Buying a house – three windows and the front door have just been smashed. Would this worry you?

[BeQuaintLion]

Hi everyone,
I’m currently in the process of buying a house, and something rather concerning has come to light over the last couple of days. I’d really appreciate some outside opinions.
I had a survey carried out on the property yesterday, and it was the surveyor who initially discovered that three separate windows and the front door had been smashed/vandalised. This damage has only occurred within the last few days, as it wasn’t present previously.
What strikes me as particularly strange is the extent of the damage.
If it were just one smashed window, I’d probably put it down to a passing yob or mindless vandalism. Similarly, if someone was attempting to break in, why would they need to smash three separate windows AND the front door?
To me, this seems more deliberate and targeted rather than a random act of vandalism.
To make matters more concerning, I’ve since heard some unverified information suggesting that the damage could potentially be connected to previous occupants of the property, although I have absolutely no way of knowing whether there’s any truth in that.
The house is currently vacant, and until this happened, everything had been progressing nicely with the purchase. I’ve already had my mortgage offer issued, and the conveyancing process is well underway.
I’m now wondering whether there could be some history attached to the property that I’m completely unaware of, and whether whoever caused the damage might return.
I’ve raised the matter with the estate agent and intend to ask my solicitor to make further enquiries.
What I’d really like people’s opinions on is:

• Does smashing three windows and a front door seem like targeted vandalism to you?
• Would this make you suspicious that there’s something more going on?
• Has anyone experienced anything similar when purchasing a property?
• Would you continue with the purchase if you could establish what happened, or would this be enough to put you off?
• Would you consider renegotiating the purchase price, given that this has happened during the buying process?

I’m particularly interested in whether others think I’m overthinking the situation or whether my concerns are justified. It’s a lovely property that I was genuinely excited about buying, but the last thing I want is to move into a house that might be the subject of ongoing trouble. Would you be concerned if this happened to a house you were in the middle of buying? Thanks in advance!

*Previous!

Raise it with your solicitor. I would also knock on the door of neighbours to try and find out if they know anything.

This……

my colleague had a similar experience with the house being vandalised, broken windows and grafeti and so she spoke to neighbours who said it had been rented out and at one point there was drug dealing at the house and so they pulled out the sale as didn’t want any issues moving in with their family. I’d be doing some research too but my gut instinct would be with withdraw your offer.

I wouldn't pull out automatically, but I would knock on every door on the street and get to know everyone. You'll immediately learn a lot. My road has a neighborhood watch guy down one end - this dude knows EVERYTHING. He's not my immediate neighbour, so don't just go to the next door houses.

Assuming just mindless vandalism, I would insist the seller arrange CCTV for the remainder of the sale, and also ask them to repair damage or reduce their price.

It definitely would worry me though my first assumption unfortunately is that it could be a targeted racist attack on a household of “immigrants” as happened not too long ago in Belfast. In which case I might be a bit less worried because I’m white? But obviously if you’re not white it’s even more of a cause for concern (and I’d really rather not live in an area where people’s houses are being smashed up for being immigrants)

Talk to as many neighbours as you can, to get the full picture. If it’s local kids, they’ll most likely leave it alone if it isn’t empty, unless the neighbours tell you that there are occupied houses in the area that are also getting vandalised.

Drug dealing was my first thought too. If you invite unsavoury characters to your house, one of them is going to get pissed off for no reason and cause damage. It’s happened here before.

I’d speak to the neighbours and the police, and if there wasn’t an ‘innocent’ reason, I’d pull out of the sale.

I would think it’s vandalism due to it being empty.
I would get some great security lighting and a ring doorbell.

Not sure, but it may affect house insurance quotes if you're asked to state incidents on the property. I'd check that out if it was me. Somewhere like MSE might have info.

This is really good advice OP

I would worry about the area, in a way targeted vandalism is less concerning, because once you occupy it won't be a problem- if it's the area however, that is a different story, and would give me pause.
Do some deep research on crime rates in the area.

Start with searching the previous occupants name?

But yes, con tact the local police

I wouldn’t buy. it’ll take forever for whoever is doing it to believe you’re not the original inhabitants and decide to stop. That much damage is calculated - in a nice area, that’s not Halloween damage, or youth damage. That’s actively smashing up someone’s house.

The previous owner of our house seems to have tinkered in drugs. He was a nice man, with a good job, and I think he bought at a low level and sold on what he didn’t use… we’ve been here coming up to seven years and we still get people knocking and leaving notes and things.

This sounds targeted to me too. I would be putting the brakes on until I was absolutely sure I understood why it had happened. If I couldn't satisfy myself fully I would pull out. Its not worth taking a risk with something like a property as its so expensive and if you make a mistake its so costly, time consuming and emotionally draining to get out of.

The local lowlifes will know it’s been empty for some time so it’s probably just shit and giggles.

If the previous owner was an elderly gentleman he’s not that likely to have been running a racket.

I would ask as many neighbours as you can. You will get the truth out of them.

I think the op said it has been run as a rental. Could be a can of worms attached to that.
If it was local low lifes that would also be very worrying. But your right - less likley to happen once the property is occupied again.

There is a house like this near me. Similarly nice enough area.
Long story short, it's drugs. The occupant was being "cuckoo'd" and letting drugs be sold/consumed there. Sometimes it kicks off and the windows get broken

My brother bought a house years ago that had been repossessed. The previous owners had stripped it bare ( light fittings, skirting boards,entire kitchen, turf from the garden). He bought it after all this had been done so it wasn't a surprise and there were no issues after he moved in. Perhaps in your case it is someone who has been evicted and is angry.

I would pull out, no question. Either it's targeted and you're setting yourself up for a whole world of hassle and potentially being terrorised, or it's because it's empty and you're buying in an area where vandalism happens. Neither situation is something I'd want to live in.

I wouldn’t pull out just because of that.

It’s far more likely it’s mindless vandalism simply because it’s been empty for 6 months. When it’s occupied and looking like the rest of the houses on the street, they won’t bother and will move onto another empty property in a different street.

Will they though ? Or will they just chuck one stone and leg it instead of staying around longer and chucking 4...
If that kind of thing is whats happening in the area its important to know before you spend a huge amount of money. It would put me off massively.

I would, given your description of the area, go ahead with the purchase and install very obvious cameras as soon as you exchange contracts.

Well much to my shock i have googled the current owner, and it turns out he’s involved in a current publicised case regarding the manslaughter of hes step father due to arguments about her mothers estate. There must be a connection… This has seriously upset me as the estate agents tried to pass it off as halloween related. Are the agents obligated to tell me the truth?

I had a feeling there was more to this family. The case is current so a difficult one. We viewed a house where someone had used a shotgun to end their life in the house. That was enough for us to back away.

Speak to the neighbours armed with this knowledge.