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?

Or maybe he was just a pervert irrespective of what religion he represented.

You might do, most of us would never know. I’ve lived next door to my neighbours for coming on 20 years and have no idea to this day if they are religious or not.

It wouldn't bother me at all so I think YABU and unfair to the seller. There are much worse types of neighbours to have. If they don’t interfere with others, why should you care about their religious beliefs? I’m sure there will be other residents of the village that you can be friendly with,

The Plymouth Brethren are not a cult, they are a recognised church

Mmm. Some of the 'survivor stories' online are eye opening.

Illegal chemical castration for the gays, banishment for a relationship with an outsider and a decent sprinkling of child sexual abuse and handing women and girls around the 'elders'.

I mean it could all be lies of course but if it looks like a cult and sounds like a cult...

I live next door to PB and it is hell on earth. It’s their way or the highway. They complain about everything and even call the police about our security cameras which are clearly within our boundaries. Do not move there. Our life here is hell. Constant building work. Out of hours. They don’t abide by any rules.

Depends if its run as a church. Our neighbours are a methodist church and they sing and play the guitar 8foot from my back door in the summer. Some people might adore that but some wouldn't. 30+ people singing in your back garden Sunday morning is an acquired taste.

I think trust your gut on this one and don't go through with it. Sounds like they are a religious cult and quite frankly I wouldn't want to be a stones throw from them.

I agree, and prejudice is based on ignorance, which seems to be the case here.

Have you phoned the council on them then? Tit for tat and all that.

There are a few houses around here owned by PB and there were a few kids at dd’s primary as they go to state school until 7 or 8. I haven’t heard of them causing any issues but I didn’t see / meet the dads.

We've 20 years of PB neighbours and they are universally disliked. Patriarchal & bullying, they completely disregard getting on with the neighbours. So dogs barking and biting. Disregard me, barely talk to my DH. Believe the end is nigh so caravans for extended family, boat, random badly kept animals.
I honestly wish I'd never stayed here. I hate bringing the kids up to keep away from the nasty neighbours.

We used to live in a street that had a high number of them. While certainly not the religion for us, they were the world’s best neighbours. Ultra quiet, kept completely to themselves. The ‘most disruptive’ it got was on Sunday’s (think it was Sunday, but maybe Saturday?), when they would all walk out into the street with what looked like a pot luck dish and would walk to one person’s house. They didn’t even walk across front lawns as short cuts, nicely down their drive, onto the road, up the other person’s drive!

If you were not a Brethren, they completely ignored you. Kids were all quiet and well behaved, never heard a sound coming from the houses. It was heaven. I’d definitely take them as neighbours again, much better than 95% of other people.

You won't be best friends but what wonderful neighbours. They won't be half naked in a spa pool drinking and talking loudly at night. No loud parties, no loud music etc.

I’ve got a lot of experience of the PB, having worked for a PB company (for 2 months 3 weeks - that was as much as I could handle), and living next door to a PB family years before that.

Firstly, it’s absolutely a cult. They call it a denomination of Christianity, but it isn’t. They’re not allowed technology, music, TV, film, uncensored news, to marry or even eat with anybody outside of the PB. And if you leave, your family disown you, you wouldn’t even be allowed to have anything to do with your own kids. That isn’t Christianity, not any mainstream denomination I’ve ever known at least. That’s a very restrictive cult.

That said, they’re lovely people. They’ll keep themselves to themselves as much as possible, they’ll say hello and make brief conversation, but they won’t want much to do with you at all. Living next door to them was great, and when we needed help one time they rushed over to help us. Working with them was difficult - constant treading on egg shells in case you say the wrong thing etc.

Interestingly, their practices require them to only live in detached houses. Otherwise, they believe they’re sharing pipes and resources etc with non-PB people, which is a big no. That gives you an idea of just how much they like to keep themselves to themselves. All I’d say is that in the extremely unlikely event you did have any neighbour problems, because they generally don’t have much “real world” experience, compromise isn’t a word which comes into their vocabulary at all really. But it’s be extremely unlikely you’d have a problem as neighbours, they’re very quiet and polite people.

There have been no issues with this people.
They are a Christian organisation and follow the bible.
Plymouth Brethren Churches in the UK | Plymouth Brethren Christian Church UK

Same as us. Bullies who work in packs. Drink heavily and shout abuse at us as we objected to a McMansion being built which was refused by the council committee unanimously anyway but they blamed us then made our lives hell. Clanking digger buckets near our windows. Reving chainsaws and loads turn up and just stand and stare. They are horrible.

We pulled out just before exchange due to a neighbour dispute ongoing that we were told was entirely personal. An email we got from prospective neighbours suggested it would continue…. So we bailed!

i can understand your discomfort but FWIW I can’t see Plymouth Brethern troubling you? Their whole thing is that they literally don’t interact with outsiders. Some people would love that from their neighbours 😂

You could end up next to anyone with vastly different views and way of life. They aren’t known to be violent.

It depends if it’s truly put you off. If it has then it has and pull out - it’s got to be right. But this might not be the massive deal you suspect?

This thread is full of people talking about Plymouth Brethren like it's one group that can all be evaluated together. That's absolutely not the case. Generally speaking there Plymouth Brethren churches can be divided into open and exclusive, and within both of those the individual groups aren't cults at all.

But the PBCC has absolutely been consistently described as a cult or a "high control group" by many, including ex-members. They amount of control they have over members' lives, the repercussions for disobedience or leaving, and the demands placed on members all fit that description. No, their website (unsurprisingly) does not proclaim "we are a cult!" but the kindest description is that they have many traits common to cults.

If I were buying a house I would want to know what the house next door is used for. Is it a meeting house? If so they'll hold worship daily through the week and all day on Sunday, so investigate the amount of traffic. Is it being used for multi-family housing or short-term housing? For running a business? Those are normal things to consider about neighbors when buying a house. Otherwise I wouldn't worry about being next door to PBCC members or any other Brethren groups.

My husband works in construction, and deals a lot with a company run by Plymouth brethren people. He finds them very polite, respectful, hardworking and efficient.

There was a PB church near where I grew up and some children went to my secondary school. They didn’t go into assembly, and when I couldn’t for a while due to broken legs I spent time with them (they weren’t in my year, I didn’t know them). They were nice, much more diligent than I was, and pretty normal - it was the 80s, smartly dressed, well behaved kids weren’t normal in our school.

Id live next door to them without a thought. They will NOT try to recruit you or cause you problems

Definitely a cult, and I wouldn't want to live next to them either. Some deeply weird beliefs; those who have broken free have some pretty hair raising tales.

On the plus side they'd probably be quiet.

I guess you have to somehow find out if they are the type of PB who keep themselves to themselves except when coming to help, or the sort with diggers who run past windows naked.

Plymouth Brethren are not allowed to keep any dogs, it is a fundamental rule.
Your neighbours will be have been Plymouth Brethren.
Cats also.

Sounds like they will keep themselves to themselves. Maybe the odd sacrifice during the summer soltice....(joke!).

That wouldn't put me off at all, I prefer neighbours who don't want to chat!

It will be no different to living beside any other religious folks. As in you won't know what they are like just from the name. Some of the best people I've met were Christians. And some of the worst people I've met were Christians too.

So the neighboring house is owned by the church and rented to other church members? The seller said he's never had any issue with them, I don't think it would dissuade me from buying.