Talk me through the downsides of living next to....this

[Zinzinner]

House for sale in a terrace - house inside is great, enviable location in terms of schools, transport etc. Its massively under value because this is next door. Also attached a satellite picture so you can see the back of the house is completely overgrown - nature has reclaimed this murder house by the looks of it.

What are the practicalities of living next to a house in this state? I can think of the obvious ones such as rodents, animals, maybe even squatters, but what about physically - could it damage the attached houses, brickwork etc? And how does that work - who would be liable to pay?

Are you buying it or just curious?

I just went and checked street view to see if this was the same as one I offered on years ago because it looks so similar! In that case, the house that I offered on had rats which were living in the overgrown garden next door and coming into the house via the floorboards. The next door house had been abandoned and there was no one who could be held responsible - the council had it on a list and were supposed to become responsible after a certain period I think. In the end I didn’t buy it - I would be wary if there are things like chimneys which could collapse, and assume you’d have to maintain all fences, party walls etc. I would also worry about damp on party walls.

SE London?

But yeah,....rats arent aware of boundary lines are they, they would def come over!

Just curious. I think it would be a mistake to buy! Gutted though, the house inside is nice!

No, Berks - it always surprises me though when houses are abandoned in relatively expensive areas because whoever owns it could just sell it!

Shared walls mean shared vermin, shared rot, shared leaks. It’s not just going to be the outdoor issues, it could be real structural damage that is difficult to combat.

maybe someone DOES live inside.....somehow thats WORSE. Imagine them staring at you through those curtains.....

Got a house like that opposite me. We have had rat problems and structural problems affecting neighbours. It's awful. The owner is lovely too but getting anything done is very tricky.

What does the agent say about it? Contact the council and see if it's on an abandoned list.

Or buy the one you like and 'adopt' it as yours also. Then claim squatters rights/adverse possession and have a two for one. I'm joking, of course. Mostly....

In my experience it’s often someone isolated dying intestate and/or house willed to someone/s who can’t be traced, or to distant, warring relatives who can’t agree.

I once viewed a house in West London and the the house next door was teaming with flies and there was a rancid smell coming through the walls.

I wouldn’t risk it

All the above - you will have mould, rats, leaks, potentially damage to interior and exterior walls, guttering, shared chimneys etc. Basically whatever affects one house will spread to the neighbours given enough time.
If someone does buy the derelict house, they will have to do major building works to bring it back up to a modern standard. Do not underestimate the noise, dust, potential further damage to your property and general disruption this will bring to your home.

As for who is responsible - the home owner which you can find from the land registry site. But given it’s condition you would get nowhere with any complaints etc if you did buy next door.

Run away if considering buying would be my advice.

I don't think it's been abandoned because it can't sell - a developer could renovate and sell it easily.

As a PP has said it's likely to be a family matter, intestacy etc.

For years I used to pass a huge imposing 5-storey terrace in one of the best parts of South Kensington - it was totally empty with locks and shuttered windows, not overgrown or dilapidated but very neglected. Then all of a sudden work started and it's probably now five very expensive apartments.

Ah thats a great point! Only a matter of time before a developer gets to it.....

Japanese knotweed.
Spiders
Subsidence
Spiders
Blocked rainwater goods and drains
Spiders
Fly tipping
Spiders

What about ghosts?

You get the horrific rotting bodies smell first then the ghosts.

Seriously though - there was a house just like that near us. And then suddenly there was building works. And now it is lovely. But there is no set timescale and you have to live through all that first.

No way the view from windows into the overgrown garden would be awful and in summer the place probably stinks so no windows open etc

There’s some company that pays you commission if you identify an abandoned house and they do the legwork and find and convince the owner to sell it to them. I read about it a few years ago.

@Zinzinner the ghosts are all caught in the spider webs

I'd want to know if nextdoor was occupied and something about the resident, ie is it an old person who has let their property get out of hand or are their dubious types squatting. Also, you do have to think about any potential problems and the fact you can't talk to the neighbour.

We've got a house like that on our terrace - it is owned but the owner has MH problems and hoards. There were indeed rats, but a complaint was eventually made to Environmental Health and work has been done in that respect. This led to the owner moving out, and the house being put on the market. However, it's in such a state that it is being described as uninhabitable and cash buyers only. Since the owner quite clearly can't be persuaded to sell it cheaply enough, and the only people who would be interested are developers, it's just sitting there and deteriorating further. So, nope - avoid!!

I am looking in that area and saw it pop up on RM. It's a real shame. Agree with others' comments. Depends how complicated the owner's circumstances are, I guess. We had a house like that behind us and the owner had gone into a care home and took years to make the decision to sell.

I feel very sorry for the people that are trying to sell the house next door.

There should be some mechanism that forces people to maintain their properties to a certain standard so that others aren't affected, or so that the property can be taken over in some way.

The biggest issues for me would definitely be vermin (there's probably a family of squirrels living in the loft too) and damage from plant roots in the foundations and walls.

No way would I buy it, which is where it's a real shame for the people that currently own it. The only person that's likely to buy it is a dodgy landlord that wants something cheap that he can put tenants in who can't afford anything better and so the cycle of poor quality housing continues.

The other issue is, when you come to sell, you’ll struggle to find a buyer too.