Giant warehouse being built behind house we’re buying!! Help

[Pony86]

We offered on our dream house in April (£500k, full asking price), had a bit of a nightmare with broken chains etc but getting there now. The house has a massive back garden which backs onto an old disused government storage site with the warehouse being around 10m high (whiteish colour and pretty much just blends into the sky). We were told by the vendors that it was being knocked down and replaced as the site was really old. Found out today (a week or so away from exchange) that it’s being replaced with a 20m high mega warehouse which will totally overshadow the small street and the garden. I’m gutted. As much as it pains me, I’m considering pulling out. DH is trying to convince me we could spend a small fortune on mature trees and cover the worst of it. I rang the EA today, she had no idea and was shocked so it obviously wasn’t priced into the valuation. Would we be within our rights to suggest a small price reduction to cover some of the cost of mitigating the gigantic eyesore if we do decide to stick with it? I don’t want to come across like chancers price dripping before exchange but this is a hideous situation. Would welcome any thoughts / advice!

Pull out. Honestly don't even risk it.

In our area behind the council houses was a big football pitch been used for years by local kids. They've put up a huge Amazon style warehouse there. It's blighted those homes.

Don’t buy it!
The eye sore is the jest of your problems as you can negotiate down the price. The real hassle is the in and out of trucks on unsociable hours. The constant beeping sound of the trucks on reverse, the pollution. Real shame. Sorry this happened but good you out before the exchange

Shockingly poor solicitor imo

Do not buy

It's no longer your dream house!

It's not the just the structure. It's all the vehicles that will be going in and out. I am in the US and one my friends ended up with a warehouse behind her back garden. All night long, idling tractor trailers bring goods to the warehouse. The noise is deafening and there is so much pollution in the air every single night.

Your solicitor should have seen this when he searched planning etc. I would pull out.

I’d pull out too. The noise and traffic it will generate will be huge and you’d struggle to sell it on, losing money no doubt. It’s horrible to pull out at this stage but long term it’s the better option.

That BBC article was from March. Assuming it's the same one... Are your estate agents local? If so there's no way they wouldn't have known. Not just from chat and gossip but enquiries from panicked vendors for some time. The knee jerk reaction from many in the area would be to at least get a valuation and consider selling ASAP.

Same goes for the solicitors. If they work in the area, this is big enough news to be common relevant knowledge.

I too would withdraw. 20m is massive. That's not going to be an occasional lorry visiting, they'll be back and forth all the time and they often beep when reversing, so consider the noise. They'll probably also have floodlights on site for security, so light pollution too. Then there's also the chance, though hopefully unlikely, of alarms going off if the place gets broken in to. For half a million I wouldn't consider it and in this case it's a perfectly reasonable excuse to pull out.

Like pp, I've seen the news stories where this has happened to other people. The things are HUGE. I wouldn't want to live in a house with that overshadowing everything.

Poor vendors, although it makes you wonder if they thought they'd got away with it!

I'd be pulling out too.

The noise will be bad too. I would pull out.

This should been flagged far earlier in the process? Your searches include any local planning applications with may affect you and this one clearly does! I would pull out too but I’d also change solicitor for any further purchases you make and I’d be looking for a significant reduction on the fees they will charge.

Excellent point on solicitor change, also fees

I'd pull out. A small price reduction doesn't cut it. The building would put every single buyer off putting in an offer in future.

Sorry if you lose some money - look up the sunk cost fallacy if you're not already aware of this.

We pulled out the night before exchange once due to an undisclosed mineshaft under the garden. Felt a bit shit for losing some money but so glad we did as that house took ages to sell in the end (massive price reductions). We decided not to feel embarrassed as this should have been disclosed before we put in an offer - much the same as the plans with this building for you. You are not at fault here and something else will come up.

The local authority sarch only searches the planning history for the property you are buying not the local area.

There is an additional.seatch that searches local planning applications in the locality and that comes at additional cost.

Most firms have standard wording to warn about this.

Also lots of people want their conveyancing done as cheap as possible and these additional.searxhes aren't included in the quote to keep the cost down.

Personally op don't buy the house. The broken chains along the way have happened for a reason and given you an exit plan.

Even if the garden is long enough to plant large trees and not lose light to the house, the noise will erode your sanity. Warehouse operatives hollering over engine noise, the constant beeping of reversing lorries and forklifts. I get irritated when the wind is blowing the wrong way and i can hear the reverse beeping from the building site a mile away (when they decide to work at 2pm on a Sunday).

The house just tanked 30% in value, imo.

Sorry OP's husband, you are wrong. There will be no relaxing in the garden to be had at this house.

For 500k you definitely don't need to live on the edge of what sounds like a huge commercial enterprise. The disturbance of building it will be 2 to 3 years and then after that it has finished the house is reduced in value. I would be pulling out or revising the offer very significantly - 20 to 30 %

Yes this. It should have been flagged.

Agree with what everyone says plus how long will it take to knock down and rebuild, imagine the noise of all that happening on top of everything else.

You must pull out, you're nearly in tears now at the thought of it. I'd hate it. You'd struggle to sell down the line, price would be massively affected.

Incorrect. Local searches cover the specific property not the surrounding area

I came on to say just this. It’s not on the solicitors to canvas the area for potential development. That’s (morally) on the sellers to flag and on the buyers to check.

Honestly OP, pull out. Once this is built the value of your property will be negatively impacted and you could be stuck there

The building itself wouldn't bother me but it will have traffic day and night with so much noise.

Your solicitor should have known this!

Coukd this be why they are selling up?

I would walk away. You can't mitigate that.