HELP. Dream house, Freaking out about big bush.

[Chickenandeggz]

Long story short as I appreciate it could be very boring.

After ages, and I mean AGES, of looking for a home to buy we finally found a lovely house.
Offer made. Estate agents did their thing to drive up the price. More negotiation etc etc. Made our best and final. Offer accepted. BOOM.

Fast forward a few weeks later. Phone call from EA to inform us NEIGHBOR of the property has told them that there is an ongoing dispute between him and said property over neighbors massive bush. This is the first we had heard of it.

Upshot is.... after several years of back and forth the council have ordered neighbour to cut bush height by 4 meters (it's huge) as it blocks out all light from ground floor and the sky is not visible.
Neighbor has refused to comply as he feels it negates the privacy of his swimming pool from which he entertains for 6 months of the year- he has thus appealed which means the case has gone to the planning inspectorate 5 counties away. I have been told by caseworker this is unlikely to be sorted for a very long time.

So the house (our house) is a lovely 1980s job. Kept lovely but nothing's been updated so could be £££ (just had a quite as it needs new windows...£25k!) I really like it but its fairly run of the mill when compared with the neighbors massive multi-million pound pile.

Location is ideal for kids school etc and it really is sooo hard to get a property in this community.

At the time I attributed the dark rooms to the fact it is north facing and its a bleak time of year. I thought through these implications and decided I could live with this. I am unsure as to what to do about this. I'm stressed- we are living in a moldy rental with 3 small children, our last house fell through so we came out of the chain so as not to lose the people who bought our house.

Husband is a light worshipper. He is really not happy and quite rightly he's gutted that we could inherit this ongoing war.

Had wr have known this we definitely would not have offered top dollar. Reason being is if worse happened and the bush remained I'd want to extend out the other side in order to maximize light and happiness. We couldn't afford to do this given the price we are paying.

I feel sad.

WWYD?

You've just been told about what kind of neighbours you'll be inheriting OP. I'd focus on that personally.

10m high is the size of a mature tree
you saw and offered with the bush there so guessing you didn’t see it as an issue

there naked In Pool or sex parties so want bush high as house so you can’t see it

all the leg works in case already been done so it would be a bonus if it came down

the parties would be my concern not the height of the bush
as for the report of the impact the bush has on there life it will of been written for maximum impact do more than likely exaggerated

To echo many posters.

Im not thrilled that all light is blocked from ground floor BUT it's more the issue with the neighbor that concerns me. Can't say I'm thrilled that this wasn't declared sooner. I have since noticed the house was put on the market and taken off about 3-4 years ago which is interesting.

Pool parties- who knows, we are fairly laid back and probably good neighbors in that respect.

Having read through all bumph its clear mr. neighbor could not give a flying f* about their neighbors and they truly don't care. No doubt they have several other properties.

The garden of our (would be home) is kind of average size. The neighbours plot is maybe a couple acres.

Honestly I'd run, not walk away. With neighbour disputes, there's always a chance the vendor could be aggravating the issue and you'd get along fine with your new neighbour. If this was the case though, why would the neighbour seemingly want their neighbour from hell to stay put?

You say you've been looking for ages, how many ideal houses for you have been sold in your area over the last few years?

If it was me I would be re-offering with a much reduced amount. If they say no then walk but you may get a good deal. Also if the garden and back rooms are north facing anyway, how much light does this bush actually block. Everyone is assuming the pool party neighbour is the arse, maybe the current owners were looking for something to nitpick?

100% he's the arse.

Leylandii isn’t a bush. It’s a massive tree which keeps on growing. As far as I’m aware there isn’t an upper limit to height. I think RHS have some experimental trees to see just how tall they will get.
I would never buy anywhere with them having had past experience of a “hedge” . They are not appropriate trees for a garden setting.

I hazard a guess he thinks himself Lord of the manor and above any laws set for 'common' folk.

He's taken it upon himself to contact the EA and declare the dispute. What normal person would do this if they had a problem neighbour who was about to sell up? He's an entitled bully.

It can be classed as a hedge if there's many in a close line I believe.

I'd say nothing at all, buy the house, and silently wait for the bush to go away.
One way or another.

Absolutely 100% walk away. The last thing you need is disputatious neighbours. They can make life miserable.
And if you ever want to sell you are obliged to declare the dispute. And that can make the house hard to sell.

Walk away.

I would also consider the potential damage that could be caused by the tree roots as it sounds like they are not very far from your property and drains.

I'd lower my offer, if you can live with the tree and parties, as the sellers are obviously desperate to sell.

Fingers crossed it will be reduced in height, but you were accepting of the tree as it is when you made the offer, so a price reduction would seem a fair deal - if you can accept the reduced light.

If they've been neighbours for 40 years, there might be a lot more to this than the tree.

You should arrange another viewing as suggested by pp, so you can get a better sense of it all.

Good luck!

Thank you all so much.

If we decide to stay we will reduce the offer.
My rationale at the moment is I love the road, the location is ideal, I love the home. It feels like it has makings of a proper family home. We've been looking for 2 years. I think in this time only 2 others came up and one was more expensive then we could afford and the other was a beautiful but tiny cottage that my OH couldn't stand up straight in without giving himself frontal lobe damage!

It is so hard to get a house here. No idea why. It's a nice village but nothing out of the ordinary.

If we could get a hefty reduction in price then we could create a small kitchen extension on to the west patio, add skylights and bifolds and really make the best of the afternoon sun. This would not be possible if we buy it at our current offer.

With this in mind how low can we go? The offer accepted was 500k.

Unfortunately this does not remedy the situation with the entitled neighbor. If he's having wild sex pool parties then good on him (he's in his 60s). If it's a couple times a year then fine. Weekly would not be so fun. I guess it's a risk.

Going to have another viewing asap x

I would start with a 10% reduction to start the renegotiation. If you are planning an extension this is unlikely to be smooth sailing with such a neighbour. Once it’s done it’s done, but know the bush is unlikely to be your only involvement with him, never mind the planning permission process - what about if dust from such build work is disturbing his pool parties, you may find the bush becomes very overgrown.

I would just be mindful of the kind of person you could end up living next door to. Would be object to all of your planning applications and make everything difficult for you?

I would try and meet him to speak to him and see what he’s like in person. Be upfront and say you’re considering buying the house next door.

Are there any other neighbours in the vicinity that could let you know what the pool parties etc are like?

It is quite naughty of the sellers not to disclose this on the property info form.

Its sad for you and the vendor but why on earth would you consider inheriting a neighbour who clearly loves not complying and is happy to make your life a misery. He'll walk all over you and if you stand up to him he'll enjoy tormenting you probably. Including scuppering your future sale once he's worn you down. People don't change. Walk away.

Your home is only as lovely as your neighbours. I would read the signals and walk away.

How do you know they have pool parties 6 months of the year? If the neighbour has told you then he has put his stake firmly in the ground by telling you now so you have no reason to complain. This is a big red flag regardless of the bush.

Makes you wonder what kind of pool patties they're having....

Just to add, if neighbour has made a point about pool parties and entertaining, that means regular, not a couple of times a year.

He sounds entitled and I would be wary of him. He doesn't sound the type to tolerate noisy building work if he's entertaining a lot. Only buy the house if you are happy to not get pp for building work.

Has it been on the market long or regular change of owners? If the bush issue is making you think twice then it will be the same if you want to sell.

I'm shocked this has only just come to light. It's a while since I sold a house, but I thought it was a legal requirement to declare any ongoing conflicts with neighbours.

You've been treated very badly OP.

The vendor deceived you by not mentioning this.
The estate agent didn't do their home work, and even pushed the price up on behalf of the vendor.
The neighbour, for some inexplicably malicious reason, has as good as told you he's a selfish arse who will make your life a misery.

The only way I'd consider buying this house would be if I could get a massive discount, like £100k.

Your seller is dishonest. Reduce your offer by the cost of your proposed renovations. Also demand disclosure from the seller on exactly what kind of parties these are and the frequency with which they are held before you make your new and much reduced offer.

This ^^