House where previous owner died in a fire

[UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername]

We have a viewing of a very interesting property next week, but there's a lot of smoke damage and a hole in the roof from a fire in which the owner died. Obviously if we bought it, the first step in the renovations would be professional cleaning.

I'm not overly bothered by it myself, I don't think, but we have 14 and 12 year olds and I'm worried about it from that perspective. Am I mad to even consider it?

I wouldn’t buy it.
I think if ghosts were real, then one is likely to appear from a tragic event like that!
I think it could induce nightmares at the least in your kids and you will all feel paranoid whenever you smell smoke if anyone has a bonfire in the garden.
The worry that history could repeat itself.
Plus the work on top, it would definitely be a no for me.

This, I know someone died in our bedroom. Our kids were young when we moved in but even now they're teens I wouldn't let them put me off something similar when we next move. Horribly sad for the family but it's not something that should put you off. The work though, it's worth a good think

I know it's really irrational, I know pretty much all old houses will have experienced death, but it disturbed me growing up (old house, we knew someone died in it) and I know it would my children. There is something heightened about it being a traumatic death like a fire as well as opposed to someone dying at home of ill health, I'd talk to your kids about it, perhaps they're made of sterner stuff than me!

Is the house by a lake OP?

It wouldnt be for me, I'm sure practically speaking it can all be sorted and be a solid house again and possibly good value.
But there is a difference between a recent tragic death in the house and someone passing away peacefully 50 odd years ago.
You would need to be open and sound your teens out because if you moved there they will definitely find out one way or another. They may not feel comfortable there an if it was me that would influence my decision.

I’m not generally fazed by death and live in an old house where no doubt a few people died….but this has made me feel a bit weird. It’d have to be a good hard think and a frank family discussion before I’d buy it.

Why is it on market n current state? Rather than insurance putting it right? Is it an auction sale?

I wouldn’t touch it tbh unless it’s a demo/rebuild job

And that's how you get it cheap. We bought a murder house, as the locals called it. People were curious about what we had done to it. It never bothered me and it was forgotten by the time we came to sell.

Really intrigued/nosey as to why you're asking this... 😂

It’s a no from me.

That was knocked down though? So it's not the same house

Derailing a bit but this reminds me of one of our customers when we had a village shop. She would always ring through an order and send her husband in to collect it. Never came in herself. After a while I asked a neighbour if she was okay, to which she replied "well she's never been the same since the gamekeeper shot himself in her kitchen" 😲

(Turned out she had a full time job and was out at work all day.)

Sorry, as you were.

Same here, not religious but this leaves a horrible vibe and I wouldn't be able to forget it.

When I was about 12 a man was stabbed and a fire was set in the house next door. The room next to me and my sister - we woke early to breaking glass and the roar of flames. I didn’t sleep well for months and I am still paranoid about fire. I think it would depend on what your kids feel about it.

Because there's an amazing house we've been looking at that was completely gutted by a fire, lost the roof, the inner walls, everything. It's in a beautiful location by a lake, surrounded by mountains. It would be a massive, massive job to do it up, but that is reflected in the price...

It’s a no from me

The guy was a drug dealer apparently, and was presumed to be using st the time. He could have gotten out easily if he'd woken, it's a bungalow.

I don't know why it wasn't repaired; he had no immediate family and maybe whoever inherited just wants rid of it?

I would assume that the kids would find out at some stage so I wouldn't do it without discussing it with them. I started the thread because I was wondering whether to bring it up with then at all, or if it's just too gruesome.

Most people who die in fires die from smoke inhalation - sad and regrettable, but not necessarily horrific. If the fire happens at night they probably just die in their sleep. It wouldn't bother me to buy somewhere where a tragedy had happened if it felt okay when I was viewing. There are a huge number of older houses in the UK and it would be odd if many of them hadn't at some point had somebody die in them.

It wouldn't bother me

Tho I also carried on living in the house where I found my dh hanging

One bad memory

Millions of happy ones

I’d have no issue with someone having died there- my house is 400y old, I think dozens of people must have died here.

I would have some qualms about a house where someone had died in horrible circumstances recently as that can affect resale and mortgagability. There’s a flat near where I used to live where there had been some murders and it was constantly on the market, £100k below equivalent flats.

When I was 12/13 I lived in a rented house where the owner’s son had hung himself. It didn’t bother me or my sister at all. With hindsight I was never scared even in the dark - I was clearly a callous child!

10 Rillington Place no longer exists, it was demolished in the 1970s when Notting Hill was being spruced up, In fact the whole road was levelled along with the James Bartle ironworks at the end and other surrounding roads - there is a gap between the new houses (number 8 & number 12 Bartle Road) where the old house stood.

There was an urban legend one of the new house gardens overlapped the old site, but the architect and developer were careful to not encroach the old site.

No-one has died in my current house, because we're the first ever people to live in it, but I've lived in several Victorian properties before, and others dating back almost as long - it's an absolute certainty that deaths have occurred in all of them.

Never bothered me in the slightest.

The poster is saying the address is as well known to the public as 10 Rillington Place, not that the house is that specific one.
I’m assuming the house she knows is Cranley Gardens.

Will you move in before the roof is repaired and the fire damage eradicated?

im not sure I would be comfortable showing my kids the damage, sharing the story, but I’d be fine with them living in house after it were repaired.