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?

I've read some pretty mad posts on here, but this ranks quite highly.

I’d be very happy with Bretheren neighbours. Quiet, and no need to invite them to BBQs!

They are not a cult: just deeply religious!

As if a sports centre was the same as a Christian group.

What does that even mean? It's rented to a PB family to live in? Or used as a church?

It wouldn't bother me unless it was used as a church, although to be fair I don't know much about PB other than the women cover their heads, I don't know if they sing or worship loudly etc.

But I think that's a massive overreaction.

you can read about the Plymouth Brethren in that heartbreaking literary novel Iscar and Lucinda.

Also they are brexiters, I believe.

Quite. My DH moans that our neighbours are anti social and don't speak to anyone, but given the alternative where the house behind them is exactly the same size but has a multi-generational family living there that have 4am parties a few times a year, I'd take quiet and anti-social any day!

No matter where you move you don't know what your neighbours will be like. And even if you do know what they're like, there's nothing stopping them moving themselves. So, while you might buy a house with the perfect next door neighbours, who's to say they don't decide to sell up a week later and move in the family from hell?

It's always a gamble, unless you buy an enormous plot of land in the middle of nowhere!

So why didn't you decide against this after the second viewing when the vendor told you about it? You have wasted everyone's time and probably cost the vendor a lot of money. Pulling out at this late stage for something you knew about ages ago is a dick move

In a scale of nightmare neighbours they do not even are it seems. I had a crazy drunk screaming and crying at critical times. Was embarrassing and distressing.

@sandrapinchedmysandwich agree entirely. Apart from the fact it's an absolute non-issue, pulling out late on this is a total dick move.

Plymouth Brethren are absolutely a cult with all the isolationist practices that go along with it (waves to the five generations of cousins who won't see this because they can't have computers). However they are the fundamentalist kind, so unless the house is big enough for large prayer meetings they shouldn't bother you. They won't associate with you.

On the flip side our previous house was bought by a Plymouth Brethren family and our old neighbours had no problems with them , polite but insular

I'd imagine they'd be ideal neighbours!

You can have my weed-smoking weird neighbour and I'll have the Bretheren, thanks!

Of the houses I have lived (six), I have had two difficult neighbours. One was in a flat rented to what was supposed to be a single mother. Her boyfriend turned up after a day or two. He was awful and after another couple of weeks another neighbour called the Police when she heard the mother being assaulted. She could literally hear her hitting the walls. From this point forward there was no peace and the housing association were useless. It only ceased when they moved on to a house. I also had a neighbour who had mental health issues. She sprayed weedkiller and cut down all of the plants in our garden and those of the other neighbour saying the gardens were all full of weeds. I also once had a couple of vicars as a neighbour once- rented house whilst they were training. No problems whatsoever. Optimally I would like someone I could have a good close relationship with, but mostly this does not happen IME. A religious family or grouping would not be a reason to pull out for me and especially not this late in the process. Of course you can (legally), but really?

What a ridiculous overreaction, you should feel embarrassed. Living next door to a peaceful Christian group (not a cult) should be a reason to buy the property, not withdraw your offer. If you'd discovered there was a sinister group of animal sacrificing satanists living next door, I would understand your reluctance to purchase the property.

That would be a massive plus to me. We have a house in our village occupied by Brethren. It’s a big house with lots of land, I’ve never once seen them 😂

The Plymouth Brethren are a Christian fundamentalist sect. They have some awful views on various things including the role of women and sexuality. But so do lots of people you might unknowingly move next door to.

They are essentially a cult, of sorts, but not the kind of cult that tries to recruit vulnerable people and draw them in. They’re not like Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons. They’re actually very insular and closed off, and unlikely to bother you. I wouldn’t want to be friends with them but I wouldn’t pull out of a house purchase because they lived next door.

I suspect they will keep themselves to themselves!

Totally agree with this

Having had neighbours from hell (noisy, abusive, aggressive, and vindictive) I would have given my right arm for a group of Plymouth Brethren next door. As long as they were quiet and didn't bother me (and sounds like they fit this bill), I'd be grateful for them. They are not a cult (an easy smear to fling at all kinds of groups of various beliefs/faiths, and it's very seldom accurate). There's more about them here: https://www.plymouthbrethrenchristianchurch.org/community/#:~:text=Any%20questions%3F-,Our%20beliefs,may%20know%20as%20Holy%20Communion.

I’d have no problem with quiet neighbours who keep to themselves. So long as they’d be fine to throw stray balls back over the fence, we’d be very happy.

Good grief. The Brethren are not a cult. They are very strict so there won't be dancing, music, alcohol etc My DH's GPs were Plymouth Brethren. They tend to only mix socially with their own church members so any interaction with neighbours would be minimal.
I'd be perfectly happy to have them as neighbours!

Ha, I was about to say something similar. I think they're big enough to be classified as a sect, but certainly the Closed Brethren have all the auspices of a cult. Open Brethren not so much.

That said, I would have absolutely no issues having them as neighbours. I have both Closed and Open Brethren in my family (although obviously I don't have much to do with the Closed ones as they're not really supposed to associate with us) and all would be good neighbours.

They’re not a cult! They’re a long established Christian group.

Always been friendly and approachable in my experience.