Would you buy this house?

[DontWantNoScrub]

Found a house we want to buy, perfect in every way and exactly what we have been looking for. Backs on to open fields. We did a drive by before arranging a viewing and noticed that at the side of the house there was what looked to be a new access road, and when looking we could see diggers behind the house in the field.

We head home and did some digging and research online and there is about to be a development of houses built on that land directly behind the house by a Housing Association. 20 new dwellings. These dwellings are called 'affordable housing' and there will also be a play park and a pumping station built there too.

We are not so much put off by the open fields being occupied by houses but more the building noise and disruption that will be taking place and for how long? We don't know how long it could take to build them all and the affect it will then have on the area as it is now (which is lovely and quiet currently)

Would you give this a massive swerve?

Avoid. A friend had houses built in a field at the end of their garden, and said it was horrendous - dust, noise etc.

I would worry a bit, the built houses near my grandparents and when they tapped into the local sewer the new houses overloaded it and with them being above the old houses (higher elevation) problems run downwards and the village started have issues with sewerage flooding.

I bought a new build in phase 2 of 3 building phases so we had building work right next to us for about 18 months after moving in. It could be a pain at times but not the end of the world, depends what you’re willing to put up with. What we had -
Cars and windows don’t stay clean due to dust so don’t bother
Noise in the mornings including Saturdays (but there will be set times they’re allowed to start so find out when this is)
Vibrations through the walls and floor occasionally when digging (pictures fell off walls)
2 occasions where the building site was broken into during the night to steal diesel from the diggers meaning police noise etc

All these things happened separately so I wouldn’t say it was an ongoing nightmare, and they throw the houses up so quickly that it’ll be over before you know it for only 20 of them

That's my thoughts too. I just have a feeling it will be a massive nightmare and we might regret it. This will be a last move for us so I was wondering if its something we could put up with in the short term. If we could then we would pretty much have the perfect house. But DH thinks we would be mad to touch it.

I think it depends on timescale, who is building and what would be exactly behind the house you are interested in. Your sale and possible building works ( if you are thinking of some) may take some time so depending on the situation the development might be at their final stage at the time of your moving. If you liked the house and it’s a good price I would think carefully.
However it might be the reason why vendor’s selling so you need more details.

That sounds hideous. Apparently they are also putting a pumping station in which I believe removes the sewerage and takes it away so it seems they have considered this. But you never quite know do you?

Avoid. Keep looking, something else will turn up.

See that is my thoughts. I don't think it would be too bad and I can put up with a year or so of noise and potential dust. They have stated working hours of 8am-6pm Monday to Friday and 8am - 1pm on Saturday. DH works from home and thinks it will be difficult for him and he is not keen on the Saturday morning noise either.

It is just deciding really whether or not we want to put up with the works. The house that will be behind ours will be a bungalow and its the gardens that back onto each other so we won't be massively overlooked once they are up.

I moved into a new build estate as the last house in phase 1 right next to where they built phase 2 and then 3. It was fine. I had the builders offices right opposite me and that’s where the new park ended up when it was complete.

17 years later we are still here!

I do think this could be the reason why the vendor is selling. The access road runs right next to the house so all the coming and going will be right next to it. The house planned to be directly behind is a bungalow and their garden will back onto ours so that would be okay.

The work is due to start in the next couple of months.

We had 6 houses built in the area, and it was done quickly and nothing (like sewage or traffic) was affected. But it’s obvious it won’t. It actually looks much better now when the empty space is gone.
It’s very tricky to find a perfect house and guarantee that it stayed like this so I wouldn’t write it off. At least do a viewing as you might be disappointed by something less.

20 houses though, surely it wouldn't take that long?

A good 2 years I’d say.

I thought that. Surely they will whip them up in no time? I really don't want to write it off because of this and think a year of building work would be worth it to get the house we want in the location we want.

We are not bothered about having houses behind us. Having open fields behind a house is a luxury really and its not a problem to us. Its just more the noise and disruption we are worrying about and whether we will end up being really bothered by it. DH works from home!! 😬

I think the answer is...it depends! I found what I thought was our dream house, BUT there was planning permission to build 83 houses opposite. The thought of living through the building phase put us off, so we didn't go for it.

Fast forward a year or so later, the estate is up and that house has been sold. The estate is actually nice and doesn't impinge on the house-that-got-away, so I do sometimes think 'what if' (although living through the build would have been stressful).

Also, now the estate has been built, there is nowhere else for a developer to go in that area, so you are kind of future-proofed. Whereas if you buy a house near a field in the future, you may be back to the same problem.

Avoid. What if towards the end of the development cycle they get permission for another 20? Or a block of apartments?
Will you be happy with the 100 or so car journeys per day running down the side of your garden when these 20 are complete?
If you persist, I’d expect a very good discount.

To have the benefit of hindsight eh?

Also, there would be room for more houses on the land once these are done and, as someone else mentioned, there would be nothing stopping the developer I don't think of putting these 20 up and then doing another phase and going for 20 more. So it could be ongoing. But that would be another risk we would take.

Do you regret not going for that house now or did you find something else equally as nice?

I’d look for a lower price definitely.

A social housing bungalow backing on to your garden is a positive thing I think.

There should be lots more information on the on-line planning portal for the local area. Find the planning application and then you can wade through all the documents which will have site plans, timescales and build details including working hours.
This is the sort of thing your solicitor would find doing searches and it is normally easy to do all this yourself at no cost.

We did find somewhere lovely, BUT there is a field nearby that has had rumblings about being developed for years....I guess there are no certainties.

I think if the house that got away was really 'the one' we would have bought it, tbh. I liked it more than DH, whereas the one we eventually bought we both liked. So yeah, maybe go and view and see what the feel is.

I would avoid unless the field can only fit the 20 houses that are underway. Having heavy plant rumbling, dust, piling, in close quarters isn't very fun. For one site of 20 houses and done, if the house was perfect in every other way I'd consider, but only if there was no possibility of further phases.

I'm a no. Buy a house where all the surrounding work is already completed and then you know what you are getting. It might be 20 houses now, but if there are other fields, that will no doubt become 50, 100 etc. over the course of the next decade and the noise and disturbance could be a real pain. It was a big consideration for us as we saw several nice places that currently backed onto open land. Instead, we went for a 1950s house that is surrounded by other properties, mostly from the 50s also but with a few streets of more modern stock. I thought, well there's nowhere else left to build within a 10 minute walk so we are unlikely to be disturbed. There are some estates going up but they are a bit further away and unlikely to impinge on our day-to-day life.

Too much uncertainty for me. Several years of building work, loss of views/privacy, increased traffic, no idea who your new neighbours will be.. That said, if the price was heavily discounted, maybe I'd take a chance.

We walked away from a lovely house because of a similar scenario (although this was a development of 2000 homes that the home owner had lied about). For us, the additional traffic (during the build and beyond) and the noise were as important as the loss of view. Plus, can you be certain that 20 is just the start of it? You could potentially be living next to a building site for multiple years. Could this be why it's on the market?

Actually no, I can't be certain that 20 homes is where this will end. There is definitely much more space and I have a feeling 20 homes could just be the first phase and they will then do another one.

I do feel that this is why its on the market. The access road is right next to this house. 😬