House next to a pub?

[Nomorediy]

Thanks so much to all who have provided such excellent advice on my property search.

I have sold in St Albans to first time buyers who need to move in by March 31 to avoid the stamp duty hike.

If I am to complete this sale I need to find a house I like that is chain free.

I have viewed one that has all my must-haves and some major compromises as expected within my budget/with needing to port my current mortgage with some additional borrowing but not too much.

The biggest compromise is that is is right next door to a pub. The buildings are not adjoining and don't have shared access. But my mortgage broker suggested I might not be able to port my current mortgage because of the pub next door.

Is this usual? Anyone with experience of this? My mortgage lender simply said they'd have to put this through their usual valuation process and I'm just not sure I can wait for this if its likely to be a no-go.

The house was on the market 2 years ago then pulled because there were not any offers. That was just after the Truss budget however. It does need repairs to the roof and outside walls and a new boiler, but the electrics etc have been deemed safe in recent checks (it was tenanted). Similar houses in the same road have sold at similar prices, in line with the market, so I think it is fairly priced perhaps with a 5% reduction.

Thanks again all in advance.

That's a pretty big compromise...

Don't know anything about the mortgage but I think that would be my last worry!

I know pubs can be different to each other but
Noise - people coming and going, cars, amplified music, outside smokers etc
Parking - is there a car park and if so where, and is it big enough? On street parking issues
Is there a beer garden - noise, location
Cooking smells
Noisy deliveries
Noisy bin collection/glass recycling etc
Sports events shown live

Have you visited in the evening, Saturday night etc

I've not seen that as a specific lending condition before, can you google your lender's criteria and see if anyone else has had an issue? My instinct is that it would be okay for lending purposes especially as you're not linked to them. Any decrease in value due to the proximity should already have been taken into account in the purchase price, it may be down valued at mortgage valuation if not. My parents live adjoined to a pub and they've never had any issues (although it is quite an upmarket area.)

Remember that pubs change landlords too.
Ours was quiet, didn't hear much at all.

Then it got a landlord in who had after hours parties, turned a blind eye to cocaine, had singers in Thursday Friday Saturday. We had people off their head offering fights on the pavement to passing cars one night!!
Eventually he was told to leave by the brewery after he threatened to glass the barmaid on Xmas day with a champagne bottle.

I lived opposite a pub it was a pain the summer because the garden was at the front and noisy.. also wafts of cigarette smoke if we had our windows open. Wouldn't do it again.

I’ve lived next door to a pub for eight years. It’s actually been shut for last 18 months and is currently undergoing a refurb right now with the plan of reopening in the new year.

I am dreading it. I was hoping to have moved away before it reopened but my purchase fell through so back to looking again.

Live music nights are dreadful. The glass recycling lorry makes a spectacular noise at 6:30am emptying the bottle bins. The drunks shrieking and bellowing in the street. The rubbish blowing around from the pub garden. The inconsiderate parking from patrons and staff. The deliveries that block the road for half an hour at a time and the sound of barrels noisily being offloaded drives me insane.

The pub may close at say 11pm, but the drunks will stand outside smoking, shouting and finishing drinks long after. And then the staff do the same after they’ve gone, winding down.

You must also remember pubs change ownership and clientele. Next door used to be an old man pub with flat caps and crossword puzzling elderly gents with their dogs. It became a hipster smokehouse with drum and bass nights, drug dealers and aggressive bouncers that refused us entry to our own rights of way.

I honestly wouldn’t recommend it.

As an aside to my post above, I live in a very naice Home Counties market town, on a beautiful street. Just because it’s in a pretty and respectable location does not guarantee the patrons will be pleasant or thoughtful. Nor the landlords.

My dream come true! 🍻

It can be a very sweet pub but people leaving and chatting outside will drive you mad unless you’re a very good sleeper and your room is at the back

other than that not sure why it impacts a mortgage as loads of houses in St Albans are near pubs.

sell and rent as that puts you in a great position to buy

^ as above. Move to rented if you really want the sale to go through in time.

Lenders are always twitchy about properties in such close proximity to pubs and hospitality venues. Even if you were able to port your mortgage, lenders with different criteria might not remortgage in future, and when it comes to sell, your buyers will face the same struggle.

I love a pub and we live a perfect 150 metres from our local one - and that’s about as close as I’d go. As others have said, even with a lovely tidy pub (and our local is) there’s still summer garden noise and cigarette smoke, the noise of people talking as they leave late at night etc. We’re far enough that we don’t get disturbed any of that, but I know the houses which back onto the pub garden complain from time to time.

Never live next door to a pub. It might be OK now, but licensees change frequently and what's a quiet local boozer under one can become a horrendously loud music venue under another.

We found a lovely place in a small village on the Surrey/Sussex border which ticked all the boxes and was next door to the village pub with only a drive separating the two properties. It fell through for various reasons and at the time DW and I were heart-broken. Having talked to people who've lived next door to pubs, I now see it as a very lucky break.

I wouldn't do it. Even if it was fine, there would be loads of people like me who would discount it without even looking inside, and that could be a nightmare if you wanted to move even before you get into whether you could port your mortgage.

We used to live about 200m from a popular sunday lunch pub. It was not that bad during the week as fairly quiet. But on the weekend was different. People out for a fun time just dont think about their noise level when they have had a few drinks. When live music was on (most weekends in the summer) no option but to listen to mediocre pub singers from 4pm to 11pm. I would not choose to do it again.

I wouldn't do this for all the reasons mentioned. Do t feel guilty about taking more time to find the right house to appease your buyers but do let them know very soon if it's looking likely you can't find anything within their time frame and be prepared to go back in the market yourself.

Having lived opposite a pub I would absolutely not do it again.

To offer a different POV:

My PILs lived next to a pub in the Home Counties until FIL died a few years ago.

It was fine, with only a few moderately noisy nights a year. But this is an upmarket pub, attracting mainly an older, quieter crowd and families for weekend lunches. Also, the majority of both large gardens lie between the two buildings. It has an ample car park.

My PILs liked the place and some effort was extended on both sides to maintain good relations. It can work. However I think the features I mentioned above helped enormously.

The fact I am the only person who has viewed this house is testament to the lack of appeal. It also used to be in catchment for the city's most desirable mixed secondary school but fell out of this ever-shrinking catchment this year. This willl presumably be a reason the owner is selling up now.

I am struggling with many conflicting thoughts. The house is in the location I want with the exact size and layout I want. It isn't huge but its a good 3 bed with large kitchen and receptions and were it not next to the pub it would be at least £100k more and beyond my budget. As a single mum I simply couldn't afford the lifestyle I want in a house like this - lots of entertaining space, kitchen with island, v close to station and secondary my child currently attends - without a huge, huge compromise.

So what I'd be doing would be having the life I want in the home I want for the next 8-10 years, but with limited prospects for resale. For inheritance planning, it would have to stay in the family as a buy to let or be sold to another landlord. It would most likely rent to commuters - it was tenanted until this week - who don't have kids.

The internal glazing is excellent. You can't hear a peep from the noisy main road with constant bus traffic once inside.

Re the pub: its up for sale atm. Our city has far, far too many pubs and not enough homes. I would hope that as the pub culture fades further with younger people drinking less, we'll see quite a few boozers being converted for residential use. But for the next few years, spending time in the garden in summer is going to be compromised by the noise of the pub beer garden.

I am thinking actually that after I'm sold, if this one hasn't sold I will take it on as a short term rental and fully experience its location. If its manageable I would make an offer after that as a cash buyer. If not I will buy elsewhere as a cash buyer, in a buyers' market in my price bracket because of the huge FTB stamp duty hike.

I work for a mortgage company and we wouldn't lend next door to a pub. This is due to noise concerns and potential resale issues if we had to repossess. Ideally the broker would check with us before submitting the application. If they didn't it would fail the valuation and be declined. I'd tread with caution.

Not a chance. Rent if necessary rather than buy an unsuitable property.

i have a friend who lives next to a pub, during covid the pub built a massive shelter in the beer garden with heaters, etc. its still in use so theres like 30 plus people smoking and drinking and shouting till midnight every night only a few feet from her house.

If the pub is on a large plot with beer gardens etc, it is far more likely to be demolished for flats, rather than converted.
Although you could end up with non-residential there too.

If its 100k below market price for the area it sounds tempting to me, if school catchment not an issue

Is there a tenant in there atm? Might that delay completion if you do decide to go ahead?

Do you want to say which pub it is? That might help as some of us might know it

Two of the three pubs nearest me were converted into HMOs and one is now a supermarket. The music venue was replaced by a huge block of flats.

All of these are considerably more disruptive than the original businesses.

I'm 150m from a pub and can barely hear it despite fortnightly live music and a midnight licence. We live in a more upmarket town and this is the newer posher bit though