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.

If the property is empty, could you offer to rent it initially to see if it works for you, if the owners want to sell this could work out brilliantly for both of you

I would never, ever buy any where near a pub again. The extended hours and smoking ban made it 10 tines worse. If they ban smoking in pub gardens they will be smoking right outside your house....

We've a pub across the street and it's never caused any issues. A couple of neighbours are constantly complaining about it though. Desperate to get it closed down. Thing is they moved in next door to a pub. That's been there hundreds of years. So it seems weird they hate on it so much.

they have just left

This is increasingly appealing. Would give me six months to find out if the pub is bearable, if my mortgage lender will accept it, or find something else in a v strong cash buyer position.

I was going to mention pubs being converted.

When I moved into my home I lived about 200 yards from a pub. No one ever went into the pub because according to everyone I asked the beer was terrible and the landlord was horrid. It is now a small block of 2 bed flats and 4 houses.

The pub was open for about 3 months when I moved in and then was closed for about 5 years while they sorted out planning permission. They fought local residents because we stated they couldn't turn it into one bed flats and studios. The owners had to get property guardians to live in it to stop squatters moving in.

Other pubs in my area have been turned into flats with one turned into Tesco Express as they have less land.

There is a pub down the road from us, staggering distance, but not actually very close at all, so we never usually hear any noise.
I was just in the garden at 1:32am and heard them emptying the glass bottles into their outside bottle skip as the sound carried in the quiet night.
Their poor immediate neighbours!

Thanks so much. Sell and rent is where I’m heading on this one I think. I may offer to rent the house next to the pub - it’s not selling. The tenant has just left. I could get a proper sense of if the pub is bearable and how much work actually needs doing/what this would cost to properly secure and soundproof everything.

Good idea. Don’t forget summer pub garden noise.