Cancel House Purchase due to Neighbours

[Badger87]

So a few months ago we decided we wanted to move from our town centre terraced house out to a detached house in a countryside village.

Ours sold and we had an offer accepted on a house we were really like

However a couple weeks before exchange we have found out the neighbour house is owned and rented by a cult, Plymouth brethren.

The owner of the house we were buying was honest enough to tell us on a second viewing. He admitted it was a weird setup and they do not communicate with him whatsoever.

This has been a major red flag to us as we would now feel uncomfortable with such a situation.

We are now about to pull out the purchase however feel awful to do this just before exchange.

Are we overreacting? Anyone else have any experience of a similar situation?

The Plymouth Brethren are not a cult. They are a bit like the Amish, they are restricted on thing slike television, electricity etc. I had a schoolfriend who was Plymouth Brethren and she was lovely. They are not a threat to you!

Why?
It's a completely reasonable query to have!!
Who the hell are these people, because I've no idea personally?
Some people are SO blinkered!

We live next door to Plymouth Brethren and they’ve never caused any problems !? Probably quieter and more respectable than other people

Are you in Hampshire? If so, it may be my village. I lived here for years before I even realised there were PB here. They are not part of the community at all. They are not even allowed to live in semi detached houses, they must be completely detached. They are not friendly or neighbourly but won’t cause you any trouble. They are definitely a cult though, however you dress it up. But no threat to you.

I have a relative whose husband works for them, 9-5 M-F. Finds them pleasant, good employers but they don't eat together at lunch time or have any joint celebrations. No problem at all.

There's a lot about the Brethren online, different types. Obviously articles are written about scandalous or sensational things as is always the case with reports on religious groups, however on the whole they seem to be OK and it wouldn't bother me living near them.

The people saying that the Plymouth Brethren are not a cult are so utterly, utterly incorrect. My husband worked in one of their businesses for several years. Many of them drink heavily (alcohol is one of the very few things not restricted), and as others have said, are very funny about their houses and land. Lots and lots of dodgy business dealings too.

And!

I'm blessed to have a Plymouth brethren family as neighbours.They don't attend church and when a neighbour died they stood outside the church to show their respects.On a rotational basis they have meetings in each others homes There's quite small numbers so we've ever noticed any large numbers visiting.
The women are quite distinctive and usually wear skirts although I see the little girls wearing trousers when they play.The women don't cut their hair and will usually wear it in a bun.They own a local shop and have very strong business links in the community.
Any dealings I've had with them has been fine, their little girl attended the same nursery as mine and she went through a stage of exclaiming "Glory Be" when she was surprised as this was a popular saying by the other little girls family.
They'll be quiet respectful neighbours who won't cut grass on the Sabbath or use power tools.

I lived 2 doors from a Plymouth Brethren family. They were very quiet, didn’t chat but occasionally gave a nod or smile as you passed. No problem with them at all.

Eh? Surely that means one man, who belongs to the Plymouth Brethren, is a pervert, not that all members of the Plymouth Brethren are perverts.

My parents were in the open brethren, fairly similar to Plymouth brethren. I am not pro-brethren at all and I am atheist, however I think there are far worse neighbours. They are not a cult, they won't do anything massively weird, they will look a bit old-fashioned, but they will let you get on with your life without engaging I'd say.

My granddaughter was at school in South Wales with a girl from a Plymouth Brethren family, all the family were really lovely.

give me that over yapping dogs or screaming kids.

Lots of Plymouth Brethren round here. They have well behaved dc and are quiet people who keep themselves to themselves but always polite. Sounds like an amazing opportunity to have great neighbours to me.

I've known several Plymouth Brethren over the years and would never have been bothered to have any of them as neighbours. Polite, respectful, quiet, hardworking......... Are you worried they will lodge complaints about you practising devil worship in your garden, sacrificing the occasional goat, or maybe your obsession with drum'n'bass whilst out of your head on ket might not be their cup of tea, or is it the all-night swingers' orgies in your hot tub that you feel will be spoiled? FFS, get over yourself, and lose the discriminatory attitude towards people of differing faiths and beliefs whom you clearly know absolutely NOTHING about.

Our local policeman was a member of the Plymouth Brethren. Nice man. We were at school with his children, when small. Then they went to another school.
I would be happy if they were neighbours. Nice folks. My last neighbour was so noisy, I moved for my own sanity.

Agree - only fair to pull out and allow more accepting buyers to become their neighbours

We had a similar religious family group rent the house next door to us for a while - they were perfect neighbours. The last and current family that own it are foul mouthed and trouble. I wouldn't worry about the Plymouth brethren.

We have a lot of PB families in our area as we have a PB secondary school local. They will be very easy neighbours, I certainly wouldn’t pull out of a sale. Yes they don’t mix but they are very polite and have many business in the area and employ non pb workers.

The responses about how quiet the Brethren are does not surprise me. It would not put me off moving to be honest.

OP hasn't been back - prob not a genuine post.

Yup. Had a boss who was PB. A bit of a pain - he didn't approve of women being uppity...but he'd have been fine as a neighbour.

For what it’s worth there are a large amount of Plymouth brethren’s in the town where we live. In fact the house that backs onto our drive is owned by a family of PBs. They are very nice, very quiet and respectable people. It wouldn’t put me off at all - in fact I would see it as reassuring.

What do you think they're going to do? Dance around a burning wicker man in the garden wearing white robes? 😂

Definitely pull out yes it was honest of the seller but if they hadn’t, they potentially could’ve been sued.by you down the line. We have problem neighbours with rowdy teenagers with noisy bikes and cars - the house next door to them is selling because of it..