at the plans - the new build will look nice! Nothing that would be an eye sore. It’s a bigger site with lower blocks of 5/6 storeys but you wouldn’t see those - just the higher tower at 15 storeys.

I appreciate all the responses as this isn’t just about how I feel about it - if it’s something that most people would be put off by then it’s likely to impact resale value. We’re looking for a house for 10-15 years but don’t want to lose money on it.

I would.not buy a house close to where a block of flats was going to be built. Surely it will devalue the surrounding property? Not to mention noise, dust and traffic delays whilst all the cranes, lorries bringing supplies and digging up roads for services to be laid. I would steer well clear.

It really depends how big the garden is, how far away the site is, and how much you would be able to shield the garden with big trees etc.

As you say, it's London, it's not like it's rural and this will be the only building near it.

Could you post a photo or satellite photo of the house / garden / plot and indicate where the tower block will be?

Based on what you've said I wouldn't necessarily rule it out but would need to get it at the right price

Once you see there's a potential issue, you'll never 'unsee' it- your eye will always be drawn to it. If you feel that you'd prefer that the building wasn't there already, chances are that will be what you think further down the line, and what the future buyers will be thinking too.

That would put me off, I would buy it.

Also the construction will go on for a good 2-3 years, and it to be loud. My parents have 900 flats being built the other side of the park, so a similar distance between their garden and the works of 200m. It's being built in phases, however there are currently 3 huge cranes on site, plus numerous other construction vehicles, and the noise is awful sometimes.

I wouldn't buy it!

I wouldn’t buy it. New houses are being built near where I live and there’s so much disruption, lorries going past, temporary road closures or traffic lights to put in essential services, dust etc. plus you’d have a tower block overlooking the house.

From your description, with the other houses and railway line it wouldn’t put me off.

It wouldn't put me off in London I don't think, though I might find it difficult to picture what it's going to be like.

There is construction near where I live
What annoys me is the bright lights and red lights at nights from the cranes
The noise I don’t notice as it’s not directly behind me and it’s on a busy main rd
But at night it’s like that scene out of terminator with all the white and red bright lights
The building is going to be 17 storey high as well

My friends live in an absolutely beautiful house in a London suburb
At the end of their large garden is a block of flats and when we have visited in the summer there are quite often a few “interesting characters” hanging over balconies. When we last visited a man was going to come round and “knock my fucking block off” because I was looking at him( I hadnt even noticed him until he started shouting) Apparently the flats are used by a local a Church organisation to temporarily house people in need so I suppose it can depend on what type of flats they are

@StuckInARug

I didn’t consider the noise of construction, I don’t think it’s near enough that you would hear it in London - there’s a busy train line between the house and the construction site and you definitely don’t hear the trains from the garden.

Noise construction causes massive vibrations - as someone who lives in zone 2 London and can hear constant noise pollution and ground vibrations from quite a way away from our home. Especially when digging down underground to set foundations.

What are the flats going to be sold as - luxury housing won’t necessarily devalue the property as they tend to draw more transport links and the horrid further “gentrification” (for lack of any better word)

I would look at the glare reports and the cladding, facade and glazing materials. Loss of light reports aren’t always 100% accurate (even though the technology is there for them to be accurate) and glare from sunlight reflecting off taller buildings can be a weird problem.

I live in London and it would absolutely put me off. In the short term it’ll be really noisy construction including cranes, which goes way beyond the typical disruption you get when your neighbour does a loft conversion. I’d also be highly sceptical that planning reckons you wouldn’t lose any light. Then once it’s built you’ll be so overlooked. There’s a huge difference between the usual row of terraces on the next street overlooking where realistically people can only see by hanging out the upstairs windows which normal people just don’t do, and 15 stories of flats which will mean dozens of people probably sat in their living rooms or out on their balconies staring directly into your garden.