Found what might be the perfect property but….

[Poppie2023]

Hi mumsnetters,

As the title states, I found a property I really like which is semi detached. The neighbouring property on the same side where the property is detached is a house conversion split in to two flats. However, when looking at their garden from the upstairs bedroom, I noticed what appears to be a very large type of outhouse taking up the whole length of their garden. So garden is out of use. I then looked on Google Earth to see what it shows and saw some additional objects in the second garden which I believe also belongs to the same landlord based on the layout of the conversion we saw. I understand it’s their garden and their property, however my concern is about any noisy type of business activity or hazardous liquids.

I would like to make enquiries with the vendor and the local council but know that this property is very likely to go during this time. Do you have any ideas what this might be? and would you make an offer? Please see the attached image looking at the red X which is the outhouse and the objects alongside which looks like bin bags.

To me it looks like covered fruit trees. Not sure if that is done in the UK but common in Australia to keep birds, possums and bats iff ripe fruit

There only needs to be a small but consistent amount of food waste to attract mice...also it might contain suitable nesting material.

Come on OP - just give us the postcode and let us search for you! If there’s nothing on the planning portal then you can check the council’s register of landlords and see if the property is registered as an HMO, and on companies house to see if a business is registered there. All a matter of minutes.

FWIW round where I live, this sort of back garden shed set up is generally always a slum landlord exploiting desperate people.

Not common in the U.K., I think because we hope to get every tiny bit of U.K. sun we are blessed with on to the fruit

Blimey OP, you need to upgrade your willingness to super sleuth online!

Within 30 minutes of DS sending us details of a house he was thinking of renting I had

• the names and addresses of the directors of companies registered there over the last five year
• the planning application/ drawings etc from when it was extended
• details of previous rentings and sales from Zoopla/ Rghtmove
• the planning application for it to be converted to an HMO, INCLUDING the stipulation that one room was to be used for storage only and not as habitable space, and guess what - yes, it was being listed as a bedroom...
• Facebook profiles of the landlord and his wife
• Comments from a community FB group about it's change to an HMO

😁

Why do you say that?

How could anyone look at this setup and NOT immediately walk away?

So let's say it's got planning. OK but the size of it, the potential for misuse, the fact that two houses are in fact one and HMOs by the looks of it, the noise, the rubbish, trouble. WTAF would make someone even look at this for a home?

I hope this is not a wind up. If its true, the OP needs to back away now and find something without this type of thing in the next door garden. It's a buyer's market so there's no excuse. IMO.

I say that because they spent so much meticulous time answering every single post in detail and then failed to actually do the searches or report back. Mnhq tell me the poster is legit though so who knows 🤷‍♀️

This. In the time OP has taken to respond to posts, they could have easily found plenty of info about the site online.